I broke my favorite fly rod, a Lamiglas xmg 905, last summer. Last August Lamiglas returned the broken rod to me and said they did not have the blank section to repair it. I took a trip up to Woodland a couple weeks ago and Josh dug through odds and ends for 20 minutes and came up with a section that just needed trimming and stripping to match the rod. You walked me through the stripping, turned out great, thank you.

I wound on two stripper guides and a ferrule wrap, finished with high build epoxy to match the other wraps, near perfect match.

I put the rod together tonight to discover that, while I ended up with a 9' rod with similar action as hoped, the taper of the tip of the new section is steeper than on the section I broke. While the overlap is comfortably in the 2+ inch range, the tip of the male ferrule is loose and, when I cast the rod, it clicks inside the female ferrule of the next section up.

The tip of the new piece is .3mm smaller than the properly fitting section it replaces.

Is there a preferred way to build this ferrule tip diameter up? Is it advisable to do so at all?

Thanks for your input.

Craig

I've looked at mot of the previous posts that I found here regarding this problem.

The first, most permanent fix that was suggested is trimming the female ferrule. The female ferrule has a stressed look around the opening. Almost like the blank is split under the wrap, which is unusually long, possibly covering up the split. With just about 2" of overlap and a possible split in the female ferrule, I'm not eager to cut off the ferrule wrap, trim the female ferrule, re wrap and possibly shorten the rod by a couple inches (.3mm/0.012" seems like a lot of diameter to take up) or run into the guide wrap just above the ferrule wrap.

Permagloss. I've seen mention of building up the loose areas on a male ferrule. Will this, after a proper amount of curing, be hard and unlikely to bond the ferrules together on a hot day?

You can only trim the female ferrule by maybe 1/4 inch at most - beyond that and you'll the area that was designed to fit on the male section. Most such ferrules are "belled" which means they aren't simply a straight taper from the ferrule into the remainder of the rod.

The proper way to fix it is to remove the wrap, shorten the female ferrule (cut 1/8th inch and try for fit), then replace the reinforcement wrap. This also gives you the opportunity to fix the split at the same time.

Permagloss dries rock hard. Hot weather will not soften it. But that's process would be my last resort.

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Thanks, Tom.

I'll start with 1/8 inch and see if the fit improves.

The original section penetrates 1/2" deeper than the new section and is 0.3mm larger in diameter at it's tip. If, at 1/2" cut off of the female ferrule, I'm still looking at 0.3mm too small of a diameter, I am not eager to start trimming the female ferrule.

I will be visiting Woodland on Monday, will get this in front of Kendra and team to see what they suggest.

I was under the impression that you were refitting the original section. The new section may simply be too far off to work with the original tip section.

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Yes, it is a whole new section that came painted, I stripped and trimmed, was pleased that the finish matched, the rod length had not changed and that the section was within 1/4" of the other sections in length so I proceeded with plugging the tip, installing stripper guides and ferrule wrap, only to discover this misfitting ferrule after the finish had cured.

I want this for fishing, nothing fancy.

Does your last resort involve building up the last 1/2" of the tip of the male ferrule with permagloss then sanding down for a smooth, round finish, sneaking up on the necessary diameter?

Is there another not-quite-last-resort somewhere between trimming the female and using permagloss?

Without having the pieces here, I have a gut feeling that they are simply so mismatched that it may not be possible to ever get a good fit. I would certainly try the PG but it's not likely to get you the amount you need.

There is one other thing you could do - Cut the tip section short and build a completely new ferrule that positively fits the male portion. A lot of work but if you really want to save the rod that may be your only other option.

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Does permagloss run too thin to expect a smooth 0.3mm build even with multiple coats?

I'll likely look for another blank to cut a section out of and start afresh on replacing the section I broke before cutting into the upper section.

You'll have to block sand it. You have to create a matching taper between the sections.

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At Lamiglas, unless things have changed, you have the option of replacing your broken rod with a new Infinity Si version with a small upgrade fee if things don't work out.

They did offer me a discount on any new rod but they do not have any 4 piece fly rods.

As I said to Josh when he got me this replacement section from his collection of odds and ends, this rod has taught me more about casting than I learned in my previous 30+ years of fly fishing. It's ultra fast and I can't let go of the hope that I'll get to fish with it again one day soon.

Since this has turned into quite the ordeal, what's your favorite 4pc fast to ultra fast 9' 5wt (that's currently available as a blank)?

The St. Croix SCII/IV are extra fast action, very light, supple tips. Something to look at, maybe.

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My favorite is the MHX F904-4 an absolute casting machine, also very good at landing fish.

Thanks for the recommendations!