Fishing earlier today, I lost my step and fell flat on my butt. With my rod in hand, the tip slammed into a rock and the epoxy to the third guide down cracked a tiny bit. I'm pretty sure the warranty does not cover for this (Powell Max) so is there any way to fix this? 

 

Edit: I was still able to fish with it fine even after this happened, the blank was ok.

I would just keep an eye on it, but being that far down, it shouldn't matter a whole lot. Although, that is the part of the blank that does a lot of bending.

I would just keep an eye on it, but being that far down, it shouldn't matter a whole lot. Although, that is the part of the blank that does a lot of bending.

 

Would sanding it down a tiny bit and putting some 5 minute epoxy on do any good? If so what brands work well?

I wouldn't fool with it and just keep a watch on it. If the crack starts to propagate, then I would take action. A couple of my rods have some cracked epoxy aroung the guides and it's never been a problem. Just watch it, you'll probably be OK.

Fish with it a few more times and if the guide starts to move or the crack gets bigger then take it to a guy who builds custom rods and have him rewrap that guide. shouldn't cost you but $10-$15. 

A couple of things: if the rod was bent enough to crack the epoxy, keep a close eye on the blank the next couple of time you load it up good. Water can penetrate and degrade the wrap. There are different was to address the repair depending on how important cosmetics are to you and how bad the damage is. 5 min epoxy won't flow and level properly. You'll need a repair kit with rod builder's finish epoxy. You can scuff the remaining epoxy a little bit with 250 sandpaper and re-coat. For a perfect job, the guide would be rewrapped and coated. The down and dirty fix is to just seal it up with some clear nail polish (Sally Hansen Hard as Nails).

A couple of things: if the rod was bent enough to crack the epoxy, keep a close eye on the blank the next couple of time you load it up good. Water can penetrate and degrade the wrap. There are different was to address the repair depending on how important cosmetics are to you and how bad the damage is. 5 min epoxy won't flow and level properly. You'll need a repair kit with rod builder's finish epoxy. You can scuff the remaining epoxy a little bit with 250 sandpaper and re-coat. For a perfect job, the guide would be rewrapped and coated. The down and dirty fix is to just seal it up with some clear nail polish (Sally Hansen Hard as Nails).

 

Went fishing today, did not have any problems with the guide. I'm going to continue fishing with it unless the crack gets bigger, then I'll take it to a local shop.