We’re in the process of taking down our camp on the Kanektok for the winter, and as you might expect, we have our work cut out for us when it comes to breaking down rods, reels, lines, and a whole bunch of other gear for the off-season.
While breaking down literally dozens of fly rods, it might not come as much of a surprise that some rods don’t come apart so easily.. Particularly those that which have remained rigged for the duration of the summer. Rigged rods that are subjected to large changes in temperature have a tendency to expand and/or contract at the ferrule, making them extremely difficult at times to separate, not matter how hard you to twist or pull.
So, in our attempt to put our camp away in a timely manner, today we were reminded of a simple tip.. When rod sections are seemingly impossibly stuck, try cooling down the male side of the ferrule with a hand full of ice for 3-5 minutes. That should cause the male side to contract slightly, breaking the vacuum within the hollow rod blank, allowing you to easily separate the two sections.
It works really well and we think you should give it a try!
Ice has worked for me, but upon suggesting this to a friend at Alaska West in June, a seasoned angler interjected and said hot water on the female side of the ferrule works just as well.
hot water on the female side increases the outside diameter and decreases the inside diameter of the section as the heat makes the rod material expand in all directions. Use cold water.
I’ve placed my stuck rod in the stream for a bit, and it worked. But good support for the idea of not fishing alone, or being close enough by to another adult. Two hands at the ferule, and someone with two hands at the butt turning the rod the other way is an effective tool.
Get a bike inner tube and cut into 2 pallm sized pieces. And pull.
stuck metal ferrules can be extremely difficult to separate, especially when it is a two-piece 3-weight bamboo fly rod. The small diameter makes gripping very difficult and the metal ferrule does not respond to heat or cold. So I used table tennis rubber, wrapped and taped it to the rod. Then my wife and I used over lapping grips to finally release the ferrule. I use ferrule lube for all of my bamboo rod ferrules. This rod was the most challenging to release in my 55+ years of fly fishing!
Hi Ron,
Thanks for your reply, We probably should have talked a bit about bamboo rods in the article. I would hate to put duct tape directly on them. Its sounds like wrapping the rubber and then taping is another great way to get the really tough ones apart. Thanks for the tip and have a nice day.
Happy New Year.
I recently recovered my Sage RPL + 690-4 from a cold water lake that I lost 12 yrs ago. The damage was limited to reel mount and cork. I have tried various methods ( pulling )to get the sections apart but no success. I tried heat but no success. Appreciate any other ideals.
Thanks Ben