Just a few tips on how to protect the investment in your new rod.
The rod you now own is expensive, was designed and created with the finest materials available and can possibly last many fishing seasons if damage prevention measures are taken to ensure its well being. A custom fly rod can be a great fishing buddy, so care needs to be in place to provide a long life for your investment.
USE A ROD CASE: First and foremost, transport your new rod in a rod case. The one supplied with your new rod is very durable and will offer excellent protection, as long as the rod is in it. When the fishing is completed, clean and disassemble the rod and place it back in the case for transport, to be there to fish another day.
SEAT THE FERRULES PROPERLY: With today’s modern fly rod designs, blank manufacturers now incorporate tip-over ferrule designs that are so sleek that rods of up to six pieces are common for a wide selection of rod weights. This option makes travel with the fly rod very convenient. Many years ago a fisherman only had one ferrule to worry about – and it was metal!
When you assemble the rod, make sure the ferrules are clean. Evan a small piece of dirt or grit can wreak havoc on the ferrule mating surfaces in the form of scoring the surfaces of both pieces that could possible lead to a fracture of the graphite in the ferrule.
Start with the tip sections and work towards the butt. Grasp the rod pieces close to the ferrules and start the ferrules 1/4 of a turn from proper alignment and as you push to insert, rotate the butt section to align with the tip section. This allows for a better seating assembly as opposed to just pushing the ferrule straight together. To remove a section, just reverse the above procedure and pull and twist the section closest to the butt.
THREADING THE LINE THROUGH THE GUIDES: When threading the fly line and leader through the guides, leave the reel on the ground, table, chair or anything, until the proper length of line is through the tip, then pick up the rod at the grip, not the tip section-it can’t handle the stresses imparted by the weight of the rest of the rod and the reel. This can ruin your day before it even gets started.
REMOVING the FLY FROM LOGS, ROCKS AND TREES: Pull on the fly line to dislodge the fly. Don’t use the rod to force the fly to dislodge – re-read “Hi-Sticking” - you’re just asking for a ruined day on the stream. A fly and leader may be $5.00 total – how much did you pay for your new fly rod?
KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE CORK: Unless your rod was designed with a “helper grip” above the main grip, don’t put you hand up there. This action changes the dynamics of the rod curve and it greatly increases the odds for a rod break at the point of your “hand on the rod.” Rods with helper grips are generally heavier saltwater fly rods and this grip adds a place to gain leverage while the fish is stripping line and you are fighting him with butt the rod and the drag of the reel.
ROD IMPACTS: With the creation of “bead-head” flies and other heavy-headed bugs, these now present a problem of causing “dings” in the rods upon impact during casting. These impacts will invariably cause a spot on the rod section just waiting to fail. This is even more critical with the extremely high-modulus graphite blanks because the sections are smaller in diameter and thinner in wall thickness. If you have a large number of dings or “near-misses”, one must modify the casting technique to prevent rod or facial injury from flailing bugs!! Surface dings and abrasions can also come from other sources such as laying the rod against the edge of a boat, trailer, workbenches, etc.
LANDING A FISH: Ahhhh . . .success at last – and this is usually when a lot of rods are broken. Always be aware of where the tip of your rod is located. The more vertical the tip of the rod is when making the effort to land the fish, the more stress is placed on the weakest part of the rod – the tip sections. “Hi-Sticking”, as it’s called, will surely cause a rod to break. Rods are designed to transfer the stresses to the butt sections where they are designed to handle them. Hi-sticking forces them to stay at the tip sections where it causes the graphite to fail.
STORAGE: Fishing rods should never be stored assembled and leaning in the corner of a room, or rigged up with line and the last fly used hooked into the hookkeeper with the tip bent. Never leave the rod in the gun rack behind the seat of a vehicle because exposure to the UV rays of the sun all day will definitely deteriorate the blank.
If the fly rod has been used in salt water fishingl, one must always wash the rod in fresh water and allowed to dry before storage in the rod case. This is also a great idea for the fly reel too!
When leaving the stream, the rod case should be used to protect the rod even if the rod is wet. Once at home or camp, remove the rod to thoroughly dry before long term storage.
