First let me say I am not an expert on rods and the material they are built out of. I have been fishing from the time I was a young boy and am now almost 68 years old. I have belonged to bass clubs and fished tournaments. I have built a few custom rods and fished with many store-bought rods. There is a very good website if you would like to learn about rod building, ask questions, or read good info about rod building. It is rodbuilding.org.

A rod has ratings listed on the rod. This is similar to an industrial crane that has a load chart for the specific crane to be used. If you exceed the load chart you are at risk of structural damage and/or turning the crane over. A rod list Action (Fast, Mod Fast, Ex-Fast and so on) and Weight (Heavy, Mag Heavy, Light, Ultra-Light and so on). It also lists a Lure Weight (1/4-3/4 oz, ¼-1 oz, so on) and Line Weight (4-10 lb., 10-17 lb., and so on). These ranges are similar to the crane rating.

We as hunters buy an expensive gun, go hunting, get home take the gun out of the automobile, bring it inside clean and oil it and put it in a closet or safe. We as fisherman go fishing, get home and maybe put the rod in a rod sock with reel cover and put it in a rod box in the boat where it stays until the next fishing trip. We will have from 6 to as many as 15 rods on the deck of the boat where they are stepped on and abused. While fighting a fish we step on a rod, and may not know it happens, then later that day or the next time out fishing we pick up the rod and while flipping a fish in the boat the rod breaks. I am not saying there are not defective rods in the market be it a store bought or custom. If a rod is used more than 5 times for a good amount of time and breaks do you think it took this amount of time for a defect to surface. There are things that cause a rod to break other than the person that bought them. If it is damaged during shipment to the store or builders’ home and not noticed prior to buying or building. A guide filed to make the thread climb up the guide and the bur not filed off causing the bur to scratch the rod. There are other things such as high sticking, over loading the rod trying to get the lure free from a tree or bush and others.

We have standards for weight and measurements (inches, feet and oz and pounds) but no standards for rods. If you pick up a 5-weight rod (casting or fly) and compare it to another 5-weight rod of a different manufacture you might notice a big difference. Sensitivity is something that is not mentioned. This is because it is not measured and is an opinion of the person hold or using the rod.
Included is a article on Rod Failure, https://northforkcomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Rod_Break_Article.pdf and Common Cents System for measuring rod power and angle, https://www.common-cents.info/CCS_basic_Layout_1.pdf.

Pat Haley

Good write up. Many times we hit our rod on something on the back swing as we cast or as we set the hook and bruise the blank. We forget about that day then the next time we really lean on it or we swing a 4 pounder into the boat the rod simply breaks and we blame the rod. I set the hook yesterday and hit my partner's rod. Hopefully it didn't damage either one to the point that it will break the next time I really lean on it.

Some of the higher end more expensive rods have very think walls on the rod blanks. This is how they reduce weight. If you set the hook and hit the windshield on your boat you can damage the blank at that point of impact. A couple weeks later you set the hook on a fish and the rod just breaks very little stress on it. You blame the rod when in fact it got damaged the day you hit the windshield.

I’ll never blame a rod for breaking. I am always to blame. It’s simple. I’ve only broken two rods in half in nearly 50 yrs of fishing. Both were because I “high sticked” the rod trying to land a fish. I still think one of those rods shouldn’t have snapped under the stress. One of them was a 5-6 pound fish carrying around 4 pounds of wet grass. That one definitely was excessive. The other was on around the 1000th 2 pounder. Maybe I had stepped on the rod a few dozen times. I dunno. I laughed it off and went shopping.

Good info, things I never considered. Thanks!

Sometimes if you buy from big box stores the weakest link is where they band them together for shipping. Had a name brand rod break on first outing with it on 2lb fish. Took back to academy and all the other rods had a mark at same location. There was a cart of rods to be put on racks and they still had a piece of mending material attached.

Banging them on Power Poles can mess 'em up.

Iaconelli has been known to do some rigorous field-testing that identifies which rod breaks - the one in his hands!

Very true, good write up.

With that being said, watch out for Dobyns rods I heard they break easily.

You do understand that this does not fit the narrative of the "rod warranty" and "carry it back to Academy" crowd that resides on the TFF...……….

When flipping a fish in the boat one thing to consider is the added weight. Not just the possible vegetation but the fish might be going away from the boat and/or the fisherman. If you use the principle of a pile driving hammer weighing 5,000 pounds dropped 3 feet it creates 15,000 foot pounds. The same principle applies to a fish. Let’s say a 5-pound fish is traveling towards the boat and is flipped it would weigh less than 5 pounds. But if the fish is traveling away from you and/or the boat it will weigh greater than 5 pounds. The amount of added weight depends on the rate of travel away from you and/or the boat. Don’t misunderstand me, if I have a fish of a lifetime and/or a lot of money on the line I will sacrifice the rod. If I am fun fishing, I might take a little longer and lip or use a net. We see the pro’s flip big fish all the time. If they break a rod their sponsor’s will have 10 to 15 waiting for them when they get to the landing. We as educated fisherman have to make the choice.

PH

rods can be damaged 100 different ways before you ever buy them. sometimes its bad luck of the draw.