How it happened

We had but a couple guests at Fortress that weekend. I seldom make plans to fish but for an hour a day with people, but these guests wanted me to fish with them. The day started slowly. We noticed flocks of birds on the lake about 1km away and motored over to see a good chironomid event and wound up catching several nice fish in short order before the "hatch" waned and we switched over to casting a few streamers. I managed to break my rod while fighting a fish, breaking at the ferrule. I managed to land the fish using three pieces, and was going to quit because there was a growing discrepancy in numbers caught, but the two encouraged me to fish. The assumption was that I'd revert to the chironomid rod. I tried that for 10 minutes but nothing much happened and I couldn't get it out of my head that the fish were much deeper and I'd had hit after hit on the streamer I'd been using. That, plus the fellows were catching on streamers while I had to wait and wait for my single chironomid to get down. I looked at my broken rod, reeled in my floating line, and picked up the broken bit. To my surprise, 3 bits of a rod with a type 5 line can still shoot well into the backing by adding an extra false cast. The broken graphite eats into your hand a little, and the rod is a little tough to grasp as well due to the lack of cork in the grip, but the principle remains the same. Flex and shoot. And it did just that. The other concept of concern was landing fish. The first cast, fish on. That graphite ate into my hands a little more. So I put a glove on (genius, I know). It wasn't fluid nor really easy, but it worked. And for some reason the fishing Gods smiled on my spot because while the two fellows were in their boat 40 yards from mine, I proceeded to cast and catch fish 4 of 5 casts while they periodically had a bump, hit, or fish landed. I felt awkward. In one boat was a broken rod shooting into the backing, catching 30 or 40 trout, while in the other the fishing was slow. I stopped several times and when asked why, I just kind of played coy. They insisted I continue. So I did. The fish never really did stop. Thankfully, the two began to have equal success at another shoal.
So, how did it happen that I was able to do so well with a broken rod? It was the lower section of the rod that was broken, not the tip. Yes, a cork grip is nice but not necessary. A longer rod is nice so that your false casts don't whistle by your ears, but it's not necessarry. A longer rod is nice to keep your false casts off the water, but if you speed the line up and allow the load and shoot to carry, a long rod isn't necessary. Shooting line to the backing is no harder with a 6 foot rod than it is with a 9 footer. A butt to hold onto to control the line at your feet is a little nicer, but if you make sure that on your retrieve you lay loops of line on the floor of the boat instead of just twisting coiled line atop itself, you can ensure that tangles are kept to a minimum. Broken bits of graphite can get into your hands, but if you clean the broken end and wear a glove, you can avoid the splinters (even better - a bit of duct tape would work). While fighting the fish, all one has to do is slide your hand up the rod a touch and hold it 18" higher, thus gaining leverage by using your lower fore arm and wrist to keep the pressure off one spot (your grip). The tough part is netting your own fish at that point, mind you, as the leverage I just spoke of is lost when you slide your hand back down the rod to gain height with the rod tip to get the fish' head out of the water to slide the net under it. But, you make do. So, if you're out and break the lower end of your rod, it isn't the end of the day. Just find a place for your broken piece for the day, find a place for your reel so you can store some line, and give it a go. Improvise a bit. It's just a broken rod.