CLOSED: The Broken Rod Poll; Edited, New Catagory

How did you break your rod? Multiple Choice Poll;

  • Careless; rod was transported improperly; rod stepped on by man / dog, jammed tip into ground etc

    Votes: 204 48.0%

  • Improper use; pulling too hard on snag, had hand up the shaft while fighting fish etc

    Votes: 99 23.3%

  • Accidental: hit the tip with fly or weight while casting.

    Votes: 63 14.8%

  • I have no idea what happened, one day while fishing the rod broke in two while casting

    Votes: 96 22.6%

  • Other: to be explained in a post

    Votes: 68 16.0%

  • All of the above!

    Votes: 20 4.7%
  • Total voters
    425
Ard

Ard

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Please place your data into the chart by checking a box.

I thought it would be helpful to be able to look at the most common causes of fly rods breaking. The results are pretty sobering when you consider that nearly 70.40% fall under the first 2 categories.

Please choose the response that mirrors your disaster as closely as it can. You can always post specifics regarding special circumstances.
 
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yatahey

yatahey

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Re: The Broken Rod Poll;

I caught this nice big bow I had to chase down river and I wound up wading out into some boot sucking mud. After I got the fish unhooked and released the rod was sitting on the ground half on land half in the muck. As I tried to pull myself out of the muck I grabbed the tip section of the rod for some unknown stupid reason, got sucked back into the mud while at the same time lifting the rod by the tip. SNAP.
 
fredaevans

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Re: The Broken Rod Poll;

In just short of 60 years of fishing, the number of rods I've actually 'broken' can be counted on the fingers of one hand (well, maybe add a finger or two from the other). With one notable exception every one was broken due to 'operator error.'

The 'exception' was a true "WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED??!!:eek:" Rod just exploded right below (not directly adjacent to) the mid Ferrel on a 4 piece rod. Blank just exploded on a forward cast. At some point did the blank get a hard knock that cracked the graphite? Who knows .. but Sage repaired the rod (new rod section) so was good to go in about 30'ish days.
 
Pocono

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Re: The Broken Rod Poll;

Casting sidearm to a rising brown; got a good solid take; set the hook vertically (got over excited :rolleyes:) and simultaneously snapped my tip off on the bridge abutment that I was standing under. Worse - I lost the fish!

Sage repaired the rod in under two weeks for me; $50.00; well worth it.

Pocono
 
Rip Tide

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Re: The Broken Rod Poll;

Carelessness ....maybe 4-5
Improper use.... 2
Manufacturer's defect..... 3

Except for the defective blanks, I've never returned a rod for a warranty
And those all broke on the first day of use
Don't care for the whole warranty system and most of my rods aren't covered anyway
 
Ard

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Re: The Broken Rod Poll;

I should point out that you can check any of the boxes that apply to your broken rods. You can enter all five if you have done the grand slam, if you didn't check a box please do.

Now my confessions of man made mishaps;

Other than a bamboo tip that splintered while in use I have broken two tips and one mid section. The first was my 1979 Far & Fine, I made it to 1994 being careful then while moving from one spot to another along a dirt trail along the Penobscot River I left it rigged in the bed of my truck while we moved a mile or so. The result was the tip top breaking off, 8' bed, 7'9" rod, a bad combo. The second one happened in 1996 while moving along Big Pine Creek in PA. this time it was a 9' PM 10 5wt. I put the rod in the back seat of my Bronco in 4 pieces (don't ask me why not in the tube) and while I was stopped and out of the truck my Pointer jumped from the cargo area onto the back seat. Tip broke!

Funny thing, after the rod getting broken in Maine in 94' I bought that Orvis rod carrier but did not use it much till after the second tip got broke. The bamboo was my Flea rod tip and I had a spare so I called the rod shop at Orvis and got it on the record then at the end of the season sent it in. The man who built it was still there at that time and he could not determine what caused the tip to splinter. They replaced the tip and I paid 100 dollars for a third and now have a 3wt with 3 tips

The mid section falls under the improper use category, I thought I was hooking a king with a Grey's Platinum X 9'6" 7wt. and was hitting a big rock or log on the bottom. I had hooked several and they had came loose so I was trying to drive the hook home and perhaps a little farther. Result; snapped the mid section 4" above the joint.

Now I am real careful all the time.
 
Jackster

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Re: The Broken Rod Poll;

Of the 3 mishaps that come readily to mind in answering, I can honestly say I don't know how they broke.
The first was a tip-top that came off and the other two simply snapped while casting. Each were taken care of by the manufacturer with no qualms so I guess they were manufacturing defects.
!
 
webrx

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Re: The Broken Rod Poll;

I already posted in the other thread, but I have broken 2 in the last year, both stiff flex and both I have to say are probably my error. One, I snagged a tree on the back cast and when I sent the rod forward, the rod did not follow; the second, I was flinging a weighted wooly bugger, and I can only guess that I had hit the "new" rod with the fly once or twice and had damaged it, cause when I flipped the bugger upstream, the rod snapped just above the ferrule. Cabelas replaced both rods, with no complaints and no questions asked. The second one was replaced and I was back on the water within an hour of breaking it - I happened to be about 15 minutes from Cabelas when it broke. The second one could have been a manufacturers error possibly, but, I was flinging heavily weighted flies with a tungsten bead, so, I am guessing it was my fault. interesting enough, though maybe not significant, both of the rods I broke were stiff flex 4 piece rods, I have never broken a medium fast flex or a 2 piece rod (knock on wood, bamboo, graphite, etc).

d
 
F

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Re: The Broken Rod Poll;

Two rods broken while landing fish, by myself, operator error in both cases. One, a 6 wt on a dorado - yeah, I know, what the Hell was I doing fishing a 6 wt on dorado? - and while I was looking around for the net, the 10 pound hen dove and snapped the 3rd section. Second, a carp of about 8 pounds was nearly in hand, I did the old 'stick the rod behind me and grab the leader' trick just as the fish decided it wasn't done.

Both were overstressed.

The third was a Scott that I had laying around unused after I joined TFO Pro Staff. Sold it on a carp fishing forum to a guy and shipped it UPS. They crushed the **** out of it. Guy sent it back, I got him a TFO Pro at the same price we'd negotiated, I filed a claim with UPS and got paid, then sent it in to Scott under warranty and got a new blank (I'd built it), and sold the blank and remaining sections on another forum.

Craig
 
Rip Tide

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Re: The Broken Rod Poll;

Since everyone's telling tails, I will too.
The three rods of mine that were manufacture's defects were Batson 9wts. Like I said, they all broke on the first day of use.
I build one, broke it, got a replacement. Build that one, broke it. Got a third one...... and so on.
All blanks from the same batch apparently.
It was kinda frustrating as you might imagine. Rather than build the same rod a forth time, I put together a Frankenstein rod of green and black sections.
Now I rarely fish this rod as all I can think about is that it's about to break on the next cast.

With an unknown brand homerolled 8wt, I continued the casting motion after the fly was already stuck in a bush. And with an cheap Eagleclaw IM6 I tried to pull a tree branch down by holding the rod backwards and using the reel to snag the branch. That one was really stupid.

I didn't do it my self, but back in the early/mid '60s my father shut the station wagon tailgate window on three cane rods at once. Two were cheap Japanese rods, but my grandfather's was a South Bend.
I've snapped the tip of a Conolon fiberglass rod while refinishing it...
And I have a Wright&McGill glass rod that broke long enough ago that don't remember how I broke it
Three time I've broken the ring off the tiptop of rods with out damaging the blank..
Once while salmon fishing in Nova Scotia I snapped the tip of a Lamiglass rod off in the spokes of my mountain bike after riding in to a remote pool.

And the winner :wavetowel ..
Around 30 years ago I fell out of bed and busted my Berkley Para/Metric .
I don't remember why the rod was next to the bed, but I do remember why I fell out.... And that story is not for a family website:D
 
Ard

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Re: The Broken Rod Poll;

Rip Tide, you're a funny guy, (quote from Good Fellas by Henry)

I set the poll up so you can enter each circumstance and I think you qualify for all of the above, I'll add that choice.

If you are reading this and meet the requirements for "All of the above" rod breaking types go back and vote again.

Ard
 
Rip Tide

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Re: The Broken Rod Poll;

Hardyreels said:
If you are reading this and meet the requirements for "All of the above" rod breaking types go back and vote again.

Ard
Click to expand...
It's not set up so that you can change your vote(s)
I think I got it right the first time though
Carelessness, improper use, and "other" :rolleyes:
 
Jackster

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You boys just reminded me, I forgot to add the BB hole in the tip section of a nice Young bamboo.
Doggone huge family reunions can wreck a rod... especially if your Uncle was a yuckity-yuck at the Daisy BB gun company and was generous with Birthday Gifts.

Luckily (for me) this was in the '50's and it was Uncle Joe's rod.
 
Cool Hand Hodge

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Re: The Broken Rod Poll;

Rip Tide said:
Since everyone's telling tails, I will too.
The three rods of mine that were manufacture's defects were Batson 9wts. Like I said, they all broke on the first day of use.
I build one, broke it, got a replacement. Build that one, broke it. Got a third one...... and so on.
All blanks from the same batch apparently.
It was kinda frustrating as you might imagine. Rather than build the same rod a forth time, I put together a Frankenstein rod of green and black sections.
Now I rarely fish this rod as all I can think about is that it's about to break on the next cast.

With an unknown brand homerolled 8wt, I continued the casting motion after the fly was already stuck in a bush. And with an cheap Eagleclaw IM6 I tried to pull a tree branch down by holding the rod backwards and using the reel to snag the branch. That one was really stupid.

I didn't do it my self, but back in the early/mid '60s my father shut the station wagon tailgate window on three cane rods at once. Two were cheap Japanese rods, but my grandfather's was a South Bend.
I've snapped the tip of a Conolon fiberglass rod while refinishing it...
And I have a Wright&McGill glass rod that broke long enough ago that don't remember how I broke it
Three time I've broken the ring off the tiptop of rods with out damaging the blank..
Once while salmon fishing in Nova Scotia I snapped the tip of a Lamiglass rod off in the spokes of my mountain bike after riding in to a remote pool.

And the winner :wavetowel ..
Around 30 years ago I fell out of bed and busted my Berkley Para/Metric .
I don't remember why the rod was next to the bed, but I do remember why I fell out.... And that story is not for a family website:D
Click to expand...

Damn catfish
 
Jackster

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Close call

One more... It was spring and the Hennies were thick! I walked in quite a ways for solitude with my all time favorite four weight. It was a long winter and I couldn't hardly wait to get that rod in action again,
I arrived at my spot, stripped out some line and discovered that rod just did not work anymore!
Is it possible they go sour over time? Was it my line that was the problem? Did I string the thing up right?
Everything checked out okay... line was strung up properly so there were no missed guides or wraps around the blank. The line was a brand new T.O.L. Scientific Anglers and was as smooth as can be.
That rod just would not shoot line so back to the Jeep I hiked to get another rod. At the Jeep I donned my glasses and gave the rod one more once-over before breaking it down (or selling it for $5.00 to anyone who happened by!)
I somehow lead the fly line through the foot of the stripping guide!
All was well with the world after that and I learned to always wear or carry glasses when out and about.
 
Ard

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Re: Close call

Jack,

I think we have all wrapped line around the rod between the upper guides once or twice but I never mamaged to string it under the foot of the stripper, that's a new one on me :eek:
 
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