Broken Rod Tip While Trout Fishing

I was fishing last weekend in the backwoods of the Tobiatic and Medway country on land owned by the Bowater Mersey Paper Company. The weather was lousy but the howling wind did keep the black flies away. There were lots of trout around and they were fussy enough to make the fishing quite challenging.

I was using a five weight rod and somewhere between stopping for a sandwich and starting fishing again I managed to break the tip. Not quite sure how it happened but now I have to fix it.

The good news is that the repair won't effect the action of the rod.  I base that judgement on the fact that I fished the rest of the day with the broken rod and had only slight problems with the line wrapping around the stub of the blank between the last guide and the missing tip-top.

It still cast well and could handle a feisty Speckled Trout.


Usually you can fix a broken tip right in the woods. The glue that rod builders use to secure the tip-top is a heat set glue so you just need a Bic lighter to heat the tip, pull out the old piece of the blank and slide the tip onto the remaining unbroken section. That will get you through the day until you can do a more permanent job.

This one broke flush with the base of the tip-top so I couldn't get the piece out to slide it on in a new position. I've ordered a new tip-top from Cabela's which puts my favourite rod out of commission until the new part comes.

Shad fishing has continued to be great. This is the best year in a long time for me with loads of fish each time out. Because my good rod is busted I've borrowed a rod from my daughter.

It's a 5 weight I built for her this spring.

The other day I found myself landing a whack of fish using a fly I designed and tied and a rod I built. Have to admit to feeling a bit of self satisfaction. There really is a lot more to fishing than the fish.

The Carters Bug Salmon Fly

One of the best all round but under-rated flies I’ve ever used is a little beauty called the Carters Bug. I had a couple given to me back in the early nineties by a gentleman from Greenfield while we were chatting on the bank of the Medway River.

I was doing a job in the Mill Village/Charleston area and used to drive to the nearest pool on the Medway River to watch the salmon fishermen while I ate my lunch.

As a matter of fact, the first Atlantic Salmon I ever saw caught was at the pool just down from the satellite station. I can’t remember the name of it right now. It was just where an old ruined dam on the far side slows the current that a grilse rolled.

 Richard Anthony who was watching too saw the fish, poled his river boat into position and hooked the fish within minutes; an impressive display to say the least.

Bryant Freeman's Carters Bug

It was as we were enjoying the spectacle that the fellow from Greenfield gave me two flies and encouraged me to try my hand at salmon fishing at first opportunity. The flies were Carters Bugs.

I gave them a try that weekend on a trouting trip to the Eel Weir in Kejimkujik National Park. The fly was magic. I lost the first one at some point and the second was so chewed up by the end of the day that it was almost unrecognizable.



That night I found out why the fly is so under-rated. It is a fish magnet without question but it is very difficult to tie a good one and almost impossible to find them in a fly shop. I’ve been trying off and on since then to tie a match to those original bugs. I sometimes come close but never quite get there.

The closest thing I’ve seen that compares to the Carters Bug for both trout and salmon is George Hardy’s Brown Bug, a renowned salmon fly for dry fly fishing salmon on the Garia Bay River. I can’t tie those worth a darn either but that doesn’t seem to matter to the fish.

A while ago Pat Donoghue from “ Nova Scotia Fly-fishing, Tying and Tall Tales” mentioned Bryant Freeman’s name to me in an email which led me to Bryant’s website. Imagine my surprise when I saw his comments on the Carter’s Bug. Spend a few minutes browsing his site and you will understand why I feel a bit better about not mastering this fly. I’ve rarely seen such high-end fly tying.

Bryant has a fine pedigree as a salmon fisherman and fly tyer. If you spend any time at all in the Medway Country you’ll hear more than one story about his Dad, Lew Freeman and his exploits fishing the Medway in those not so distant good old days.

My brother Warren wrote recently that there is some work being done on the Medway this year. There is a plan to lime the river as well as plantings of genetic stock to enhance the runs of sea trout and salmon.