Take Good Care of My Baby!

Don't make me call rod protective services

Working on the assumption that you can tell a dewberry from a dingleberry, taking care of your split bamboo Grassland Fly Rod (and knowing why you should take care of any split cane fly rod) should not be a chore.

If well-loved, your rod can be passed down to your children's children's children.

It does help if you already have great-grandchildren.

How to/Why to (?)

Assembling the Rod

NEVER twist the male ferrule into the female ferrule.

Is that clear?

The ferrules are glued to the rod blank (the six sided bamboo "shaft" without guides or anything else) and wrapped with silk thread.

The gap between the male/female ferrules is, as has been said, the thickness of smoke.

If twisted while assembling, the nickel- silver alloyed ferrules will definitely stick and probably gall.

Afterwards you'll be standing there holding 30" of semi-naked tip section and a but/mid-section with mated ferrules.

At that point you probably won't curse the day you were born, but I wouldn't negate that possibility.

A super light coat of WD-40 on the male ferrule can help, but wipe it off after disassembling.

Start top to bottom - tip section to midsection (if it's a three piece rod), then midsection to butt.

Align guides, make sure the two sections are lined up nearly perfectly.

It doesn't have alignment dots. For a fly rod that is definitely déclassé.

Oh, go ahead and put Sharpie dots if you insist, but not on the cane - ferrule only.

Keep your hands a couple of inches down/up from the ferrules.

Push Together and if there is significant resistance, stop.

Start over.

There will be normal resistance, but it will feel "proper"

Attach the reel.

Fish.

Disassembling

Reverse the process with one exception:

Pull Apart with the rod as straight as a preacher and both hands 18", or thereabouts, from the ferrules

Time for the semi-mnemonic

"Push together, pull apart"

Pulling apart can be tough - there are a number of YouTube videos illustrating the process

Where You Do The Above?

Do not do any of anything ever with a car or truck door open.

My suggestion is to assemble/dissemble near the hood of the vehicle and then lay the rod across the hood when finished

If in your lust for a Jack & Pepsi you roar out of the parking area heading to the Copper Penny on the way home, you might be halfway there before you remember you left the rod leaning against the tailgate that you also forgot to close.

If the rod is lying across the hood you'll probably notice it before the roaring begins

Why?

Doors of any ilk kill more rods than moose and children combined.

Assembling the rod near a closed door seems safe enough until you realize you left the moose repellant on the floor board, open the door to get it and then - in your excited madness to cast that fine, fine superfine Grassland Fly Rod on the Frying Pan during a hatch of every mayfly known to God and man - you slam the door.

The scientific community has confirmed that fly rods are drawn to car doors like moths are to a flame.

Extinguish the flame.

Done Fishing, eh?

Keep a clean white cloth (sock, Pointer Sisters t-shirt, etc.) in your vehicle or fly vest and wipe down the rod to remove moisture and mud, but don't grind sand into the varnish.

Do NOT put the rod in it's case for 24 hours. Leaving in the sock is okay if the sock is completely dry, but it's better to leave it bare.

IF you have to toss moose antlers into the back where the rod is, put it in the case/tube without the rod's sock/sleeve and follow the previous instructions where it is safe and sound, home probably.

Trees, Bushes, Weeds, Moose

Inevitably a fly will tangle in something you can't reach, probably more than a few times during the day. That's certainly my experience.

Do NOT yank and flail away. Gather your diminishing wits and point the rod towards the offending fly and pull the line straight. You will probably lose the fly.

"C'est la vie", say the old folks

Mounting the Reel with a Band

Be gentle and sensible, okay.

Rod Storage

More nevers.

NEVER leave the rod assembled and leaning against anyhing. This will put a bend in the rod, probably the tip section.

Also, if the rod is assembled in the house, you're quintupling the odds of closing one door or another on the rod.

Keep the rod in your climate controlled abode rather than the garage or car.

It used to be my baby.

Now it's yours.

Don't leave the other kind of baby in a car, either.

The glued rod sections have been heat-treated for four hours to get them conditioned to high heat, but, well, just don't do it. You get the idea.

Keep the rod in it's sock and case/tube lying flat or propped up on some thing stable.

FISH the Damn Thing

That's why it exists.

It is not an ornament - it's tool.

A purty thing it is, if I do say so myself, but so is your 'vette.

Drive it, too.