A friend broke about 2" of the tip of his fly rod. It's a 9' 5 wt. Winston B3LS. He's asked me to repair it for him. We've decided to cut another couple inches off just below the first snake, and just replace the snake guide with a new tip top. He'll end up with a rod about 8' 7" short one snake guide. He decided the fish won't know the difference, and he'll get used to it.
So the question is, what's the best way to cut another 2" from the rod? Can I just saw it off with a fine tooth saw, or is there some special tool needed? Would wire cutters be ok?
Please advise.
Jack

Do NOT cut any additional length from the rod. It's already going to feel and perform a great deal differently. Cutting another 2 inches will fairly well ruin it.

Install a new tiptop on the broken end. Remove the tip-most guide and rewrap it back roughly halfway between the tiptop and 2nd guide.



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You don't have to guess, how does the rod fish now, the tip top won't change things much as far as how it feels? It's a Winston, you should be able to have it fixed. Like Tom said, don't cut it.

I would put a tip on if not splintered, and either move or delete (if possible) the first snake guide. If you have to cut it, put some tape around it and cut through it with a dremmel cutoff wheel. Remove tape carefully from butt to tip so's not to splinter the remaining blank. This is what I would do.

Why not ask Winston to supply a new tip section??
Is he the original owner - warranty???
Herb

Don't cut any more tip.

If you like, simply splice the 2 inches back onto the tip and you will have a very similar rod.

Or, just cut .030 inches off the tip to clean up the end and put a tip top back on the rod and go fishing. No need to change anything else on the rod.

In that part of the rod, the blank is really thin. So, I would not touch any other part of the rod nor would I try to remove any guide from that part of the rod. With the very thin tip section, you could really damage that part of the rod, if you try to remove a guide - no matter how careful you might be.

Take care



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2021 01:51PM by roger wilson.