Has anyone been able to track their rod repair success ratio? I've repaired a few rods, fished them a time or two and caught fish then gave the rods away to a kid or needy person. So when it's all said and done I really have no way to track the long term success ratio to see if the fix lasts.

The reason I'm asking is that our local tackle shop has given me some broken warranty rods to repair and they'll give away to kids and such. In all of my repairs I've followed the instruction of Rodmaker Maker Mag, library articles and RBO archives but when you can't track the rods history you really don't know if you're doing it right.

Thanks,

Mike

I sent the library article to a friend who performed the repairon a good graphite rod, and while inexperienced at rod work, he reported that it works very well. I am sure based on this experience that a good rodmaker could salvage a lot of rods so that they would satisfy kids now without rods.

A few years ago I broke on own personal custom rod a little above the the stripper guide on a hook set for a 1 1/4 largemouth bass, I probably nicked the rod some how in the boat. I did the inner/outer sleeve repair and I still use the rod on every fishing trip. Do it right and you shouldn't have any problems.

Ray Zarychta
Glastonbury, CT

Hi Mike,
Hard to track some of them. I've repaired a couple for workmates and so far they've held up fine, one has caught a couple of really good fish. I'm sure I'll hear about any problems as soon as they occur.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

Obviously I cannot track them all but those i have, the repairs worked. My day job includes some testing of processes so this has crept into my rodbuilding life. I have a few products i use that are not quite 'by the book' but they work for me: all are the result of me testing them first though. The'by the book' methods in the library are correct and they work: waterbreak surface prep, allowing things to cure/dry/evaporate properly before another step, mixing products at least as well as the instructions say,clean work area , good lighting,ventilation etc. All play a role.

A few local bass club members send me their high end rods that they have stood on, ripped guides off of while trying to get out of lockers,slammed in car door, had dogs chew on , killed a water mocassin with etc of and i do not get many failures. Of course i DO get a lot of repeat repairs, but that is the nature of bass tournament fishing. They were not my repair failures.

I have repaired many many rods over the years, and as far as I know, none of the rods have ever broken again in the area of the repair.

Roger

Thanks for the feedback.