How to shorten a Heartland

[donfish]

I purchased a new Diawa Heartland on wednesday .While fishing soft plastic this morning i cast into the mangroves ,while retreiving the jig the line got caught on a stick and took 2" off the tip. NOT HAPPY JAN.

donfish

[LakeConjolaFish]

Bummer, believe me I feel for you.

The only suggestion that I can make is if you have the top eye that broke off is to put that on the tip of the rod now, if you dont have it buy a suitable size one.

Now depending on where the next eye is, it might cause them to be close but you haven't got a lot of options.

I would also take the rod back to where you purchased it from because graphite rods usually fail after they have been given a fracture usually from a very sharp rap on something hard, later under pressure whilst fighting a fish is when the crack will fail.

A friend of mine who works in a tackle shop said that rods get a pretty rough time of it from "tyre kickers" so maybe just maybe your rod was faulty when you walked out of the shop with your new pride and joy.

The shop might be willing to do a warranty claim for you as the rod is only a week old.

If thats not an option for you and you want to repair it and am not sure how to go about it PM me and I will go into more detail about it with you.

Hope that helps you a bit after your rotten bad luck.

[donfish]

Hi Jim
Thanks for the reply I may be able to buy a new tip section its a 3 piece rod with a very fine tip section 7'6" overall cast light jigs a mile . It looks like an easy repair if the whole tip section is not available. the tip is like a 5 weight fly rod.

donfish

[LakeConjolaFish]

Don,

I know exactly the rod that your talking about the 7' 6" Heartland.
I actually was holding one in a shop this morning.
A great feeling rod and as you said 3 piece.

I was SO tempted to but this one today, but luckily my wife was with me so I walked out without it but can't stop thinking about it.

It was only $138-00 which seemed very cheap considering how nice it felt.

Do you plan to use it in a boat or just land based?

Even relatively small fish will bend that tip quite nicely!!!

Hope you enjoy it and have it fixed soon :)

[donfish]

yeah Jim they fish quite well .I fish from a boat most of the time .
I have a 4 mtr brooker punt with 30 mariner & minn kota bow mount with auto pilot lowrance lms 350a sounder 2x40 litre live wells 2x85 amp deep cycle batteries also 16.5' colarado canoe with 36 pound minn kota.

plenty of toys


donfish

[LakeConjolaFish]

Sounds great Don, I bought the 6'6" last week and love it.

But I nearly bought the 7'6" today:) That extra foot just seemed sooooooo nice:)

[Dave W]

Sorry to hear about the rod Don:(

After hearing a few similar stories lately, I've been seriously paranoid about loose line wraps around the tip....

Oh Jim, Don's boat is very nice - just the right set-up for estuary fishing, I think I still owe you a trip Don:D

[donfish]

I took the broken Heartland back to the shop today and it looks like they will replace the tip under warranty. They come with 12 months warranty. I also ordered a couple of new tip sections.

donfish