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The bad news is that the flash of inspiration for this blog post happened yesterday, as I was getting ready to shove off on a trip.

The good news is that my wife is now entered in this contest, not me.

We’ve all had rods break the normal ways, like when dogs eat them, we slam them in tailgates or screen doors, or walk the tips into trees, but Mrs. D discovered a new way yesterday.

I had just tied a leader on my new tenkara rod and walked away to go grab a fly from my tying bench. I wanted to get the whole thing rigged up before packing it down its tube, which is one of the beauties of fishing with a reel-less rod. So I leaned the rod against a chair and walked off…

That’s when the boss came with the vacuum cleaner, literally motoring around the corner. You can guess what happened next. The vacuum found the leader that was coiled on the floor. The Shark’s suction power is truly amazing, as advertised. In less than a second, the vacuum sucked up the leader, knocked over the rod, and broke off the tip of the rod (which, for those of you unfamiliar with tenkara, is actually attached to the line).

The good news is that I accepted the blame, and the house is clean. I also have a new idea that might replace the “motorcycle reel test.”

And now you have a chance to win a tenkara rod of your own. Give me the best real-life situation that spelled catastrophe for a rod — not the dogs or screen doors; something really stupid — and I will ease your pain by sending you a tenkara rod.

Good luck.