Fly Rod Tip Repair

[Scott M]

I remember reading a story in "Chicken Soup for the Fisherman's Soul" about a father and son fishing their whole lives together and the patience the father learned to use with his son. They had a bunch of fly rods they used their whole lives. It took some time for the father to learn and use such patience, but eventually he had the patience of Job. In the end of the story, the father, now a grandfather, takes his grandson out. Before they even leave, the grandson in his hasty excitement, slams the car door on all of his grandfather's ageless fly rods breaking all the tips in the process. The boy is in tears, but to his shock, his grandfather merely laughs and they go out to purchase some new rods and keep their plans intact.

Well, I need to learn this patience. My wife of a little over a year slammed the door on my new 5 wt rod I purchased from Quickstrike this summer. The first thing I planned to do was buy a case for it, but I instead choose to avoid a big purchase and put my hard earned summer money towards school. I had really taken care of this rod, I had to since it had no case, and my wife and I were moving to a new location. I asked her to get about half a dozen things that I purposely left behind (including the fly rod because I wanted it to get babied in the trip to the new home) for last when we made the move. She returned with my 2 piece rod in 3 pieces. She broke the tip, the top three inches, in the door of her car. It was a clean break.

Now, this rod is a St. Croix 9 footer that is older than 2001, when St. Croix started uniquely IDing rods with serial numbers, so they know and I know that this thing won't be under warranty.

My question is, what do I do now? Fix it myself, send it somewhere to be fixed, junk it, or what? I don't know what to say about the whole thing but I've just tried to lay low so I don't bite my wife's head off. Fly rod tips are the artist's paintbrush, they (Contact Us Please) the i's and cross the t's, they feel the subtleties of a bite, and land casts right on the money. What do I do?

[DinkADunk]

You can sometimes get a new tip section for a rod, ask St. Croix. Otherwise you can cut the tip of the rod off and have a new tiptop sized for the rod. If you shorten the tip section and add a replacement tip top the feel of the rod will definately change - you may or may not like the result.

[erickol]

That sucks, and I have had that happen more times that I care to remember. In fact my favorite sage slp 7'3" 3wt, no longer made, lost its tip this season. Luckily it was a clean snap right at the tip top. I picked up a new tip top and put it on with tip tip adheasive (a glue stick basically).

I also have another sage six weight that is going to be sent back to the factory for a new second piece, as it is in warranty.

At three inches you will feel as slight difference, the difference depending on the action. I made a sleeve once on a broken spin rod, and so far it has worked well. But the action of a rod like that is not as critacal as in a fly rod.

I would cut it clean, size for a new tip top, and put it on with a glue that you can re-heat to remove if you hate the results.

[mhedlund]

Quote:

---

You can sometimes get a new tip section for a rod, ask St. Croix. Otherwise you can cut the tip of the rod off and have a new tiptop sized for the rod. If you shorten the tip section and add a replacement tip top the feel of the rod will definately change - you may or may not like the result.

---

ditto, I didn't like my 9' 8wt when it became a 8'9" 8wt. I would contact St. Croix they are great to deal with. I am pretty sure you will have to send it in to get another tip section.

[DinkADunk]

Depending on how far back the break is you may want to take off the first guide and either leave it off or move it down the rod. When a rod is built the guide spacing is determined to give a smooth path along the curve of the rod (oversimplifying a lot). When you break a rod tip you may need to redo the spacing of the last few guides before the tip - either to improve weight distribution (a light feeling tip is nice on a fly rod), the static loading of the rod, or both. Since I build rods I sometimes take broken rods, put on a new tip top and then reguide the rod to be the best it can be given the damage it's sustained. If the new tip top is within 2" of the first guide I would probably remove the first guide. Of course if you're not comfortable doing this then don't.

[erickol]

The Fly Angler, Thorne Brothers on University ave in Fridley has rod building stuff. They might be able to recomend new guide spacing if you want to go that route. I 2nd the Praise of st. croix service. a few years back they replaced a rod section for me for the price of shipping, and I do not believe it was under warranty.

[mark p]

This happened to a St Croix spinning rod of mine. I called them and they had me send in the entire rod and made a new top section for me. It was less than 1/2 the cost of buying a new rod. Plus I had a rod that was the correct length that worked as designed (ie. same length and feel as the original).

[Scott M]

Well, it's getting pounded into my head that I should really be contacting St. Croix. I haven't tried that yet, figuring that I would be out of bounds on the service warranty. I guess it's worth a try. Should have listened to Quickstrike.

Thanks for the peer pressure everybody. When I get a chance this week or next I will try and report back with what I find.

[Quickstrike]

Scott, if st croix can't or won't help you out, give me a call and I'll see if we can get something worked out for you up here.