Maybe a stupid question but I was wondering, I store my rods in an unheated area as I have no heated storage space to keep them. Will this affect them in any way?:confused:

i don't think you have to worry about it. i used to store mine in an unheated garage and never noticed any problems, 'cept for a sniffle or two:D . back in the early days of graphite they said extreme cold could break a rod under stress, never happened to me personally, and i used to fish in pulaski in jan. and feb.

I was into some gator bloos in early november... it was probably hovering around 35 to 40 degrees and on one really big bloo, the flexcoat on all of the guides cracked. I think that the cold had something to do with it, but I'm not 100% sure about it. But as far as sitting in a cold garage... Naaaa, they will be ok. :D

the cold makes things more brittle

There might be some adverse effect if it went from hot to cold repeatedly, but I'm not sure what.
One thing I noticed is that keeping a rod out in the rain for extended periods of time is a bad idea.
When I'm near my girlfriends house and I have the 11' I keep it in the backyard and after a while the coating on all the wraps become opaque. I saw one guy's rod and it stayed like that. Real ugly. :cool:

The colder it gets the more time I take freeing my guides of ice....oh rods....mine shrinks like a turtle and hides for warmer weather:).

So..Acording to GS...BF wont be big to much longer...:laughs:

no, the cold has no impact on rod storage. but, make sure your rods are stored so that they are not leaning against a wall or something where a bend is in the rod. over a long period of time, the rod can have part of this bend "set" in it. this is especially true if a rod is in a vehicle with extremely hot temps in the summer. try to put the rods flat on the floor or hanging horizontally on the ceiling.

rods do not really become more brittle in the cold, but they can feel "tighter". i have noticed this in the deep fall when temps are below 30. usually most noticeably on a graphite rod. i ice fish with a solid carbon graphite rod in air temps of -40 and never noticed any problems with the rod. i am by no means gentle on ice equipment.

Originally posted by Got Stripers
mine shrinks like a turtle and hides for warmer weather:).

Chicken Skin and an Acorn

extream cold can make steel brittle so i guess it could do something to normal rod finishes and epoxy. as long it is not -50 i dont think you will have a problem with storing rods in a unheated space

NO.

Not while in storage.

other than frozen guides and a frozen fisherman at the other end . No, cold does not affect fishing rods !