How long do you leave fly rods rigged?

[a23fish]

Being relatively new to the world of fly fishing, I was wondering if any of you folks leave your fly rods rigged and if so, for how long? Being a decades-long spin fisherman, I always leave my spinning & baitcasting rods rigged. Is there any reason not to leave a fly rod rigged, other than the sort of obvious reason about safely transporting & storing a 9' rod with a skinny tip.

Thoughts on pros & cons?

 

[wgmiller]

I suppose it all depends on your storage/transportation options. If you can safely store and transport them in one piece, then there is no reason to break them down after each outing. For most of us it likely falls to not having safe storage and transportation options. Let's face it, a 9'(ish) rod is a lot to leave rigged up around the house. In an assembled state, it's susceptible to damage and other mishaps. For the limited amount of time it takes to assemble and rig a rod, I prefer to keep them safely tucked away in their carrying tube, then assemble at the parking area. Once you hear the sound of a rod tip breaking due to a preventable cause, it'll forever haunt you and you'll swear to never let it happen again!

 

[Biggie]

The couple of rods that I have broken the tip off were all caused from leaving the rod rigged. I used to halve the rod and leave it rigged and put it in a case. Still broke tips off. NO MORE, when done I break the rod in half with no line through the guides. I still leave the reel on in the case.

 

[troutbert]

Here's what I've learned from hard experience, plus good advice from flyfishers on this forum:

When you're done fishing and get back to your vehicle, the very FIRST thing to do is break down the rod and put it in its case, and put the case back in the vehicle.

Do that before you take off your vest, boots, etc. Don't rest the rod against the vehicle, or lean it against a tree, etc.

Just right away, put it in its case, and put the case in the vehicle.

This prevents breaking the rod. And it prevents leaving the rod behind when you drive off.

Both leaving the rod behind, and breaking fly rods are common. I've done both. When you're tired after fishing, it's easy to make mistakes.

 

[Canoetripper]

The other thing to consider is that heat damages fly line. Fly Rods in their cases and room temperature for fly line is optimal.

I have my grandfather's vintage 1964 Orvis Battenkill bamboo fly rod that I always wipe dry before I put it in its case.

That said, I do have a www.denveroutfitters.com rod rack on my vehicle that holds four fly rods. I fish a lot of fly rods where I go for many reasons, but I don't keep them in there when the weather is hot because I know that high temperatures is bad for fly lines.

I live alone and can pretty much leave anything I own just lie around until I need or want it. I don't do that any more.

I hire Amish women to clean my town home. They do a great job, but they don't know what a fly rod is lying across the bed with a dangling leader left on the floor is.

You may find this hard to believe, but when these good intentioned women were vacuuming the floor, the leader got caught in the vacuum cleaner and soon thereafter the rod tip on my Recon 9' 5 wt. when "snap, crackle, and pop" into four pieces.

100% my fault. That is what I told Orvis. Good thing that Orvis has that 25 year fly rod customer service agreement.

I obviously still employee the Amish women to clean my town home. It wasn't their fault that they broke my fly rod. It was my fault.

 

[dryflyguy]

I'm always looking for rising fish.
And usually end up doing a lot of pool hopping to find them. And that frequently involves getting in and out of the truck to check different areas.

If I kept re-rigging the rod to put it back in the tube every time I move, I'd spend almost as much time doing that as fishing.

So I just put it in the truck bed, with the tip up through the open cab slider window. The bed is covered with a cap.
I've never broke one yet - doing this for over 40 years now. (knock on wood)

If I move on to another stream, involving a bit of a drive, it goes back in its tube.
And also when I'm done fishing for the day.

I did learn the hard way years ago, to never put a rod on the cap roof.
As they say, out of sight, out of mind.
And if you absolutely have nowhere to stick it inside the vehicle short term, at least put it on the hood, so that you see it before driving off.

That said, if I fished with a really pricey rod, it would probably go back in the tube at every move

 

[tomgamber]

If it's hot and you have a long drive home and you leave it assembled, you may not get it apart when you get home. I usually take it apart when I'm done fishing for the day.

 

[pcray1231]

I often leave my 2 pcs rigged but reel the fly into the tip top, take it apart, and put it in a case which you can leave reel on.

I echo the sentiment. When you are starting to fish, the rod is the last thing to come out of the car. Put the waders and gear on first. When you are quitting, the rod is the first thing you put away, before taking the waders and gear off, cracking a beer, or whatever you do.

It's real easy to lay the rod somewhere and forget it's there! When starting, someone shuts a door, or steps on it. When quitting, forget it's laying across the roof and drive off.

 

[hooker-of-men]

If you're leaving it rigged, make sure to give the leader a good pull at both the fly line end and the terminal end when you go to fish again. I use a rooftop rod holder and leave rods rigged way too long. On one or two occasions, I've had older leaders snap at either end with very little pressure after they've sat a few days.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

I sometimes have mine set up in the basement.... I'm walking distance to Pennypack Park. I've knocked it down a couple of times while moving items in the basement.
When I'm driving the car I've been known to take the 4 piece and have it in the back seat as 2 pieces.....Rigged and ready to go. Again, i'm pretty lucky that I have not broken a tip this way.....

Ways I've Broken Tips>>>>>Coming in the house door with it still rigged.......Trying to change a fly when the fly is at the tip......Hitting an object such as a tree.

 

[poopdeck]

It’s rare for me to breakdown my rods. I transport them rigged and I store them rigged. Never an issue.

 

[JerryC]

I might have left them rigged at one time. These days when I'm done fishing, most times. I'll break the rod down, with line/leader still through the guides often with the fly attached. When I get home I'll clip off the fly, put the line and leader on the spool. Reel goes in one of the drawers in my rod rack, the rod broken down and in one of the holders. A couple of exceptions. My buddies and I have been getting a place in the Poconos for a week in late May. I rig the rods and they stay rigged for the whole. I break them down until I get in the boat. I just got back from Northern Ontario a couple of weeks ago. I rigged them when I got to the lodge on Saturday, and didn't break them down till Friday. I have a wooden milk box rocket launcher with a couple of rod holders on the side for the fly rods. The only time I broke them down was when a thunderstorm came up when we were at the dock. I broke them down and took them out of the holders along with the other rods.

 

[maxima12]

Mine is on the front porch, rigged with a yellow drake. Outside. Lot of stuff outside. Do i worry. No. Whole town has eyes on me, 1/2 beep and wave and 1/2 stops to say, Hello.

I am lucky. I earned it. Hard work, helping others, giving and always a share. My share, your share! Keep it all to yourself and never be noticed.

You can not keep it all forever. What a drag it must be, for only you!

Gave my rod to a friend, he took time to return it. Word got around town, i had no rod to go fishing. Now i have 5 rods.

Glasses, flies, and more. Money, Whiskey, food and friendship.

When they say, "it all comes around", Yes, it does!


Rod is always rigged. That is the experience. I get there, sit down, replace leader, fly, watch the water, check it out for stuff left behind.

Talk a lot, look around at the flowers, the rocks, the trees. I take my good ol time, know why? I am usually an hour or 2 early for the hatch. I usually have the fly! Lots of them. Come home empty, for another day. Flies gone , leaders gone, sitting on that rock watching fellow fishermen, "catching fish". Better than me doing it.

If i never caught another, i have caught more than i should!

If you only new!

Maxima12

 

[Solitariolupo]

I usually leave all my rods rigged up. The last fly rod I snapped the tip off. It was in 2 sections so when I grab it I grab the bottom of the rod and a couple inches from the tip and the fly got hung up and snapped the tip.

So now when I break it down to 2 pieces I put a hair band on it. One on the top and one on the bottom so they are supported. Get the small ones come in 50 packs at Walmart. No metal ones.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

troutbert wrote:
Here's what I've learned from hard experience, plus good advice from flyfishers on this forum:

When you're done fishing and get back to your vehicle, the very FIRST thing to do is break down the rod and put it in its case, and put the case back in the vehicle.

Do that before you take off your vest, boots, etc. Don't rest the rod against the vehicle, or lean it against a tree, etc.

Just right away, put it in its case, and put the case in the vehicle.

This prevents breaking the rod. And it prevents leaving the rod behind when you drive off.

Both leaving the rod behind, and breaking fly rods are common. I've done both. When you're tired after fishing, it's easy to make mistakes.

troutbert gives excellent advice. I do the same. Before doing ANYTHING take your rod apart and put it away.

 

[Canoetripper]

I just unrigged my fly rods. I know that I have to pull any kink in the fly line and leader until I use them again. They are now in their rod cases.

I do have two fly rods ready to go as I experiment with euro-nymph/winter fly fishing. I am new to this but have taken a course with TCO on Spring Creek north of State College and caught two/lost six.

I did catch one at my Pocono R&G Club.

I like the solitude of winter fly/euro nymph fishing. I am the only one there(Pocono R&G) on 3 miles of stream/820 acres in the woods.

If I catch one, that is good enough. I have other things to do like go for a hike and look for animal tracks, which will be a priority after a fresh snow fall.

I have a Garmin GPS watch. I can get lost in the woods and either go the Hansel & Gretel bread crumb or straight line back to where I started. This is one of my best toys.

I also have propane in these very primitive cabins and can experiment with cooking. I am not a chef. but can make breakfast and dinner work. and I am only two miles away from two bar/grills if I can't or don't feel like cooking.

I love it where I am at in the western Poconos. I have everything that I need and never have to go to the WAWA's or Dunkin Donuts, etc. and deal with all of the other tourists.

My local bar is also just that. It is not a tourist attraction. I kind of somewhat sort of know the regulars that are in there.

 

[Bamboozle]

The majority of my fly fishing life was fishing bamboo rods. As a result, I take REALLY good care of all of my rods no matter what they are made of.

Leaving a rod rigged up and outside of the aluminum tube that's only purpose is to protect your rod just to save a little time seems stupid to me. But maybe that's why I never broke a rod.

The ONLY thing I will do on occasion if moving a moderate distance is break down my rod while strung up and lay the sections on the back seat and rejoin it when I get to the next spot.

But considering how many times I've had to slam on the brakes to avoid a deer or some arsehole driver, that is rare too.

YMMV

 

[Canoetripper]

That said, I do have a vintage Orvis Battenkill bamboo fly rod that was built in 1964. That fly rod gets a lot more TLC than my other graphite fly rods.

 

[Bamboozle]

Canoetripper wrote:
That said, I do have a vintage Orvis Battenkill bamboo fly rod that was built in 1964. That fly rod gets a lot more TLC than my other graphite fly rods.

It may sound dumb to some, but all my rods; bamboo, glass & graphite get the same treatment:

Wiped down carefully after fishing and put back in their respective tubes.

When I get back to my home, hotel, cabin or campsite the rod(s) and the rod bag(s) are taken out of the tube, the tube is left uncapped and all sections are left out overnight or longer to dry out completely before being returned to the tube.

I do the same thing with reels & flies and leave them out overnight in the open to dry out.

I have a designated spot for this in my house and in hotels, I put stuff on a dresser or extra bed if there is one in the room.

This simple practice helps to prevent rusty hooks, tarnished reel seat hardware, milky wraps on rods; split, swollen or cracked reel seats and much worse with bamboo rods.

 

[Canoetripper]

I can't argue against what you do at all. It makes perfect sense. I have 3 miles of stream to fish and many different fly rods(my father's and grandfather's).

I leave them in my www.denveroutfitters.com rod vault when I am moving around where I do most of my fly fishing. I try to fish there as much as possible

It does get warm and too hot in the summer and I know from experience that heat is a fly line killer so I don't leave rods in the vault then.

Conditions and weather really need to be perfect for me to fish with my grandfather's Orvis Battenkill fly rod.

He taught my how to fly fish with this fly rod at a Dude Ranch in Wyoming. I still have the Fenwick fly rod from those vacations dating back to 1968. I haven't fished with that fly rod in a long time, but probably should as well.

I am not arguing with you and I am sure you know that.