skagit disaster

A friend broke the top section of my spey rod casting a skagit head when he pulled the butt section of the head into the guides before casting.

I set up my Rio skagit head (like a shooting head) by cutting it off of the thick factory running line so that I could loop it to a Rio 0.030" running line. The loop-2-loop connection hung up on a guide when my friend cast it taking off the top half of the tip section --snapped it off very cleanly. This friend, who shall remain unnamed, is a fairly adept spey caster who custom cuts his own lines for traditional spey casting but for some reason was not attentive as to where the loop connection was on the skagit head.

The loop I installed on the butt of the skagit head was a Rio braided loop, "chinese finger lock style", and did not appear to me to add much bulk to the line diameter, it was a lot smaller than the diameter of the head.

I custom built the rod with oversized guides and it still hung up. So, be aware of the possibility for damage, particularly if you let someone who is not experienced with them cast your skagit line if you cut it for loop connections.

Going to be $40 for the new tip blank, plus shipping and insurance both ways, plus 2-4 weeks without the rod.