Bones won't join to mesh I am new to blender.  And have followed some youtube tutorials on creating and joining bones to an object (they make it look so easy!). It is a fishing rod FBX, I just want to add some bones to the rod so I can use dynamic bones in unity.
I have tried selecting the mesh and the bones and Ctrl P - trying:

Armature deform with automatic weights
Just selecting object

Nothing seems to happen, I have tried different things in &quot;new projects&quot; several time.  I sometimes also get an &quot;loop in parents&quot; error.
When I go into pose mode the bones are still separate to the mesh?
See screenshot below of the set up (the rod come in along the z axis, so I just left it there)
Any assistance would be very much appreciated.
Thanks

Thanks Josh,
That worked by  now the scale of the rod has increased by 100 and it has rotated 90 degrees along the y-axis?
Appreciate your help:)
In your file the armature is child of the mesh, while it should be the opposite: select the armature and press Alt P (clear parent).
Then select the mesh FIRST, shift select the armature (mesh has to be highlighted orangy, armature yellow), then press Ctrl P with automatic weights.
In this way, in pose mode the bones will control the mesh.