By: Fishing Blog

Fishing Blog — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 07:28:16 +0000

Thanks for your comment John. Thats an interesting lens you have got there http://www.squidoo.com/sunfishfishing, the video of jigging for sun fish was great!

By: john stall

john stall — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 21:15:18 +0000

Haha, I hate when this happens to my rod’s, and I have most definitely snapped, crunched, and splintered one too many pieces of fine rod building in my day. Take it very easy when this happens m8s. Bast the rod in the sun, right on a car roof hot enough to fry a cod-should do the trick.

By: Ken Pearce

Ken Pearce — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:11:17 +0000

If your rod is stuck together on the beach, try putting the rod behind your knees in a squat position. Grip the rod tightly either side of the joint with your arms against your outer thighs. Using your legs as levers push out with your knees to seperate the rod. Your leg muscles are alot stronger than your arms and this will push out without twisting. If you can add some rubber to grip the rod with, this will improve your chances of seperating the sections.

By: blakdog

blakdog — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:36:54 +0000

You don’t detail exactly what materials / type of joints you are talking about, but thought I would add a few hints from 20 years plus of rodbuilding and generally trying to undue other peoples mistakes. First point is about candle-wax; this idea comes from the world of glass-fibre rods and with them it works fine, but on no account should it be used with carbon or graphite joints. It will seem fine at first but after a short time will accelerate wear on the joints. Opinion seems to be very divided on why, but the plain fact is that it does. Use specialist graphite wax if you want to do this, or better still just wash them in clean warm water and keep the dirt out and you should have no problems.
Water can be a problem with joints because it acts as lubrication. If the joint is wet when you put it together it allows you to push the joints tighter together – if it then dries out you are then lacking the lubrication neccesary to get it apart. Any glass-fibre boatbuilder will also tell you that most rodbuilding materials (carbon included) are porus in their bare state (hence why boats have gel-coat to make them waterproof) and will swell when they absorb moisture, so a dry joint that gets damp over a period time can swell and get stuck.
I have used some rather extreme methods to free stuck joints in the past but there are a couple of easier ones that will cure 75% of problems. No method is quick and patience and a bit of determination are a neccesity unless you want a broken rod.
If a rod has been left in a damp atmosphere (i.e. shed or boat) over a period of time then the simplest thing to try is to place it in a warm environment to dry out – central heating is ideal for this and remember that if you can take the butt cap off it will allow the inside to dry out quicker. Give it week or so then carefully attempt to part the joints. Incidentially I often hear from people who leave a broken down rod in a damp shed only to find they can’t assemble the joint – exactly the same logic applies here; dry it out and hey presto.
If you’ve tried the above and the joint is still stuck or if you think the problem is to do with dirt you can then use water to help you out. Boil the kettle, allow to stand for 5 minutes and then pour it gently over the joint, just a trickle, and rotating the rod as you do so. Hold the joint female side down as the idea is to get the hot water to pass down between the two surfaces of the joint and act as a lubricant. Be patient as you will probably need a good few kettles-full before it starts to work.
As with most things all the above will be much easier to do with some extra pairs of hands. Use controlled force not brute force …. and if frustration sets in walk away and come back to it after a nights sleep otherwise you’ll probably end up taking a hammer to it!

Comments on: Sticking rod sections

By: Fishing Blog

By: john stall

By: Ken Pearce

By: blakdog