It was going to be a good rod; a very good rod. It was 8 feet long and a 6 wgt, designed primarily for night fishing on Michigan’s trout streams for those big night browns. It was built because last year, its worthy predecessor was shut in a car do and broke about 14 inches above the grip. It had some very good features including all single foot Alconite guides including the striping guide and a #8 SF tamer guide 4 inches behind the striping guide. It balanced nicely and the static testing set up from the beginning was nearly dead-on. It was the first rod that I had built using spatulas to coat the wrappings. It also was the rod that I forgot to put the winding check on but with a couple of layers of winding at Tom’s suggestion , looked just fine. It had not been to the river yet. I had put a 5 wgt on to do some test casting to see how it handled the slightly lighter weight forward line. Then the rains came down. It was quickly broken down and set against the table by the office door waiting for the rains to stop so the testing could resume. In the meantime, my wife had noticed that dirt had been tracked in the back door because the new small deck has not been installed yet. She brought the vacuum cleaner down to keep the dirt from tracking in on the new simulated wood floor. I was sitting at my desk about 12 feet away. The vacuum had only run less than 10 second when the sound of graphite slamming against the flooring and other indescribable noises filled the room. In a split second, I knew what had happened. The vacuum beater bar had grabbed the tapered leader and yanked it along with the fly line and the tip section of the rod into the beater bar. It is now clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that the tip section of a 2 piece fly rod will not enter the beater section of an upright vacuum cleaner without damage. In fact, the upper section was now 4 pieces and the 5 weight line was no longer usable.

It would have been a good rod; no, make that a very good rod. But I cannot be mad because I should have taken better care of my equipment. My main concern was for my wife who was simultaneously mad at herself and sorry for me, knowing how much work I had put into the rod. I couldn’t be mad because she certainly did not mean to do it and she means more to me than any fishing rod I might build. It’s okay. The rod is gone. There are parts that can be salvaged and put on a new one.

There are lessons to be learned about taking care of one’s equipment properly and understanding how fragile fly rods really are. There are also lessons on realizing that accidents do happen and remembering how much you love someone.

There is also the realization that this would have been a good rod; a very good rod. Maybe the next one will be just as good….and certainly taken better care of by the creator.

Hopefully the blank maker can replace just the tip section for you. Perhaps all is not lost.

...............

I feel your pain brother!

Last year I was working on a nice little 2 wt. I finished for the evening with only a final coat on the threads needed. When I returned from work the next day I found my new rod on the floor in a few pieces. After a few choice words I performed my own C.S.I. and discovered that my wife had been rearranging furniture upstairs, somehow vibrated my deer mount off the wall over my bench and crashed onto my nearly finished rod. Talk about freak accidents!

The butt section was snapped in two just above the cork. I called the manufacturer and they were able to match a new butt section for me. I had to pay the replacement cost since it wasn't a manufacturer's defect, but was well worth it to finish the rod I had been wanting for so long. Good luck!

By the way, my deer mount is no longer over my bench.

Sucked a surfrod into a snowblower in a similar fashion ( first October snow, wind blew the rod down from leaning against the shed...snowblower ate the leader) amazingly the blank didn't break, lost two guides, refinished the blank, and rewrapped the two guides. ( it was a friends rod, and my boss..." well, It kind of got caught up in a snowblower") ..being my boss, I didn't get a raise that year!

Hope it works out for you.

I feel your pain brothers!

You know somethin's up when your kids are too quiet!
My 2-year-old son thought it might be fun to sneak downstairs, into 'my area' and chase the cat with the tip section of a 2pc 7'6" 4wt RX7. Im sure you can picture the rest....
Tip caught the carpet, and the butt section ended up in his ribs. A quick snap probably kept us out of the ER.
Needless to say the cat wont go near the basement, I have one of those anti-kid doorknob covers for my workroom door, my son reminds me of his 'owie' whenever he sees blanks.....and we'll wait a few years until we try pole vaulting again.

RB

I had a power extension lead attached to my drying motor. Applied a nice coat of epoxy and then left the room. I have bird aviaries in the back yard so I commenced cleaning out the aviaries. About an hour or a bit later I can back inside and had a quick peek at the rod. The motor had stopped turning the rod. All the epoxy had run to the bottom and was a horrible sticky mess from the bottom of the rod to the track below. The cause, my wife had decided to vacum the car out and she needed the extension lead. It didn't matter to her that my rod was happilly turning away, she need to vacum. She honestly didn't even notice the rod turning and then blamed me for not telling her. As a result of this I now have a nearly finished shed with rod building room attached. It will be wife and child proof and of course have the beer fridge and Austar sport televion of flat screen. What more could a man want.

...maybe a good friend to share it all with?? Hint, hint...

Putter
Williston, ND

Your welcome anytime Putter. I have a few prize winning home brews in the fridge just waiting to have the tops knocked off them. The more the merrier.