Quick Tip: An Easy Way to Put a Rigged Rod in the Car

After spending the last couple of weeks running around the wilds of Chile with the good folks at Magic Waters Lodge and getting in and out of cars and trucks from one fishing spot to the next, I finally stopped and paid attention to the proper way to “break-down” a rod but still keep your rig intact. That is, reducing the length of your rod by half to fit in smaller spaces in cars and truck cabs. Here’s how…

1. Reel your fly to to very top of your rod.

2. Find the middle ferrule and take the two sections apart. This means for four piece rods you’ll now have two sections.

3. Fold the tip of the rod down towards the butt section.

4. Reel in any slack line but leave enough for your fly to wrap around the bottom of the reel and hook back into the cork holding both pieces together tightly.

5. This is the important step: Double check and make sure your tip of the rod is above the bottom of the butt of the rod, thus protecting it from breakage. If not, simply unhook fly and reel in a little more so the top section of rod gets pull back towards the top of the rod. Then re-hook the fly in the cork. Viola—the top guide and thinnest part of your rod is now protected.

This is an easy, fairly safe, and fast way to fit a fully rigged rod in a car or any other spot where a fully rigged rod rod simply won’t fit.