How did I snap off my rod tip? Well, I was fighting this sailfish off the south Venice jetty and … OK, the truth is I accidentally caught the tip on the door chain in my shed. I gave the rod a yank and heard the tiny hardware clink on the cement floor. Then it bounced into my forest of half-used spray paint cans — lost forever. Not that finding the little circle would have mattered.

See, I can fix sirloin tips (though not willingly) but rod tips are beyond my capabilities. On the other hand, I wasn’t quite ready to just toss the topless pole — you never know when you will need a stick to support your tomato plants. So instead of putting it on death row, I sentenced the rod to solitary in the rear of my shed. It’s where I keep my other disabled toys, like my dyslexic talking snowman lawn ornament (“Kerry Mistras, Kerry Mistras”).