Ken,

You're dealing with at least 2 whoppers, and only 1 of them is a fish.

I wish I could have seen the break before you repaired it.

Rods that are not under stress don't suddenly explode with a report that sounds like a rimfire shot. Nor do they simply break. If we give the fisherman and his buddy some leeway and choose to believe most of what they're saying, then the most likely scenario would have to be that the fisherman high sticked the rod as he was beaching the fish on the sandbar. A rod that hasn't suffered an impact, fracture or crush may very well emit a pretty sharp "pop" when it fails from overload. A high stick failure in that situation would have taken place somewhere in upper half of the rod (but not all that close to the very tip). It is unlikely, however, that pieces of the rod would have flown away in such a break.

If the break was very irregular and jagged, with various pieces and slivers missing, most likely it failed because it had been crushed previously. But such a failure would emit almost no sound other than a light "crunch." And yet, this is my guess (without having seen the break). In all the commotion of beaching the fish and admiring it, somebody stepped on that rod. On the next cast, or the next fish, it collapsed.

Again, without having seen the actual break I'm having to do a lot of guessing, but the elements of the fishermens' story don't completely add up.

.............

I think it was a combination of things all mixed up with adrenalin. 30lb salmon in fast, shallow water, toss in some large rocks mixed with gravel bar - add in 40lb Power Pro braid on a reel with full drag on a blank rated for around 18lbs. I was a bit surprised by the location of the break - I thought it would have snapped farther up away from the ferrule toward the tip. Probably the blank had been damaged on an earlier trip and it was sharply over taxed. The break didn't look like a typical "crush" - more like one side simply gave up under strain while the fish was being dragged onto the bank. The break was uneven, very jagged, and non-symmetrical around the blank - If this crude depiction makes sense:


------------------------/ /---------------------------- (( Blank edge))
/ (missing piece) /
/ /
/ /
/ (missing piece) /
---------------------------------------/ (missing piece) /-------------------------------------- ((Blank edge))

All of my non-fishing related rod breakages have occurred near the tip, certainly in the last 15% of the rod. I'm hard pressed to see how a legitimate break can happen so close to the tip.

Most high stick failures don't take place right at the tiptop - they usually take place a good bit farther back. Farther back, in fact, than most might suspect. I'd guess your break was about a 3rd of the rod's length back from the tiptop.

I've been with fishermen who broke their rods due to high sticking. I've also broken no less than 40 various rods by high sticking them, on purpose, in the last couple weeks. Both one and two-piece models. All broke in about the same location but none very close to the tiptop. None exhibited a jagged edge - they break fairly straight. But, a failure resulting from earlier crush type damage nearly always results in very irregular, jagged edges with long splits and tears. Pieces are often missing.

Again, I didn't see it so I'm only offering a guess.


.................



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2009 06:40PM by Tom Kirkman.

To me it's a really, really GOOD guess. This would have been a little more than 1/2 of the total length of the rod (assembled). Assuming some prior damage the break is very much as you've described - jagged edges, missing pieces. "Combination" of causes to one effect = broken rod. I too wish I had taken a photo of this one but I wanted to get it fixed and back in action.

Had a customer break a 10 ft 2 piece Crappie trolling rod I built for him. He broke it by high sticking, trying to net a fish . It broke cleanly about 2' from the tip.
Another one broken by a Bass fisherman trying to punch a plug off a log like Mike Iconeli does,broke cleanly about 1 1/2 " from the tip.

Ken, the guy may have punched the tip of the rod against a rock during the excitement. of trying to beach the 30 pounder.

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

I looked at the "Friday Fun" photos. This break looked like D - but did not show really obvious signs of a "crush" (as in car door, trunk lid, electric window trap or errant foot traffic).

Jay,

When a rod is high sticked and breaks within an inch or two of tip, you can bet there was an impact mark or fracture in that area and the high-sticking exacerbated the problem and resulted in the rod breaking at that point. A sound blank, with no impact marks or fractures, when high sticked, won't break that close to the tiptop.

These are things we'll be covering in the article. Determining the causes of various breakages isn't really hard to do when you know the clues to look for.

........................

Ken, I must have misunderstood you. Back on the first page you said it broke about an inch below the first guide on the tip section. I took that to mean the guide immediately below the tip top. But now you are saying the rod broke at about the 1/2 way point. So I am thinking the first guide that you mentioned is the one near the ferrule???

I see those as very different. IMHO there is no possible way to break a blank very close to the tip top through fishing alone. Even on an extra fast blank, and high sticking, the shut off point is going to be roughly 1/4 to a 1/3 of the way down the blank. This assumes no more than a 180 bend on the rod. With proper technique, but fished way beyond ratings, the blank should fail down near the handle assembly.

I have only had one blank break near the halfway point in my close to fifty years of fishing. It was an early generation graphite medium-light action rod. I had hooked a small fish and was in the process of lifting it to the boat when a big speedy barracuda decided he wanted it more. It took just the right combination of events. I can see why the blank failed but I felt I deserved a refund anyway.

I have never seen a steelhead blank. I assume they are on the long and slow action side. Not at all the type of blank I'd expect to fail at the 1/2 way point. Also not the type of blank that I'd think someone would fish 30-40# on.

Russ -
The "failure" (of the fisherman) caused the rod to break just above the ferrule on the tip section of the rod. Before the first guide away from the ferrule. Up to this point I had never seen one break like this. I think Tom is right that the rod was in some way damaged prior to the fisherman attempting to haul the fish onto a gravel bank. Lots of things can go wrong when folks get a little excited. The river they were fishing is fast, shallow and slippery - mossy and leaves floating down stream (already a 'problem situation'). Normally the fishing is a partnership one fisherman / one netter (then swap jobs). So, there should not have been any reason to try to haul the fish onto a gravel bank unless there was some serious excitement / adrenalin happening. At that point all bets are off on what led to the ultimate breakage. It could have been a previous transportation 'injury' (partial crush); bounced off a rock; whacked with a net handle (they use nets with 3 - 4 foot long handles); slapped against an overhanging tree branch - no telling. The rod blank is a two piece 9 foot long blank rated by the manufacturer up to 20 lbs that I made up into a spinning rod. With the correct drag on the reel it should not have been a problem. As earlier - blank rated to 20lbs / Power Pro rated to 40lbs / 30lb flourocarbon shock leader; drag on the reel cranked down HARD - the weakest link in the series was the rod blank. Well - the weakest "mechanical link" anyway



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2009 10:59AM by Ken Preston.

High Stick breaks normally occur about 1/3rd to 1/2 of the rod's total length back from the tiptop. Unless, there is a slight fracture somewhere in the blank's surface ahead of that. When such a minor surface nick or fracture is present, it may hold during normal fishing use but if the rod is high sticked it will pop at that point.

..............

Ken:

Sounds like one of those situations when I used to go to Polanski NY. get into one of those -lines- of fisherman- that are throwing a heavy weight and bare hook. Pull it in quick and foul hook a fish on his Dorelle fin. -- There is no way to control him. It will go any where it wants to and with a strong fish like that, unless the hook is in its mouth, all you can do is yell -- fish on-- and run down river. Maybe that was similar to what happened.

I don't fish like that any more, no fun.

Bill - willierods.com

Bill -
That's where they were fishing. Most of the time with fly rods - but one day with spinners. Therefore you could be 100% spot on.