Is exposing rods to the cold bad for them? 2024
Fishin' Fool reply :
I have my rods in the garage right now but it's been such a cold winter I'm considering moving them downstairs in the basement. Anybody have any evidence that the cold temps are bad for my rods?
A-Jay reply :
As much as we are both in a deep state of bass fishing hibernation ~
My rods spend the vast majority of it in the garage as well.
Temps hang around 30 all winter out there - never recognized any ill effects to them from it.
Wish I could say the same for myself . . . .
A-Jay
Delaware Valley Tackle reply :
You're safe.
Dtrombly reply :
Nope, should be good.
tander reply :
Never hear of cold hurting rods, but it does hurt fishermen. 
Adam.love05 reply :
What about using rods in the cold? And by cold I mean 15-20°f... I've never experienced any problems, but this thread got me thinking about the blanks getting cold and possibly getting hairline cracks because it isn't able to flex as well..
I guess worse comes to worse, they break and I'd have to buy myself some new ones! Haha
Angry John reply :
I would loosen the reel seat after fishing, to prevent excessive stress from heat cycling maybe I just worry to much.
Fishin' Fool reply :
On 1/15/2018 at 7:05 AM, Adam.love05 said:What about using rods in the cold? And by cold I mean 15-20°f... I've never experienced any problems, but this thread got me thinking about the blanks getting cold and possibly getting hairline cracks because it isn't able to flex as well..
I guess worse comes to worse, they break and I'd have to buy myself some new ones! Haha
I would think you'd be more likely to experience a stress break in extreme cold weather but what do I know. I guess this would be a question for someone from Loomis or Shimano.
DINK WHISPERER reply :
I don't wanna find out so I always store mine in the "fishing closet".
BrackishBassin reply :
I don’t think it’ll be an issue. Repeated heating and cooling in very short periods of time could be a problem, but I’m not an engineer or a chemist. So, I’m not sure how the specific materials in rods would react to cold temperatures over an extended period of time.
Delaware Valley Tackle reply :
If 10#> steelhead bending a ML rod in 10*< temps doesn't break anything your rod in the garage will be fine.
Johnbt reply :
I am more concerned with putting a wet rod in the garage and getting some small damage here and there when the ice swells. I'd really worry about putting up a wet reel. My girlfriend's 3-car garage isn't attached to the house and with the temps having gone as low as -2 recently I don't want to find out if it's safe or not. Three rod racks don't take up that much floor space in the house. (Okay, the big surf rods do take up some space, but what can I say. They delicate tools. 
) And being quite close to the James River there's the daily dose of heavy dew to contend with. Pretty, but it even makes mowing difficult in the middle of the summer.
There are some plastic 5-gallon jugs of water in the garage for flushing the toilet when the power goes off and the well isn't working. They froze solid.
Okay, time to get ready to take her to her 7:45 appt with the dental surgeon for a little gum work.
tholmes reply :
I store all of my fishing rods in an unheated shed with temps as low as -5*F and have never had any problems.
Tom
Sam reply :
I was told many, many years ago that heat is not a rod's friend as heat can have an adverse affect on the glue and wrap holding the line guides.
I store all tackle in my upstairs man cave in my home and have never thought about how cold could have a negative impact on the rod's composition.
And we do have winter fishing and tournaments where the guides get frozen but no one has written about their rod's breaking due to the low temperatures.
So take the advice above and don't be concerned about the cold temperatures on your rods.
Tywithay reply :
I have been working in aircraft composites for over a decade and have never once heard of an issue brought on by cold temperatures. I assure you, it's much colder at 35,000ft than it is in your garage.
ww2farmer reply :
They are all garbage now. Send them to me, I work in the trash business and I will get rid of them properly. Just to be safe, better send the reels too (only if they are LH).
Tywithay reply :
On 1/15/2018 at 7:46 PM, Johnbt said:I am more concerned with putting a wet rod in the garage and getting some small damage here and there when the ice swells. I'd really worry about putting up a wet reel. My girlfriend's 3-car garage isn't attached to the house and with the temps having gone as low as -2 recently I don't want to find out if it's safe or not. Three rod racks don't take up that much floor space in the house. (Okay, the big surf rods do take up some space, but what can I say. They delicate tools.
) And being quite close to the James River there's the daily dose of heavy dew to contend with. Pretty, but it even makes mowing difficult in the middle of the summer.
There are some plastic 5-gallon jugs of water in the garage for flushing the toilet when the power goes off and the well isn't working. They froze solid.
Okay, time to get ready to take her to her 7:45 appt with the dental surgeon for a little gum work.
Graphite is non-porous. The only water that's going to freeze will be on the outside of the rod, or the eyelets.
Bankbeater reply :
My rods are in the basement when not in use, no matter what time of year.
Johnbt reply :
Sure, or in porous or cracked cork, or under the guide wrapping, or in the metal threads. I'm not saying it will happen, but the eternal dampness in this neighborhood is a concern.
Every time one of the garage doors opens after it's been cold for a few days condensation forms on the floor and quite a few other places up higher. Due to the high water table ( she has a 20-foot well that's never run dry in 24 years) and heavy clay soil, the garage required an exceptionally deep concrete foundation that holds the cold. It's great during the summer, especially stretched out on the floor under the riding mower or boat trailer. "Yes dear, I'm working, can't you see?"
After some of our frequent thunderstorms I've been known to throw duck decoys into the big puddles that form in the front and back yards. Sometimes they don't drain for a couple of days. I even fooled the farmer next door the first time the driveway flooded enough to float a few decoys.
Adam.love05 reply :
Thinking about it.. we use the same graphite in the rods for ice fishing and they don't seem to be bothered by the cold.. and those things get wet, freeze, dropped and about bent in half.. so I guess it's not as bad as I initially thought it could be..
Further North reply :
My rods stay out in an unheated, detached, boat specific garage all year. No issues.
My cars stay in a heated, attached garage all year where the temperature never drops below 50°. No problems there, either. 
...and it sure is nice when it's -20° outside...
dupert reply :
What they said. I store my rods and reels in the garage all of the time and got no issues whatsoever.
Preytorien reply :
I'd like to chime in with some kind of "mine have never broken in the winter on the water" but that's just not the case for me. Mine have the reel seats, drag stars, and tension knobs loosened sometime in late November and usually stay that way, sitting in the rack, until sometime in usually Mid-March. 
ratherbfishin1 reply :
One of my friend broke an ice rod bc the eyelet froze over not allowing the line to move and so he went to reel it in and thought he had something on there he broke the tip off. But that’s probably just a fluke accident and he was using a super ul rod.
Boomstick reply :
Just loosen up your drag and tension knob, but you should be fine as long as you keep them dry. Now if you have any mono spooled on those rods however that's going to be shot.
J Francho reply :
Wait, the cold will ruin mono? Sorry, fish for steelhead all winter long, with mono, and graphite rods. They get wet. Sometimes I even toss them in the snow for a pic. No ill effects.
The fish don't know your rod and reel are freezing!
Joshua Vandamm reply :
On 1/15/2018 at 7:34 AM, Fishin' Fool said:I would think you'd be more likely to experience a stress break in extreme cold weather but what do I know. I guess this would be a question for someone from Loomis or Shimano.
This is true. I’ve seen a few people break rods in 20F. I’d like to know what kind of rods are good/bad in cold. Glass probably better than graphite but idk
MN Fisher reply :
I keep my rods in the un-heated garage all winter, always have.
Couple of them have been exposed that way for 30 years or more - and the temps here regularly drop below zero in deep winter. I've never seen/felt any difference from them due to the cold. Garage should be safe.
Heartland reply :
I run over a few of mine when it was cold outside and they broke.
WRB reply :
On 1/17/2018 at 11:13 PM, J Francho said:Wait, the cold will ruin mono? Sorry, fish for steelhead all winter long, with mono, and graphite rods. They get wet. Sometimes I even toss them in the snow for a pic. No ill effects.
The fish don't know your rod and reel are freezing!
I would agree until I gave my inlaws 600 yd spools if Big Game mono to keep for me to fish Lake of The Woods, Ontario. The line after a winter stored up there was like wire comming the spools in stiff coils, ruined it. It gets 40 to 50 below zero up there!
Tom
J Francho reply :
That's new meaning to "cool, dry storage!"
Joshua Vandamm reply :
On 12/16/2018 at 9:28 AM, WRB said:I would agree until I gave my inlaws 600 yd spools if Big Game mono to keep for me to fish Lake of The Woods, Ontario. The line after a winter stored up there was like wire comming the spools in stiff coils, ruined it. It gets 40 to 50 below zero up there!
Tom
Lines a different story for sure. Braid and mono absorb water...
Team9nine reply :
On 12/16/2018 at 6:21 AM, Joshua Vandamm said:This is true. I’ve seen a few people break rods in 20F. I’d like to know what kind of rods are good/bad in cold. Glass probably better than graphite but idk
I think the only rods that would explode in the cold were the old 100% boron rods in the 80s/90s. Wasn't an overly common occurrence, but they were much less able to handle stress and abuse. When they went, "they blowed up real good" ????
MickD reply :
On 12/16/2018 at 8:51 AM, Heartland said:I run over a few of mine when it was cold outside and they broke.
Has to be the cold. Couldn't be the truck. ????
CrankFate reply :
Mine overwinter in the garage. No problems, but I always wonder.
Bluebasser86 reply :
Mine stay in the boat in my shop, which runs 40-50 degrees depending on the outside temps. Then I fish all winter, which can be anywhere from 50-0 degrees depending on how mad I am at the fish. I can only remember breaking one rod in the winter, a Carrot Stix, folded in half during the cast like a wet noodle, so take that for what it's worth.
related Fishing Rods Reels Line Knots topic
previous topic
most viewed Fishing Rods Reels Line Knots topic
© 2024 - fishing.qciss.net. All Rights Reserved.