Looking After Your New Rod

Never store a wet rod for any length of time.
Always dry the rod and the bag before you put it away.

To store the rod I recommend first the rod be placed in the rod bag.

For a one- piece rod place the heavy butt section down to the bottom of the bag.

For a two-piece rod store the butt section down to the bottom of the bag, and also the tip section with ferrule facing down to the bottom of the bag.

Then hang the bag from the opening with a clothes peg so the rod hangs freely.
This will keep the rod straight in storage.

Always

Check your rod frequently for damaged rings, varnish ect.

Make sure there is plenty of space to assemble or take down a rod.

Keep your ferrules meticulously clean, inside and out.

Never

Put a dirty ferrule together.

Leave a rod leaning against anything, or store a rod horizontally.

Use a fly line too heavy for the rod.

Twist or wrench a ferrule

Rod Balance

Its also a good idea to balance the correct weight of reel with the rod.
The old Standard methods to do this is the reel should weight (not including line or backing) 1.5 times as much as the rod. So, if you have a 5 oz. rod, fit it with a 7.5 oz. reel.