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In the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the Elven Sword Narsil of Elendil is broken, and the hilt shard used by his son, Isildur, to cut the Ruling Ring from Sauron's hand.
Several thousand years later, the broken pieces are reforged to become Andruil, Aragorn's sword.
What's that got to do with fishing, you ask?
Several years ago I took a tumble on the rocks at Fletcher's Boathouse and sheared off the handle of my favorite G. Loomis rod.
The rod broke thru about 3/4" above the foregrip. It was a relatively clean break by graphite rod standards.
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This was heartbreaking. Not only was this a rather expensive rod, but G. Loomis would not replace it, since I was not the original owner. They did offer me a $100.00 discount on a $500.00 dollar rod, no thanks.
The rod was placed in the back of my fishing room to languish for the next several years.
I replaced it with a St. Croix, but it wasn't the same!
The St. Croix was much heavier and clunkier by comparison. Not a bad rod, mind you, just not the same.
I was looking for a little project over the winter to give me something to occupy my self imposed COVID lockdown and I came across it. I had quite forgotten about it, but seeing it reminded me of how much I enjoyed using that rod. Several 200+ fish days on it.
I decided to try to resurrect it!
I took the bottom section of a broken ultra light rod and cut about a 16" section that was thin enough to fit inside the blank, from the bottom of the handle, up though the lower 1/3 of the rod. After some careful sanding, the internal, spliced in section was epoxied in place.
It's not the most cosmetically attractive repair, but the rod was back together.
I tried the rod out today, at a local community pond.
I didn't catch anything, but that was beside the point.
It cast beautifully and accurately. A little stiffer in the butt than previously, but then again aren't we all?
I'm looking forward to testing it on some shad in the next couple of weeks!
Several thousand years later, the broken pieces are reforged to become Andruil, Aragorn's sword.
What's that got to do with fishing, you ask?
Several years ago I took a tumble on the rocks at Fletcher's Boathouse and sheared off the handle of my favorite G. Loomis rod.
The rod broke thru about 3/4" above the foregrip. It was a relatively clean break by graphite rod standards.
image_22401.jpgimage_22400.jpg
This was heartbreaking. Not only was this a rather expensive rod, but G. Loomis would not replace it, since I was not the original owner. They did offer me a $100.00 discount on a $500.00 dollar rod, no thanks.
The rod was placed in the back of my fishing room to languish for the next several years.
I replaced it with a St. Croix, but it wasn't the same!
The St. Croix was much heavier and clunkier by comparison. Not a bad rod, mind you, just not the same.
I was looking for a little project over the winter to give me something to occupy my self imposed COVID lockdown and I came across it. I had quite forgotten about it, but seeing it reminded me of how much I enjoyed using that rod. Several 200+ fish days on it.
I decided to try to resurrect it!
I took the bottom section of a broken ultra light rod and cut about a 16" section that was thin enough to fit inside the blank, from the bottom of the handle, up though the lower 1/3 of the rod. After some careful sanding, the internal, spliced in section was epoxied in place.
It's not the most cosmetically attractive repair, but the rod was back together.
I tried the rod out today, at a local community pond.
I didn't catch anything, but that was beside the point.
It cast beautifully and accurately. A little stiffer in the butt than previously, but then again aren't we all?
I'm looking forward to testing it on some shad in the next couple of weeks!
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