Head-Butted by a Nymph

I went fishing one morning a week or two ago on a day when I really shouldn’t have gone. It didn’t go well. Constant and quite strong gusts were troublesome from the start sending my mayflies, so lovingly tied during the winter evenings, into the trees one by one. The few naturals coming down were also clearly struggling with the conditions and were left unmolested by any trout that might have been there.

​After a fruitless hour or so I tied on a fairly heavy nymph and shortened the leader right down. But the wind continued to frustrate almost every cast until at last, in a partly sheltered spot, a small reckless trout made a grab and soon slipped over the rim of the net.

The next cast was badly timed and a wild gust sent the nymph and leader into a disastrous spiral around the rod. The very next attempt caught in my hat and the next somehow got itself tangled in my net. The next – and last, was even worse. During a pretty risky attempt at a bit more distance and with an uncontrollable back-cast, another gust swung the nymph wildly about, head-butting my precious little Sage rod with an alarming crack. The gold head had fractured the delicate hollow top section a foot or so from the tip which then quickly broke in two. It was a solemn and unhappy drive home.

I was unable to locate a replacement tip anywhere for my ten-year-old friend and sadly it looked like a write off. But a repair kit found online miraculously did the trick. A 2mm diameter solid carbon insert, coated with a strong two-part adhesive, fitted perfectly inside the two sections joining them nicely together. It casts well and during recent less windy sessions seems to have lost little or none of its lovely action and so far it has handled quite a few very athletic Frome fish comfortably. With an ounce of luck there might be more active years ahead for my precious rod – perhaps more than there are in me.

For the repair kit, just search “goture fishing rod repair kit” available through Amazon. There are various kits each containing several diameter black carbon rods, these can be easily cut to a suitable length as necessary. I chose the kit with a 2mm diameter section in it which fitted neatly inside my rod.

Will Bown

Ephemera danica Green Drake (prob male) – Photo Will Bown