Why fishing rods break

[ronaultmtd]

Cheap rods rarely break...their construction is robust and uses less sensitive, less expensive materials...high modulus 30 ton and above carbon/boron is very susceptible to “high-sticking” breakage. Holding the rod 90 degrees Fighting a big fish is a recipe for breaking an expensive rod. Over stressing the rod by placing maximum pressure at an angle of 60 degrees or more can cause structural failure. Growing up with fiberglass rods spoiled us. Nearly indestructible (think Ugly Stick)...St. Croix has recently re-introduced a glass line of bass rods...Wright and McGill has a line of rods made with a combination of carbon and fiberglass called “s-glass”...or you can remember the weakness of carbon rods and never high stick your rod and when hooked to a CNR, point the rod at the ray and break the line on the reel, not the rod.

[Huntrava]

Why fishing rods break

In my experience, door hinges mostly.

[mjkeith13]

In my experience, door hinges mostly.

My experience as well. That and the bridge over Weems creek at high tide.

[nhunter344]

Ive broken my fair share of rods to accidents and carelessness, but the only rods Ive broken while actually fishing are St. Croix. That's probably not a fair representation of the brand as all the rods I was using at the time were St. Croixs and most were well past their warranties. They were great rods before they broke, but I just couldn't justify replacing them, even at trade in costs.

I kind of miss the older days where there wasn't as much difference between rods. I feel like rods have become too specialized. "Here we have our new series which is designed for jigging 1/8oz jigs in waters with a specific gravity between 1.015 and 1.025 during a high tide between the dates of June 1st and October 7th north of the 23rd parallel".

[ronaultmtd]

Bill Dance says closing tailgates on the pickup breaks his...but in use of actual fishing- Hanging up on snags and breaking your rod; trying to free the lures, hung up on CNRs and hard-charging, big fish...know good rod technique can save a rod...but hey, just trying to pass along some thoughts...no harm, no foul...

[Huntrava]

Bill Dance says closing tailgates on the pickup breaks his...but in use of actual fishing- Hanging up on snags and breaking your rod; trying to free the lures, hung up on CNRs and hard-charging, big fish...know good rod technique can save a rod...but hey, just trying to pass along some thoughts...no harm, no foul...

Ron, do you remember catfishing at Slavins a couple of years ago? I recall you getting pulled around by some decent cats with a relatively small, fast action bass rod. Great technique, though, at the time I thought those rods were going to break in half.

[ronaultmtd]

Yeah, that was a fun day...those are Capt Blair Wiggings SGlass rods

[J.A. Veil]

I occasionally break one in an accident, but rarely when fighting a fish. The last time that happened was in December 2019 near Tampa. I had found a school of large Spanish mackerel that were hitting a 3" paddletail. I caught several of them, then hooked one that was even larger. It fought well and came along side the kayak. I had probably 5 to 8 ft of line out and was reaching to grab the leader. The fish made a sudden surge away from me, and I heard a loud "snap". I was using a Temple Forks Outfitters 7', 3-piece MH travel spinning rod. Having two joints in a rod does make it more susceptible to strain. The rod broke just above the joint connecting the outer section to the middle section. I had 10-lb braid on the reel, which did not stretch.

broken rod 3.jpg broken rod 1.jpg broken rod 2.jpg

[gliebig]

Snapped a St Croix in half last weekend while fighting a 16" smallie.

[nhunter344]

Bill Dance says closing tailgates on the pickup breaks his...but in use of actual fishing- Hanging up on snags and breaking your rod; trying to free the lures, hung up on CNRs and hard-charging, big fish...know good rod technique can save a rod...but hey, just trying to pass along some thoughts...no harm, no foul...

I will definitely take the advice in the future. I have admittedly been guilty of bad rod technique in my younger years. Honestly, looking back, I dont know how I didnt break more rods.

As for door hinges and truck gates, thats my wifes area of specialty!

[Fish123]

My lovely wife carried my Engel cooler with rods in the rod holders and closed the back tailgate of the expedition on my st croix tidemaster. It bent in a U and snapped a foot down from the tip. I didn’t see it happen this is what was described to me ha.


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[gliebig]

Rods also break when you are traveling to the Upper NW territories to go pike fishing and the airline decides to somehow squash your 7' rod tube into a 3' rod tube.

[john from md]

After losing some expensive rods, I now stick to Shakespeare and Berkley and am a happy camper. I don't horse in CNR's or big cats but just cut the line at the reel.

[Redfish12]

I have lost two to CNRs. First one was bc line wrapped on the front handle of my kayak after a direction change and the other was from loaning a rod to a friend who high stick hero’d it. It made me pick up some ugly stiks for those loaner situations.

CNRs have been thick this year! I hooked two at the BB this past weekend on a light rod and gave up on jigging.

[john from md]

The salt content is higher than the last two years. Usually, when the CNR's are happy, so are black drum, spanish macs and bluefish. Maybe we will see some soon.