** NOTE ** A video for Splitting the Rod appears below.
Many of my formative lessons about trout fishing remain today, as guiding principle that shape the way I spend my moments streamside.. Some of these are simple things. Don’t waste time on the water. Give other anglers space. Be adaptable. Fish the mornings. Never show up late. Start the day with a walk, and fish where others don’t.
As a young teen, I remember taking responsibility for my own time on the water. The last thing anyone would call me back then was organized, but with fishing, I’d already learned that I needed a system to be effective. Being prepared and versatile rewarded me with trout that I knew I would never have caught if I hadn’t been ready. Fishing taught me to do the simple things now, because it makes life less complicated later. I’m still learning that. As fishermen, I think we’re all reminded of it every day.
My uncle was my mentor. I watched the way strung live minnows, how me cast upstream and drifted, how he bounced the rod tip and reeled in rhythm. I noticed that focus and determination were strong traits in him, and I did my best to imitate. I also learned his strategies for carrying and storing fishing gear. One of the best of those, but perhaps the least commonly known, is what I call splitting the rod.
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Pay With Your Time — Now or Later
I keep the fly and leader attached, but I split the fly rod in two pieces at the end of the day. Then I bind the parts with a small elastic hair tie. It’s how I transport fly rods in the truck and store them in my garage. And because I still follow that guiding principle of starting the day with a walk, I don’t re-assemble the rod until I’m streamside and ready for my first cast. It’s a process that takes mere seconds. Neither breaking the rod down nor putting it together is much of a time investment, but this simple procedure saves me a lot of frustrated time loss later on.
Because it’s such a simple process, I often split the rod for a hike through the woods or brushy banks too. How many times have you caught your line on grabby branches along the angler’s path? How much time have you wasted untangling long lines inside your vehicle or along the riverbank? For me, splitting the rod saves far more time than it costs. It’s convenient and efficient — and these things make me happy out there.
I hate stringing up a fly rod every day. So I keep my rods ready to go, with lines strung and flies attached. Splitting the rod easily saves me five to ten minutes of rigging time every day, aside from the unknown headaches that would result otherwise.
READ: Troutbitten | Tip — Don’t Rig Up at the Truck
READ: Troutbitten | Carry the Fly Rod in Front or Behind? An Eternal Debate Continues
Split It | Bind It
I’ve been surprised by how few anglers seem to know this is possible. I’ve watched other methods that achieve something similar (the most popular of which brings the rod tip to meet the reel seat) but none are as elegant as splitting the rod. None are as efficient.
Here’s the Process:
- Slide a hand under the lines, and grasp the rod above the middle ferrule junction
- Separate the sections, and let the rod tip dip down. (Careful not to cross lines here)
- Reel in the slack, and bind the sections with a hair tie or something else.
- Reverse the process to reassemble
I grew up using a simple handkerchief to bind the two sections. That’s fine. But honestly, thorns and briars grabbed that rag a little too often. Hair ties, for me, are like zip ties and duct tape — they are problem-solving solutions that keep finding their way into my system — “Oh, I can use a hair tie for that.”
Whatever you use, finish the job and bind the sections together, or you’re asking for trouble and more tangles later on.
Now, without getting too far into the weeds about (seemingly) frivolous things like hair ties, the brand of elastic might matter. My buddy, Josh, didn’t like the hair tie trick when I showed him, because the ties he bought were too strong, so he uses an elastic toggle instead. Goody’s makes the most durable and lasting hair ties, but for this use, a very solid stretch or two makes the binding much easier. Alternatively, you can buy cheaper hair ties that are already sort of broken in.
If you’re gonna buy hair ties (or anything else on Amazon) you might as well do it through the links below. Clicking through these links and purchasing anything at all kicks back a commission to Troutbitten, at no extra cost to you. THANK YOU for your support.
The simple tension knot that I use for binding the rod sections together becomes complicated in explanation. So watch the short video above for a good look at it.
Okay, that’s enough about hair ties. Let’s get back to trout fishing . . .
Split it. (Photo by Josh Darling)
Bind it. (Photo by Josh Darling)
Better Than a Rod Vault?
Yes. For me, splitting the rod is a far better solution than using a rod vault. Remember, I don’t really want to walk to the river with the rod strung up. I’d much rather have it split in two and tangling on things less.
Furthermore, I want my rods in the vehicle, with me, and not on top of my truck. I use (and love) the Smith Creek Rod Rack, where I keep a few rods ready to go at all times. They ride high up, near the ceiling and secure. So even with an Australian Shepard puppy and two kids, I’ve never had a problem.
Photo by Josh Darling
Do It
Splitting the rod is one of those tasks that saves us time even though it seems like it costs time. It also takes a few repetition to get the motions down and make the process easy. But it’s worth the effort. And even if you don’t make it a daily habit, splitting the rod will start to come in handy when you least expect it.
Split it. Bind it. And love your life.
Fish hard, friends.
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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
Wow. I struggled for quite a while trying to figure out a way to do this. I was hinging the two parts, i.e. swinging the tip down towards the reel, and it doesn’t work very well. It never occurred to me to do it your uncle’s way, with the tip ending up pointed away from the reel.
But how do you ensure that the flies stay put? Inevitably I’d get one hanging loose, and it’d get caught somewhere and cause much cursing. Going to give this a try.
And while I’m here — I never heard from you about the dorsey holder!
I was doing it wrong too, JP! Just like you, I was lipping the rod tip end down to the reel which doesn’t work at all well. What a relief to learn how to do it right! Thanks, Dom.
Had to come back to review this again…without recognizing it, I went back to flipping the tip down to the butt, which causes all kinds of grief trying to reel in the slack…duh! Seeing the hair tie reminded me also how much easier it will be to use them instead of the twisty ties I’ve been using.
How great to have this resource and the ability to search the archives with key words!
Great work, Dom!
Right on. Most anglers do what you said. But folding the tip back is actually harder, and I think it’s far more dangerous for the rod tip.
Cheers.
Dom
Dom – Good tip with the hair tie. I also break things down and use a reusable small twist tie (I think they are made by Nite Ize). The hair band looks pretty slick and much cheaper.
Elegant solution. Thanks, Dom.
As a former professional photographer I’d just like to complement you on your photography and well produced videos . You put all the youtubers to shame! And of course your articles are a blessing to new and as well to oldtimers like me in this great sport we enjoy.
Good tip, Sir, thanks for sharing. I’ve been doing similarly for a long time, and use “pipe cleaner” pieces I stole from my daughter’s craft supplies to secure the pieces together, one up at the tip and one near the reel. Inexpensive and available a Walmart, Hobby Lobby, etc. The method is a bit (ok a lot . . .) trickier with a strike indicator rig with 2 or 3 flies and split shot on and the leader is wrapped once around the reel with bottom fly hooked to an eye up on the top section of rod, but still worth doing. I oftentimes have 2 or 3 rods rigged up and secured together in a bundle this way for carrying in the vehicle to save time rigging at the stream or lake. This way you can accidently break all of your rods at once, which is way more efficient. 🙂
Do it the same way. Pipe cleaners twisted top and bottom instead of hair tie. Might have to try that way. Thanks
Pipe cleaners work too and so does my homemade rod single rod vault.. Cut off reel cover part of a canvas rod/reel case, duct taped to a 10ft section of 1-1/2 inch plastic pipe with a cap on the end , U-bolted to my truck cap rack.
As usual…always a top notch article with helpful information. Instead of using hair bands I’ve taken to using strips of Plant binding Velcro or other strips of velcro that are two sided. Once side is toothed the other is smooth. Why this…because I can carry it attacked to my hat, cap, pack, jacket or sweeter. It’s very cheep, a roll is around 5.00 at Big box shop and it can be used for so many other ‘open end’ applications. Once I even used multiple strips to bind a boot sole that had come unglued (after 7 years of hard use). The striping material comes in Green or red. I prefer the red.
Most areas I fish are in the bush with lots of saplings along the banks. For years now I’ve used an extra canvas rod sock over the split rod to get to my spots along the bank. Just slip it over and nothing can get to all the little catch points available along the rod.
Ok, Dom. I can do what you suggest with the addition of a second hair tie. After I put the fly on the keeper, I affix a hair tie right next to it to keep it there. Then I proceed like you suggest. Otherwise, particularly with a weighted nymph, the fly leaves the keeper when I separate the two sections and it flops around and gets tangled on the leader. What am I doing wrong? Thanks again for the tip.
Hey Bill,
I guess I just try to keep that tension a bit, while I’m doing the split. Trust me, if you do it fifty times, you’ll have it.
Dom
Do you split your rod with the mono rig the same way?
Yes. No difference. Easier, probably.
Was super excited when I first saw this, but there’s some major issues. The fly line loop to leader won’t flow through the eyes of the rod easily at all, so I’m not sure how you’re doing this ; you might have a very short leader, but you don’t show that in the video unfortunately. Can you explain that please?
Respectfully, if your loop is getting hung up like that, then there’s something wrong with your connection. Any good fly line to leader connection should NOT hang up like that. Loop to loop is the standard, and it will pass through fine if done properly. But it’s not the best choice, even if it is the industry standard. Here’s a better choice.
https://troutbitten.com/2019/03/06/loop-to-loop-is-bad-try-attaching-your-leader-to-the-fly-line-this-way/
Again, though, and good, clean collection will be fine while splitting the rod. We do this ALL the time.
Cheers.