A question posed recently by a customer:

Everytime I go fishing the sections come loose, and fall out.  I don’t know if this is something that is normal or not.  It may be my bad casting also.  Should I be concerned?

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The same thing happens to me also.  The more sections a rod has, the more likely those sections are going to work loose due to all the 1,000’s of flexings during an outing.

 You should be concerned for a couple of reasons:   1st:  If the tip flies off into sand or dirt, you have probably just picked up some grit that can damage the ferrule when you put it back together.

2nd:  Of great concern  – –  as a ferrule loosens and the sections start to move apart while casting, the male part tends to wobble back and forth in the female, which is now not properly supported.  As the two sections almost come apart, there is now almost no support. The female could split or the male could develop a crack due to the unsupported stress points applying so much pressure against each other.

Many people in trying to care for their new rod,  do not push the sections together tight enough.  In spite of this, they still can come loose after a long outing of aggressive and repetitive casting.

Do this:   Visually line up the guides, then PUSH STRAIGHT very snugly. Don’t be afraid of pushing too hard.   Do NOT TWIST the sections when pushing together because they can permanently lock, rarely,  but I have seen it happen often enough to be a concern.

During an outing, make a conscious effort to check all ferrules every 30 to 60 minutes.

If the sections are becoming loose often,  take the rod home, clean the ferrule ends thoroughly with soap, then dry and apply strokes of parafin, wax stroked on the male ends.  An old candle will do.

The wax should hold things together, but wax can also attract and hold grit if allowed to come in contact.   Whatever you do,  do not allow the rod, especially the ferrule ends to come in contact with any sand, grit, or dirt.  One grain of sand between two ferrule joints when you are pushing, pulling, or twisting will severely  and permanently gouge the graphite surface.

 When un-jointing, you can then TWIST a quarter of a turn and pull at the same time. Do not hold the snake guides during this move.

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If your rod does happen to be bamboo,  NEVER, absolutely NEVER twist the ferrules, whether joining or disjoining.  Doing so can actually cause the ferrule to separate from the bamboo section.