1. Troutnut Forum
›
2. Fly Fishing Gear
›
3. Getting stuck sections apart

Packing to go home Tuesday afternoon I saw the two mid sections of my 9' 4 piece Buelah were hopelessly stuck together. I tried with all my strength to separate the two sections to no avail. I know a little about the effects of heat and cold on materials. I took two wash cloths and drew the hottest water I could get from the faucet (and it was HOT) and soaked one face cloth with that. The other face cloth I soaked in ice water. I wrapped the hot cloth around the female ferrule and the cold cloth around the male ferrule and let them sit for ten minutes. I came back and with just the slightest exertion of pulling the sections separated. I could actually see little water droplets on the male section. I'm just guessing but the hot compress may have caused some of the cold water to leech up inside the male ferrule. I don't really know and don't really care as long as the rod came apart.

Very interesting, as you said, as long as the rod came apart. Only goes ta show there are many ways to get the job done without hurting your rods.. nice.. & clean fix...

I wish I had figured that out about six years ago when my buddy and I were leaving the Missouri after ten days of hot weather and never taking the rods apart. His three piece Sage LL 9' #5 had the mid and tip sections stuck together and we wound up breaking the tip section in our attempt to remove it from the mid section.

Boy I bet that was a sad day. But I shall try your way, someday I'm sure, cause stuff sure does seem to happen when you don't want it 2.....
later, Milt.

Other than that Matt, how was your trip?

Seems we two can't win with these rods this year! Mine seems almost back to normal, save some dull area around the wraps near the front of the cork handle and some small scratches/marks on the reel seat.

When I discovered that I had forgotten and put that rod away wet the guide I was with said he doesn't breakdown his rods nearly all season and doesn't put them back in the tubes for fear of putting them away wet.

On the other hand, not breaking them down can lead to your problem.

Years back I would wash my rods with a little dish soap and an old tooth brush. I would use warm water until one day the end section came free of the rod.

I was heading up north at the time and when I got up there Rusty Gates told me not to use hot water since that is how they take them apart for repair...I've been using cold water ever since.

Rusty repaired the rod for me and I was all set.

Spence

I've been making an annual 10 - 11 day trip ever since 1995. When I was still working it was always the first 10 days in August due to a plant wide shutdown. By August the PMD's were gone and all we had were Tricos and a cinnamon caddis and we had great fishing. After I retired in 2005 I have gone between June 23 and July 23. Up until my 2010 trip the fishing was really great with days of at least a dozen 17" - 21" fish with at least a couple 22" during the trip.

Since 2010 the fishing has fallen off (IMO) and both the boating and wading angler pressure has increased significantly. In 2011 I canceled due to high water, in 2012 Tony and I went out and the fishing was horrible. It was the first year when I saw there were far fewer rising fish. I felt bad because I had raved about the river to Tony and it had been very good up through 2010. Ever since 2012 I've had less than stellar fishing. 2014 was really poor for me and I said to myself that I was done with the Missouri and even shipped my frameless pontoon boat back home. Well by January 2015 I wanted to go out again and was pretty excited but when we got there the fishing was really off. It was an early PMD year and by the beginning of June there were good numbers of bugs and guys were finding lots of rising fish and the river was uncrowded. Also guys who were willing to watch a bobber float down the river were boating 20 - 30 fish a day.

I arrived on July 04 and I would say there were at least 200 drift boats, rafts, pontoon boats and recreational floaters on a six mile section of the river. I was lucky to catch 3-4 fish a day. Admittedly I don't float from 6 - 10 like my partner and two friends who always go out at the same period. They had many good evenings with 6 - 8 fish each plus the 4-5 they would catch during the morning float.

To sum it up it was my worst trip in all my Missouri River trips. I left my pontoon boat there on the chance I might go back again someday but I am already planning my 2016 trip and it won't be to the Missouri.

Edit: Due to limited lodging in the Wolf Creek and Craig areas you must make your next years plans many months, even a year, in advance or you won't be able to book a room in the entire prime time window from June 15 - July 15.

It is also the same situation with booking your flight. Those seats get booked quickly and by mid January many flights are filling up. Therefore you are booking a trip before the winter snows have really begun. If it is a high snow pack year you could be blown out. Any flow of more than 6500 cfs pretty much ends all wade fishing and I can't afford $75 a day drift boat rentals (2 guys split the $150 price) Conversely in a low snow pack/spring rain condition you could have flows under 3000 cfs which warms the water quickly and hastens the growth of aquatic grasses. Pretty much every fish you hook once the weed growth has bloomed will run into the grass and either the tippet will break or the hook will pull out. During my 2013 trip I lost at least 80% of my hooked trout in the grass.

Sorry to hear this Matt...I know you love that river for it phenomenal dry fly fishing...I've heard great things about it myself, but maybe that's part of its problem...Its popularity?

200 drift boats...It sounds like the Bighorn. That's a flotilla!

Part of my attraction to fly fishing is being on the river, in the woods, alone...Not always an easy thing to find these days...

Spence

"200 drift boats...It sounds like the Bighorn. That's a flotilla!

Part of my attraction to fly fishing is being on the river, in the woods, alone...Not always an easy thing to find these days..."

Guess this sums up the problem with two things:

1) Fishing a popular spot, and

2) Having a limited fishing window due to trip constraints.

Of course, it's not like I catch those great big ones I see you guys posting on here (especially Matt, but plenty from the rest of the gang too). But, I deal with these problems in two ways:

1) Fish close to home, can go almost whenever you want, depending on the weather; and

2) AVOID THE WEEKENDS! Around these parts summer weekends are a ZOO, if I tried to fish the Rifle I would perhaps see 200 canoes and kayaks and float tubes in a single day too...

My local fishing hasn't been all that great in the last two seasons either, but here in MI (perhaps for others elsewhere too) a couple of very cold and rough winters on a couple of smaller trout streams (especially the Pine) may have set populations back for a few years. Last time I was on the Pine I found myself in the midst of a fine Light Cahill hatch, the air around me was full of beautiful white mayflies, and I still couldn't manage anything over about 6", not even over deeper waters. In previous years this hatch has brought out feeding frenzies on the Rifle that compared to some Hex hatches I have seen in the past.

At least the big panfish and some nice bass were biting this past spring...

Jonathon

Your referring to the tip top? Those things will fall off on their own on rods that were not factory built, and sometimes even on the factory made ones. Warm water would never loosen it though, it takes a significant amount of heat from a hot air gun or a light flame, and maybe boiling water but your warm water bath isn't what did it, it was ready to fall off on its own! CJ

To be back on topic, I practically never have problems with getting my rod sections apart. My problem, on the other hand, is throwing off the danged tip section while casting! I guess I have a very aggressive casting stroke but I have to keep an eye on the tip for when the guides start getting out of alignment...anyone else have this problem??

Jonathon

My buddy was hard on the rods... He used to get so mad at himself... slow it down, they ain't moving till next week I'd tell him. The fish.... I got sick of his power casting, I'd used transparent tape, small pieces on his joints.. He thought he was getting better, till I told him what I did. If I remember right he chased me down the creek...Oh well, I bad. Hey, he told me he was getting better... I didn't get it...Guess wasn't suppose ta... But it worked on his 30 buck rod. You get what you pay for... my tape was free....
Milt..