How are fly anglers breaking all of these rods?

[Sylvaneous]

I broke the tip TWICE on my Helios 3 Euro rod, 10.5 ft, 3 wt. in a 2 year span. 1 time I swear it just happened. I was "casting" (nothing in Euro nymphing has much to do with what I've known as fly casting) while steelhead fishing and noticed it acted weird. Never felt any collision with a branch. Looked around for what I would have hit. Mystery.
It hasn't since, but it has established an unfortunate precedent.
Syl.

 

[KELORGO]

I was fishing Grand Lake Stream up in Maine a couple of years ago standing out in the middle of the wide open stream. Suddenly, my rod impacted something overhead that felt like a frozen turkey. Rod didn’t break, but that was one low flying heron and I’m sure he had sore ribs for a while. Just goes to show how easy it is to break a rod through no fault of your own!

 

[Duriensbane]

Almost 1 year into picking up fly fishing and ive broken one rod tip by accident. On the outing i took 2 rods, one for dries the other for nymphs, laid the dry rod down to tie on nymphs and stepped on the tip because i was looking for light to see my tippet. Would have been fine if i wasnt wearing cleats, but i knew i broke it the second i heard the snap because there were no sticks near me at the time.

 

[troutbert]

Almost 1 year into picking up fly fishing and ive broken one rod tip by accident. On the outing i took 2 rods, one for dries the other for nymphs, laid the dry rod down to tie on nymphs and stepped on the tip because i was looking for light to see my tippet. Would have been fine if i wasnt wearing cleats, but i knew i broke it the second i heard the snap because there were no sticks near me at the time.

Just take one rod on the stream. Keep it simple.

 

[Duriensbane]

Just take one rod on the stream. Keep it simple.

I do now, and this is a while after i broke that tip, i got stuck in an area between a creek and a path that was full of briars with a 9ft streamer rod and my 11ft euro rod. For now im just taking my euro rod with a different spool with reg fly line on it.

 

[Striperbobby]

Broke my favorite fiberglass 2weight but didn’t get pissed cause the 10 pound trout hit the net at the same time I heard it snap!

 

[laurelhighlander]

Only tip I've broke is from a heavy lead eyed streamer and a terrible attempt at making a cast

 

[KeviR]

I was fishing a #10 March Brown parachute (large exposed hook) last week and once heard it "tick" the rod on a false cast. No problems that day or the next couple times I fished that rod, but Tuesday, I was landing a 12" fish (no unusual rod bend) and snap - it snapped. (This is a rod came with a spare tip section, but of course it was the next section down where it broke.) The two just have to be related, I've fished that rod for a couple years now almost exclusively.

 

[dudemanspecial]

I was fishing a #10 March Brown parachute (large exposed hook) last week and once heard it "tick" the rod on a false cast. No problems that day or the next couple times I fished that rod, but Tuesday, I was landing a 12" fish (no unusual rod bend) and snap - it snapped. (This is a rod came with a spare tip section, but of course it was the next section down where it broke.) The two just have to be related, I've fished that rod for a couple years now almost exclusively.

Wow I have seen splitshot and poppers do this to a rod but never would think a dry fly would do enough damage.

 

[KeviR]

Wow I have seen splitshot and poppers do this to a rod but never would think a dry fly would do enough damage.

Probably a small dry fly would not. It was a big hook. Physics says that the energy in a moving object is proportional to the mass of the object and the square of its velocity. So something that's 1/10 the weight, but 3x the velocity has almost the same energy. And hooks have hard, sharp points unlike split shot.

 

[DaveKile]

Well I wish you guys didn't start this thread. I never broke a rod before. Just this week I snapped my 4wt tip. I can't tell where or when that exactly occurred. Likely more of some handling getting off the stream and on the trail to the car?

 

[jifigz]

Well I wish you guys didn't start this thread. I never broke a rod before. Just this week I snapped my 4wt tip. I can't tell where or when that exactly occurred. Likely more of some handling getting off the stream and on the trail to the car?

Oofff. I have never snapped or broken a rod either. I hope this isn't a bad portent of what is to come.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

If you fish you will break rods. Sounds simple enough , but often the Laws of Physics, tensile strength of materials and dumb stuff all factor in to the SNAP. I broke the tip on a rod in Erie by pulling the fly line sideways which caused the tip to snap about 3 inches down from the guide. That probably won't be the last, but it still irked me no end. BB

 

[Bamboozle]

Well I wish you guys didn't start this thread. I never broke a rod before. Just this week I snapped my 4wt tip. I can't tell where or when that exactly occurred. Likely more of some handling getting off the stream and on the trail to the car?

Years ago after getting spooked about losing a rod section or busting something walking off Slate Run in the dark, I got a spare lightweight rod bag and did some modifications on my sewing machine.

With this modified rod bag when I'm done, I can wind in my line, disassemble my rod and carry it WITH the reel still attached safely back to the car.

It ain't perfect for all rods and I don't use it all the time but it's always in the top pocket of my fishing shirt just in case...

 

[KeviR]

Well, if you haven't broken a rod in decades, you guys are at least somewhat lucky. I think I take reasonable care of my rods, but I have broken several. (So I guess not.) But no repeated mistakes at least. Just the usual suspects - falling on, dropping when slipping, trunk lid, etc. I had one case two years ago that a rod broke while landing a fish, but it was maybe the third time I had used the rod after buying it. It had the $80 "warranty" where you had to essentially buy the replacement section. I went back to the shop and complained that it had to be a defect and it seemed unfair that I had to pay for a replacement section. They took care of me. I felt sure that it was a defect because I wasn't horsing the fish and the rod broke in the middle of a wrap - so it would be almost impossible that I did something that I was unaware of, like nicking the rod there. I even happened to have the whole fight/break on video, but they weren't interested enough to watch the video

 

[skybay]

Join the misery club;
My sweet Hardy 'Brookie' glass 3wt rod just snapped with no apparent reason.
This thing landed hundreds of brookies. Never used split shot or hit anything, use only with dry flies. Must be some kind of stress related to carry in the car or carry in my crude hands.

 

[troutbert]

Yinz should all buy Shakespeare Wonder Rods.

You could use those rods for weed-wacking and they'd be totally fine.

 

[Bamboozle]

Join the misery club;
My sweet Hardy 'Brookie' glass 3wt rod just snapped with no apparent reason.
This thing landed hundreds of brookies. Never used split shot or hit anything, use only with dry flies. Must be some kind of stress related to carry in the car or carry in my crude hands...

That's surprising for a glass rod although I did have a Winston glass rod snap in half...

Luckily for me it was under warranty (in the good old days when it didn't cost you anything but freight) and was chalked up to a manufacturing defect since the rod was brand new.

 

[greywolf]

Yinz should all buy Shakespeare Wonder Rods.

You could use those rods for weed-wacking and they'd be totally fine.

An "ugly stick " fly rod version would be a tough one to break. The bait casting and spinning rod versions are almost indestructible

 

[poopdeck]

The only fly rod I ever broke was by way of closing my tailgate on it. No I don’t break my rods down, no I won’t ever break them down for transport. I like living on the edge. That rod with reel, fly line, backing and I believe leader, cost me 89 bucks. The break was clean about 8 inches below the tip. I repaired it with a stent and still fish it.