Hi Russell,

Never broke one that I built but did break a store bought from high sticking.

Hi Russell,

I have never broken a self made but did break conventional from high sticking.

Bill

I have never broke a rod I built while fishing.

I'd rather be catching!

I've broken two rods. Both at the same time. I backed my boat back through some trees so my rear seater could flip on a bed fish. I 'didn't notice two of my DS Rods, that were tied down on the deck, had hooked on a tree. Snapped a Rainshadow RX 8+ 822.5 and a Shamano lite DS Rod. Needless to say I was bummed! Oh, and my back seater caught his personal best off of the bed. He was Happy...I was not!

Don Campbell
don@sensorfishingrods.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2015 10:23AM by Donald R Campbell.

None.

My wife broke the salmon rod I made her on her first fishing trip. She hooked a 14# Lingcod and I told her to raise the tip, so she slid the butt of the rod to the deck, and grabbed hold of the blank 2 feet from the tip and gave it a quick jerk up. Snap!! I was laughing so hard I couldn't be upset. She landed the Lingcod and thought it was beautiful. She's been hooked on fishing ever since. Only one of 100 or so rods I have built for my family that ever broke.

Can only recall one from fishing.....store bought graphite rod back when they just hit the market. Had caught a small snapper and was just lifting him into the boat when a big barracuda decided he wanted him for brunch. Couldn't help myself from reacting. In retrospect I knew it was my fault. Didn't feel so at the time because the fibergalss rods I had been using would have withstood it.

A lot of rods have been broken over the years....often by others. Car power windows may well be the number one cause. Don't think any of them were rods I built.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Since 1985 I've broken two rods that I've built. One clipped an overhanging branch and the very fine tip broke off 3/4" from the tiptop. The other broke two inches from the tip when I clipped a bridge in the middle of a roll cast. Obviously, both my fault.

Two. One, a 7-weight Forecast when I hooked a king salmon that was just way too big for it and high-sticked it at a bad angle. The second, a 3-weight AT Matrix while playing a 14-inch rainbow on a 6x tippet. It broke about two-thirds of the way up the butt section, a couple of inches below the ferrule. That one should not have broken. I figured there was a defect in that blank.

One rod broken, second fishing excursion with it, it was a flyrod (9' 7wt Diamondback Backwater blank) many years ago. Rather clean circumference break on butt section approximately 5" down from ferrule. Strange, ain't it? Never returned or pursued the matter with manufacturer, just considered it a bad buy/factory defect and moved on. Never bought another from aforementioned company which at the time was probably Cortland.

Break occurred on potential hookset/backcast and was noticed when rod felt "odd" as if something were coming apart. Leader and 6# tippet were all intact and not broken, had caught several smallmouth on rod earlier and in prior excursion. Some fibers or layers holding together, but for the most part the blank near separated in terms of structure. Strong and unusual place for breakage even if there is a significant defect or inconsistency, might have to do with the taper characteristics of the rod and where stress is concentrated. The blank was unusual in that way thus no big loss. One could almost guess the two sections were a sloppy mismatch despite fitting together and looking good.

Buy enough blanks and it'll happen, I guess. Built and rebuilt on some cheap blanks that may look like complete crap, yet they live on like fossils with awesome structural integrity. There's a lottery aspect to rodbuilding.

I once broke a Lew's speed stick casting rod, I didn't build it, but I did modify the reel seat and it was in the pre blank thru handle days. Snapped right in the middle of the seat while hooking a fish in heavy lilly pads, in Canada no less. Sat there with the reel in one hand and the front of the rod in the other. Never mind about the fish.

I've only been building since 2008, and so far, no broken blanks.

Over the years, I've broken 3 factory rods, all within the first few years after I started fishing. The first fell victim to a car door. The second broke while pushing a jig off of a log. The third broke during a cast. The break was clean and located under a guide wrap. I suspect it was a bur on the foot. It's the only one that I would consider as a candidate for materials/workmanship failure. I never sent it back to Quantum, as it didn't seem worth it on a $40 rod.

Bought a Loomis 6 ft. ultralight blank from Dale Clemens in the late 70's for $80.00 wholesale. Picked it up lightly a foot from the tip to move it out of the way on the front deck of the boat and it broke off in my hand I repaired it and it is still in use, but that was my last Loomis.

None fishing.

I have never broken a rod I have made on a fish. Trees, windows, doors, ceiling fans, and tailgates are an entirely different story...

I've broke two personal rods over the years, a G Loomis graphite noodle rod and a Fenwick fiberglass 12wt fly rod. Both of these were built as salmon trolling rods. Each suffered a similar fate.

The novice angler holding the rod (on my boat) didn't follow my post-netting instructions to relieve the tension on the line. The big salmon were just removed from the net, laying on the deck of my boat. As I replaced the net in the holder and reached for the pliers to unhook them, they began thrashing around on the deck and the tight line pulled the rod from the person's relaxed hand and the blank crashed hard against the inside edge of the gunwale. Neither broke at that time, but within a few days of fishing after that each failed.

I keep about 30 rods on my boat at any given time, using 6-12 at a time depending on how many people I have aboard. Some rods see 500+ hours of use a season under full load. None have failed under normal use. A few go back 30 +/- years (they've been rebuilt a couple times).

In the late 80's I had just built 2 Fenwick rods that were my best builds so far at that time. I was 18 or so. On a maiden trip with them I was fishing from a bridge in central WI for the spring walleye run. Within an hour I hooked a sturgeon and before I could react, it decided to swim as fast as it could downstream under the bridge. The rod touched the bridge and broke instantly. The other one broke a couple years later closing it in a hatch on a boat.

Another was a St Croix musky blank. I was fishing at night and felt what I thought was a fish. I reared back and the rod broke just above the butt guide. I was using a super line when it had first came out and wasn't used to the no stretch aspect. Between the line I was using, the force I applied and the bulrushes that I mistook for a fish, something had to give.

Another was a Loomis blank that broke on a normal cast about 12" from the tip. On a prior trip I had a lure hit the blank on a bad cast and I figured I fractured it then. I was right.

Never broke one that wasn't either mine or a fishes fault. Never thought I had one break due to a manufactures defect. I am sure there are defects but very rare. People that take advantage of the manufacturers warranty on something that they know was their own fault seriously bother me.

Had my rod in my hand and forgot I had the rod,used it to point to a fan that was running took 4 inches off the tip. I didn't know that tips could fly.

I broke one on a 5 lb. speckled trout trying to dead stick it. Dumb on my part plus it was one of my first builds but, none since then and I've been building for a little over 2 yrs now.