Stowing Fully-rigged Fly Rods in the Car

Years ago, I spent a few weeks running around the wilds of Chile–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 fly rod, but still keep your entire rig intact, i.e. reducing the length of your fly rod by half to fit in smaller spaces…

Here are the basic steps:

1. Reel your fly to the top of your fly rod, but leave a little bit of sack–just a couple inches or so.

2. Find the middle fly rod ferrule and take the two sections apart–this means for four-piece rods, you’ll have two sections.

3. Fold the tip of the fly 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 (tightly holding both pieces together).

5. Double check and make sure the tip of the fly rod is above the bottom of the butt end of the rod, protecting it from breakage. If not, simply unhook the fly and reel in a little of the top section, then re-hook the fly in the cork.

This is an easy, “fairly safe” way to fit a fully-rigged fly rod in a car–give it a try on your next adventure.