So I spent the winter (off and on) building a St. Croix with titanium guides and what not and finally got to take the rod out. It casts beautifully and couldn’t be happier with it. I had it out again Friday on a rather fast river which wasn’t very wadeable, so I found a few spots I could cast from and was doing fine. I worked up river along the bank took a cast and just grazed some small branches/brush so I decided I better roll cast. On my second cast the top two sections of my 4-pc came off the rest of the rod…I have never had anything like that happen before…I wasn’t too worried figuring the fly at the end would just grab a guide and I could bring it back in. I was wrong, apparently when I hit the brush I lost the fly. The two sections of rod hit the rapids and were gone, and this was only the second time having the rod out.
Does St. Croix or any of their vendors sell blank sections? I sent St. Croix and email telling them my sob story when I got home but haven’t gotten a response yet. The last thing I want to do is spend another $200+ to have to rebuild the entire thing when I only need to do the top half.
Unfortunately … each rod section is “paired” in the factory. Although, they do come off a set of mandrels with the intention of being incorporated into a certain rod configuration, not every section will fit with another. They ARE going to have to have the other pieces to match you up.
Fortunately, St Croix’s customer service is the BEST in the industry. I would be very surprised if they didn’t help you out by selling you the two top sections (once they pair it) for a discount. At that point, you can just rebuild those two sections.
Wait until Tuesday morning, after 9am CDT, and call Dan Levra at 1-800-826-7042 at ext 114 - he is over customer service and a super nice guy. Let me know how you come out. BTW, if you don’t have success with this … PM me and I will give you a hand.
I have broken a section of a 4 piece rods more than once on rod blanks I have built. I have not had it happen to a St Croix but with another rod blank. They provided the needed sections at a very reasonable rate. What Tampajim said, they will need your other sections to match up the fit of the new sections. I am sure you will get treated very fairly. St Croix is a top rod manufacturer.
Try rubbing a little parafin wax on the male end of the sections. This will help the sections seat better and come apart easier, it will also keep the pieces from coming apart accidentaly. That has happened to me, too, but I had a strike indicator on that stopped the tip section.
I got a swift response from their customer service yesterday on an email that I sent out friday night and I have to send the other two sections and they’re going to fit the top two. Hopefully the turn around will be just as swift to get them back. I must say I was rather impressed at the speed of the response I got.
My buddy lost the top 2 sections of his home-built St Croix Avid out the back of my pickup last year while heading back home after fishing…he went to the shop where he bought the blanks, and St. Croix replaced just those 2 sections for $40 + S&H. He did, however, have to actually send the bottom 2 sections back to St Croix so they could match the 2 new sections to them.
Maybe it would be better to get your replacements through a St. Croix dealer instead of emailing them directly? It worked for Kenny.
PS – oh, you already got it solved! St Croix is a great company to deal with!
This reminds me of a topic I read a while back. It seems that a lot of folks, after fishing untill dark and nipping off the fly and reeling in, head back to the truck ( or the bright red convertible or your preference) on the long dark trail only to find that the tip section has fallen off somewhere during the trip. Remember to keep your fly on and hooked to your keeper during the hike home.
