I was just wondering whats up up with people always talking about breaking there rods. I have never broken a rod fishing. Of course there has been the occasional slamming in truck door but thats it, i mean are they just getting faulty rods or are they just setting the hook like there the incredible hulk?

ya know what, Ive wondered the same thing. I use Falcon rods and never had one really snap and break. I take real good care of them and focus more on my form when setting the hook than power. I even swing a lot of fish in the boat or on shore. Only problem I have is occasional broken eyes.

lol idk i am startin to think the same thing now tht u say that and honestly i think there just old rods.

Most rods that I've broke are probably due to overloading the rod with heavy pound test line. A rod maybe rated at 20 lb and I'll have 65ld braid spooled on. 99 percent of the time the drag takes care of it but once in a while I'll snap them on a hook set with a heavy fish.

ive broken 3 veritas in the past 4 months..one casting a small swimbait(well within the rating for the rod)..second was on the hookset in a brushpile on a 2 lber...third was in open water on the hookset on a 2lber. i think it has alot to do with the quality of the rod.

The few rods I broke have all been operator error in that I damaged them and they eventually broke or a rod locker lid helped me out.
For the most part the people breaking a lot of rods are usually the chief cause. If you have a rod for a few months and use it and then it breaks its probably not a defect. Most defective rods break early on when used. Granted I think some manufacturers get a bad run of rods now and then but really if a guy is breaking a bunch they need to really look at themselves first to make sure its not user error.

I blew up a Hendrix 844 Saturday morning - set the hook in a treetop (on the tree) and pulled just a little too hard. First rod I've ever broken like that.

The tree was released unharmed.

I broke an 844 tuna boating a 3.5# at Fork spring break. Was sick. About to grab fish and it makes a move and snap. Blu-Ranger, same make. I was sick. My favorite rod.

Same thing, I break at least 2-3 rods a year and all but one has been my fault. I fish heavy braid and it is torture on rods. Broke one of my favorite custom smallie rods last month, but once again, my fault. I travel alot and normaly ship my rods ahead of me. They are getting banged around much more than the normal rod. It is inevitable that they get damaged.

Many times when we break a rod it was not the rods fault.

Case in point was about 3 weeks ago when I took a customer fishing;

We are catching bass like crazy at this private lake when I look down and this guy is literally dancing on one of my rods while fighting a bass. I didn't say anything to him (he is a really good customer LOL) but a couple trips later I had another guy with me using one of the rods that had been stepped on.

He sets the hook on a C-rig fish and the rod snaps in two on the hookset. It was a Shimano Cumara. Was it the rod's fault? Not at all. A graphite rod's walls are very thin. Once you "bruise" the rod's walls it will break the next time you put a lot of pressure on it like on the hookset or flipping a 3 pounder into the boat.

I've seen the same thing happen a time or 2 when a guy sets the hook and hits the windshield on the boat in the process. The next time a lot of stress is put on that rod, it snaps.

But the most common way I have seen that breaks them every time is this... An inexperienced angler gets a nice bass up beside the boat and goes to lip it. He grabs the rod about a foot down from the tip while he is groping for the flopping fish. It will snap in his hand EVERY Time.

If the rod maker had intended for you to hold the rod up there they would have put cork there!

That is why my customers do not use my NRX's. LOL!

Ken

Knock on wood real hard but it has been a long time since I have broken a rod and it was my fault when I did it. I sometimes wonder how rods hold up the way I see them abused.

It just makes me cringe when I see people grab a rod near the tip like Ken A. was talking about. Best way in the world to break one. I see a lot of pros doing it on the TV shows as well. They just edit out the part where those guys break their rods most of the time I think. The way some of the pros jump around and run all over the boat when they get a fish on makes me wonder how they don't step on all of their rods and break them. Never seen a bass that you had to run from one end of the boat to the other two or three times before you get up to the boat to land it. Guess it looks impressive on camera tho.

OK, I've got a hodgpodge of rods accumulated through the years. During this time I've broken two. One was a Medium action Bionic blade when I was lifting a fish. The other was a St. Croix 7 ft Medium action which I broke three times when I include warranty replacements. It was treated no differently than my others and probobly more gently as I got more cautious with the replacements.
My point is that some rods just aren't very tough compared to others of comparable actions. I don't believe I abuse my rods, but they all get a lot of use.

I have broken several rods over the past few years, but I think it is mostly user error. I don't own a boat so I use my dads fish/ski or go with a buddy. So my rods are transported alot in the bed of my truck or the deck or floor of a boat. I beleive the ones I have broken are do to the transportation to and from the water. Almost all of my rods that I have broken have been between the first and third eye of the rod. My truck is a shortbed with a tool box so the tips just babrley fit in the bed or have to hang out the end so it puts stress in those areas. But that is why I buy most of my rods at Academy because they will always take them back and exchange them.

once ever. walmart round abu garcia combo (first baitcaster I ever purchased). It broke near the tip setting the hook on a stump with braided line. I was frustrated trying to break it off and instead of pulling with my rod straight, I tried to pull it free with a hook set motion. It finally gave after the 5th or 6th time jerking as hard as I could.

I snapped a Skeet Reese rod on Saturday as I set the hook on a 2 pounder while C-rigging in about 15 feet of water. Right where the rod snapped, it had a mark right about the same spot where the 3/4 ounce weight would bump when the rod is stored. The other was a St Croix back in the late in the 90s while fishing a slew off the Mississipi. The rod also had a mark right where it snapped so I must have damaged it somehow. I broke another St Croix and it was my fault simply because I reeled the fish to close to the tip before I flipped it into the boat.