Learning how to fix a broken fishing rod will help anglers save time, money and frustration. Fish long enough and it will eventually happen to you. Sometime and somewhere you will either step on your fishing rod, slam it in a vehicle door or bang it against something and the rod will break. I have broken a handful of rods throughout the years and some I have been able to repair myself and others I have had to send off to the manufacturer. The location of the break usually determines whether it is salvageable by do-it-yourself repairs or if you need to send it into a professional or the manufacturer.

The easiest fix and the one I have experience doing is repairing a broken rod tip. If the break is near the tip or halfway between the tip and the first-rod guide, I just put the old tip back on the rod. I usually remove the piece of rod blank stuck in the tip by heating the tip and pulling out the blank with a pair of needlenose pliers.

Next, I whittle down the end of the rod blank with a knife or razor until I can get the old tip to fit snugly over the blank. Then I heat up a stick of Fuji Hot Melt Glue and dab the end of the rod blank with the melted glue. I insert the blank into the tip and line up the rod at eye level and look through the rod guides to make sure the tip is in alignment with the guides. Once I see the tip is lined up straight, I press down on the tip to secure it on the blank.

After pressing down on the tip, I wipe off any excess glue that came out of the tip onto the blank. I stand the rod in a rod rack and let it sit for 24 hours before using it.

Another quick way to fix a broken fishing rod when the rod: When the rod is broken close to the first guide of the rod is to cut off the blank down to the first guide and make the guide the new tip. You lose a lot of sensitivity with this quick fix so I would recommend only doing this in a pinch if it is the only rod you have available at the time. For any rods broken below the first guide, I would recommend sending the rod to a rod repair specialist or the rod’s manufacturer.