How to repair a broken fishing rod: a simple fix that lasts

[@ConnecticutAngler]

Thanks so much for this vid! I recently broke my 3wt and was ready to toss it when I happened upon your vid. Ended up cutting a section out of a broken 5wt that I had kicking around and fashioning the spigot ferrule as you described. Worked like a charm! Sort of wish I found this vid 3 or 4 broken rods ago. One thing I did differently was slide a sleeve of marine heat-shrink tubing over the break before finishing the repair, then shrinking it nice and tight afterward. At a glance, the snugged down sleeve of heat-shrink is almost indistinguishable from the smooth bulge of a tip-over-butt ferrule.

[@OzarkRose]

Thank you for making this video. I just fixed a very special pole that my brother made me as a kid, using the method you show here. My pole sat in my shed in pieces for years because it got broken in half over the knee of someone I lent it to who had no fishing experience, and we didn’t have enough poles for all of our guests. As soon as I lent that guest my pole, he broke it over his knee. I was devastated. I hung onto the parts because I hoped that some day, I could learn how to fix it. Today was that day. My pole is back in fishing order thanks to you. Thank you!

[@hooked4lifeca]

Thank you for your story as these things are always heartening to hear. Just wait till you catch your first fish on it. ;)

[@theredhippovlogs]

same exact thing happend to me. First time I ever lent my rod to a inexperienced friend he snapped it trying to unsag it.

[@DAVIDHNOSKO]

Thank you sir for doing this video!!! I bought an Echo 10' 6" Shadow X Nymph rod 3 weeks ago to improve my nymphing fishing and slipped while wading and broke the rod about 5 inches above the cork. I was devastated as I am thoroughly enjoying nymphing. I have contacted Echo to see if they will warranty my stupidity, but they are slow responding. I stumbled on your video and am so delighted because if Echo says no, I can follow you video and do it myself. Thanks again. David

[@hooked4lifeca]

I think that Echo will look after you with no problem.

[@philipvankampen3394]

After a long, damp and equally productive day on the river I broke my dad's old 9' #5 g. loomis g2. I believe that was before Shimano acquired the company. I can go years without fishing it, but if I do it's like I've fished it all Spring. And, it brings back fond memories of years fishing with my dad in Montana. Needless to say, this is one rod I would never part with and hope to leave to my grandson some day. Thanks always for the great content. I have learned a lot about fly lines, leaders and whatchamacallits watching your channel. Also, I'm a fellow wet fly angler and so it has been a pleasure watching such 'swing forward' content ... he he he

[@markhoffman9655]

Did a fix as the video described on a favourite fly rod that broke just below ferrule join> Luckily I had a discarded rod with a suitable blank size and glued the spigot into place and over-bound the join area. Works just like new and caught 5 fish so far that have given the rod a good bend without any problems. My broken beauty will hopefully be fishing for many years to come!

[@wyomingtrout5581]

I am going to try it, I have a custom made rod and the gentlemen that made it has passed away. Old Sage rod. Great lesson

[@anthonydamico2550]

Awesome man thank you for the information I have a broken rod I really didn’t want to retire

[@MrMartinzx13]

Thanks for sharing your expertise!

[@leh3827]

Excellent! This is EXACTLY what we were looking to do. Thanks a million.

[@vasik9719]

Good professional presentation: detailed and short!

[@YoungDeso]

Going to give this a try on ny Shakespeare wild series 9' steelhead rod, broke it last weekend in the river on a big 20lb King salmon but landed it nonetheless. I have an old ugly stick I'm going to use for the spigot and going to reinforce that area the best i can, fingers crossed it will hold up

[@SurfSkagit]

Great tutorials, perfect timing also for me. Thank you for the time and effort to share, that’s the part usually we usually don’t see on the clips. Highly appreciated. On my way to watch your next one 👌👌👌 Best Mag

[@crazyeddie2366]

Excellent video!

[@silhuysmans5000]

yes, this video is what I needed! thank you so much!

[@cosmiccharlie8606]

Grate tip thanks for your time sir I jave 3of my grandfather's poles I just couldn't part with and now I can fix and fish with thank you for that

[@DAVIDHNOSKO]

Hi Peter, just got my replacement butt piece of my Echo Nymphing rod. So pleased they took care of it. I thought I would try to repair the damaged piece to have a backup in case this happens again. I have a problem. It is the butt of the rod that broke, 2 inches from the cork. I have a tapered replacement piece ready for the narrow end but near the cork handle to get a taper in the handle I would have to come through the butt end, and it seems that would ruin the whole thing. It seems I have to settle with a bit of a reverse tapper to make this work. Your thoughts. David

[@hooked4lifeca]

When we had metal caps on the ends of our fly rods, we could just boil them off, but if the end is rubberized cork, then that's not a solution. Go to a hobby shop and buy some brass tubing that's a bit bigger than the spigot (e.g. the spigot will slip inside of the tubing). Cut about 2" to 3" inches of the tubing off and put that piece in a drill chuck. Start up the drill and use a fine file to sharpen the end of the brass tubing. Then carefully align the tubing with the middle of the butt end of the handle, fire up the drill and use it to carefully cut a hole that will allow access to the rod blank. Insert the spigot and glue it in place. Inside the tubing will be a plug of rubberized cork that you can then push out and glue back into the butt of the rod. The repair will be barely noticeable.

[@mesk412]

Awesome. Can't wait to try this.

[@kevinjtoner]

This was REALLY interesting!!! 👍👍

[@glenichevangelista651]

very nice tutorial thumbs up!👍

[@damientomlinson3446]

Question. Where I snapped my pole (in car door). Now after cutting the jagged edges off both pieces, they don’t line up very well. What trick, or too do you have for that? TIA

[@hooked4lifeca]

I'd taper the spigot to fit the misaligned pieces. Awkward, but it'll work. I'd then wrap with thread and epoxy the joint well.

[@Scorpio_1974]

2:06 lol! wow! just like that! He made a point there lol!

[@stephenrosenfeld833]

Hi Peter, thanks for this. I bought myself a custom made rod as a retirement present a number of years ago and broke the tip last year. I sent it off to the rod builder, as instructed in their warranty policy, but he was so slow in picking it up from the post office that it was marked "Return to Sender". After I gave him a poor Google review, he refused to replace it. There's more to this saga, but let's leave it. My question though is, wouldn't epoxy glue be very rigid? Is there not a a more suitable glue that would be strong, waterproof, and flexible? Thanks so much for all the informative videos you provide!

[@hooked4lifeca]

Actually epoxy has some flex to it. Over 50 years ago I broke my first fly rod while showing it off to a friend. I fashioned a spigot and epoxied it in place. Over 25 years later when I gave that rod away, the repair was still holding. All of the wraps on a rod are covered with epoxy. It will last.

[@SPaw-dg3ye]

Really great video! My 7ft Shimano slx rod just broke and im pretty sure its missing one guide and the tip, is there anyway i can make a new rod end out of fiberglass and attach a guide to it?

[@hooked4lifeca]

How much of the tip is missing? That's the key thing, for if only a little bit is missing, we can just add a new tiptop and go fishing.

[@SPaw-dg3ye]

Its about 7inches from the tip, but i dont have the other piece to the rod. The rod is a medium heavy so i think putting a tip on there would be too heavy for a rod of its size

[@hooked4lifeca]

@@SPaw-dg3ye You're probably better off just fitting a tiptop to the end of the rod as it is now. It will change the action, making stiffer and less sensitive. It'll be more of a heavy instead of an MH, but it will be fishable. You should be able to find a new tiptop at any shop that sells rod building supplies.

[@SPaw-dg3ye]

Okay, thx a ton!

[@robertmcqueen5521]

My bamboo 2 piece broke in half on a 8 lb Rainbow, the smaller piece that slides into the bigger piece broke at the silver joint leaving it's joint in the larger joint. No bamboo is sticking up that you can grasp with pliers and pull it out. I tried screwing in a small eye screw, no avail, the screw would let lose before any movement from the joint. Any suggestions?

[@hooked4lifeca]

I'd select a wood screw that is longer than the ferrule and drill a hole in the stuck piece all the way to the end. The hole should be the same diameter as the shaft of the screw as we don't want the screw expanding the wood and making it more difficult to remove. Then insert the screw, leaving enough of the head to grip with pliers. Then apply heat (heat gun, hot water, etc.) to the ferrule to soften the glue. Grip the screw head with pliers and grip the ferrule with the foam lid removers we use for jar lids. That'll let you get a good grip on the ferrule with ought damaging it or burning yourself. You should be able to pull it apart. If not, keep applying heat until the glue breaks down.

[@DanielSwe93]

Repairing the second most top half of a 13' really nice two handed 4-piece rod (part 2 from the tip). Following your method, would you say that the rod will be almost as new, or will it be severely impacted? Nice, clean snap, so the repair looks easy enough.

[@hooked4lifeca]

Do a good job on the repair and I doubt you'll notice anything when casting it. Probably the only effect will be you going easy at first. The advantage of this style of repair is that the rod continues to flex through the repair.

[@DanielSwe93]

@@hooked4lifeca thank you! Is it necessary to use a double layered insert as you do here, or is it just as fine to use a single layered insert? I intend to sacrifice a fairly short and stiff carbon fibre bass rod.

[@hooked4lifeca]

@@DanielSwe93 Unless the donor rod has a thick sidewall, I'd go with the doubled spigot.

[@DanielSwe93]

@@hooked4lifeca What about the difference in taper between the two rods? There will probably(?) be a small gap between the spigot and the blank. Will the glue handle this stress, or is it super important that there is no wiggle? In that case, how to handle that wiggle?

[@hooked4lifeca]

@@DanielSwe93 I sand the spigot to a close fit then make sure that the joint is well filled with epoxy, then no wiggle.

[@peremartin295]

Damn this video did surely come at the right time, I was just going to repair a couple of rods this way, and I didn't think about the piece inside the ferrule, really helpful tip. Just a question, If the rod didn't break cleanly, leaving cracks half an inch long, would you trim it to leave it clean, or just with good glueing and a nice wrap on top would be enough. I'm worried that trimming it could make the diameter of the top and butt quite mismatched. Thanks for the lesson!

[@hooked4lifeca]

I'd trim most of the worst off as I'm always concerned that a crack will travel up the blank under load. We can lessen the problem by wrapping and epoxying. I'll be covering that in the next video. If we look at the fly rod spigot ferrule setup, there can be a gap of upwards of 3/8s of an inch between the sections, so I wouldn't worry if there's a gap showing after the jagged bits get trimmed off. Just make the spigot and the inner section long enough to provide support. If you were a bit worried about the section being under too much stress, we can go to a triple layer spigot, using two inner sections of decreasing length. It'll be very strong across the gap, but the staggering of the lengths of the sections allows it to bend smoothly under load.

[@globalbandfinder]

Great video. Does the plug part have to be the same material as the rest of the rod?

[@hooked4lifeca]

It's preferable so that the stiffness of the blank doesn't change too much through the repair. That said, my first spigot repair was in 1970 when I broke my first fly rod while showing off to a friend. I used a small, hardened steel shank that was a good fit and epoxied it in place. The repair was still holding when I gave the rod away 20 years later.

[@kevinkemp9862]

Can you give me the added secret on how to fix the one piece rod . I love this method of sliding another broken piece inside. What about a one piece with no access to the larger end? Big thanks

[@hooked4lifeca]

Put a pot of water on the stove with a level just high enough to cover the butt of the rod. Once it's boiling, immerse the butt of the rod and that will soften the glue holding it place. Of course it's now hot, so have a rag or something to protect your hand. Grab the well cooked butt piece and pull it off. Make the repair and then epoxy the butt piece back on.

[@kevinkemp9862]

@@hooked4lifeca Can't wait to try it. !! Thank you. Come fish Cleveland steelhead any time you wish. Free guide service included.

[@bobb3rdown676]

Would this work well on a tip section? Have a g loomis slate 9' 5wt 3pc that i broken the tip section on. I tried contacting loomis but never got anywhere with them.

[@hooked4lifeca]

Depends on the inside diameter of the section. If it's too small for a graphite spigot from a donor rod, then consider getting some piano wire from a hobby shop, that is close to the right diameter, and sand it to a taper to fit. Piano wire has the necessary elasticity to function as a spigot.

[@bobb3rdown676]

@@hooked4lifeca ill give it a go. Also the break is just above a guide. Which are single for guides. Would placing the guide evenly across the break be a good idea?

[@hooked4lifeca]

@@bobb3rdown676 Yes, placing a guide across break definitely helps as it acts a reinforcement.

[@ryansullivan9519]

What about the rods that already have a spiket ferrul rod and that ferrul part broke?

[@hooked4lifeca]

The problem will be to get the spigot out of the blank. This is a risky process, but the alternatives it to pay for a new section from the rod company, assuming the rod is still available. 1: drill a small hole in the broken end of the spigot, the length of the spigot, big enough to accept a screw 2: screw in a long wood screw into the hole (for gripping & heating purposes) leaving about a half inch exposed 3: dip the end of the rod section with the screw into boiling water 4: make sure that the screw head is in contact with the bottom of the pan so that it transmits heat to the inside of the spigot 5: remove the rod section from water, grip it well and gentle tap the head of the rod screw with a hammer to break the grip of the epoxy holding the spigot - try to drive the spigot into the blank 6: if it fails to move, put it back into the boiling water 7: keep repeating until the spigot drops free 8: if necessary use a cutter to snip off the head of the screw to allow the spigot to drop out of the blank 9: using the old spigot as a model, fashion a new spigot and epoxy in place.

[@ryansullivan9519]

@@hooked4lifeca so the last part we will make the model just like this video right? Fortunately my rod is a 4 piece spigot ferrule rod and I can just take that part and try to experiment with these instructions; because, I wanna save some money as I don't have the money for the replacement part at this time and not till probably till March of next year. This pole Is used to catch Mahi, gt and such like fish species from the cliffs lol.

[@hooked4lifeca]

@@ryansullivan9519 yes, except that if you're after Mahi I'd layer that spigot so that it is almost completely solid, a spigot, in a spigot, in a spigot etc. You'll need the strength.

[@ryansullivan9519]

@@hooked4lifeca I was thinking the exact same thing

[@dirkventer8112]

I almost cried when you broke the tip😭

[@fishontv6834]

Where can you buy cheap rod blanks? Most of the ones I've look at are more expensive than the actual rod hah

[@hooked4lifeca]

Garage sales are often a good opportunity. Also fishing stores that do rod repairs often have remnants of blanks laying about. One shop in Mississauga used to have a bin full of old rods.

[@collinhaas6137]

So this doesnt work on 1 piece rods?

[@hooked4lifeca]

Yes, but more difficult. We have tl remove the butt cap to enable us to slide the spigot in place, plus we must have doweling or an old rod section long enough to push the spigot in place.

[@brent829]

Good way to fix, but won't work on 1 piece rod. . .there's no way to access the inside from the wider diameter side.

[@hooked4lifeca]

Yes we can, it just takes a very long probe to push the spigot in place, plus we have to remove the butt cap from the handle. Boil the butt cap off. Been there done that.

[@brent829]

@@hooked4lifeca my butt cap has a synthetic resin attaching a faux leather/composite piece. . .don't think boiling will work but maybe I can just cut it off and then epoxy it back on and hope I don't break my rod again. Thanks for keeping me thinking how I will achieve this 😉

[@brent829]

Follow up: I drilled a small hole in the end of my rod, worked like a charm!

[@hooked4lifeca]

@@brent829 Excellent!

[@fornsphin]

Cool and all but is far less than ideal. Would literally double the weight of my rod and halve the casting distance... Guess ill just use a cheapo for a few years til I can get another nice rod...

[@jamescooper2618]

$30 bucks to buy a donor rod? No, I'll put 20 or 30 more and buy a good rod. To heck with the broken rod. No, go buy a wooden dowel rod and sand it down to fit tightly. Epoxy it in. Done

[@hooked4lifeca]

$30.00 for a donor rod is no biggie if the broken rod originally was north of $500, and no, I won't be sticking a piece of doweling in in such a rod. The repair is relative to the value of the rod, whether sentimental of in $$$s.