Today I was fishing my local beach with my 9’ Surf Rod. As I casted my bail closed and my lure came flying back at me, and it struck my rod pretty dang hard. There’s a pretty big gash/scratch about half way up my rod on the blank. What do you suggest I do? Do you think it’ll affect the structural integrity of the rod? The scratch is deep and I’m worried it caused a weak point in the blank and that it’s just gonna snap whenever the rod is loaded with weight. It’s kinda hard to show how deep the scratch is on picture. I could call the company who manufactures the rod and see what they say. They have a great warranty on there rods.
You can view images of the scratch with this link: [imgur.com]

Colin
Not much you can do to reinforce the blank. Good chance it'll be O.K.
Herb

Colin,
Pictures are just not enough to accurately describe the severity of the gouge. Any nick or gouge in the surface of the blank will cause a stress-riser at that point! There really isn’t anything you can do about it at this point so my only suggestion is to fish the heck out of it and enjoy!!!

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Agree it's hard to tell, but if the longitudinal fibers are not cut, it should be OK. But there is nothing you can do to ensure integrity, so just fish it and hope. I predict it will be fine.

The scratch doesnt look all that deep...
But...if it really bothers you...
Create a stint from an old rod: About an inch long and slightly wider than the scratch.
Rough up the area on your blank with a green scotch bright pad and epoxy and wrap the stint in situ.

Such damage wouldn't be covered by a warranty, which is usually something to protect against manufacturing defects.

..........

The scratch appears to only have scrubbed off the finish.

Forget about the scratch and go fishing.

If the rod breaks, the rod breaks,

If the rod doesn't break, count your blessings.

Best wishes

Thanks for the responses! Here are a few more pictures showing how deep the scratch is [imgur.com]. I don't think it's deep enough to have done some damage to the fibers. How would I know if it cut the fibers in the blank? Also, would it be a bad idea to pick up some dead weight with the rod-like 3 lbs to see how to rod handles the weight, and to see if it cracks or breaks when the rod has a bend in it before I take it out fishing again?

Don't dead lift it. Just fish with it and also bring a backup rod. The rod may or may not break. If it does, that just means the damage is irreversible and nothing can be done to fix it.

The general consensus is to use the rod, I also agree. The scratch doesn't look that bad.

The scratch is there and its driving you crazy. My suggestion is to hide it. Cover the scratch with a decorative wrap about 1/2 long that matches the guides.

It will become a psychological band aid distract you from thinking about it.

To others it will look decorative.

Have fun.

Just take some black electrical tape and put a double wrap on the scratch and the rod will look like it was built that way.

If the scratch bothers you and you don't want to do anything with it - then retire the rod and get on with your life.

Best wishes

If you want to check to see if there's any significant damage that's not visible you could do a simple tap test.

Take a coin like a nickel and lightly tap the blank away from the damaged area and then progress to around the scratched area. If the sound is different near the scratch, you might have some significant impact damage such as delamination of the plies. While not as good as other nondestructive inspection methods the tap test provides a quick check.

There are ways to repair carbon fiber. But the cost is probably prohibitive for fishing rods. Thats if, anyone does it for fishing rods. There's a lot of interesting videos and websites of companies that repair thin wall carbon fiber bicycle frames. Repairs anywhere from scratches and dings to broken frames.

There are also a few companies that sell carbon fiber repair kits that they say are also good for fishing rod repairs besides bicycle frames. But while the companies have videos demonstrating repairs on tubes, there aren't any details on actual fishing rods. And based on the replies so far it doesn't sound like anyone on here has tried these repairs. So, we don't know what the best repair methods are and how the repairs impact the fishing rod properties.

One example of a repair kit is:

[www.easycomposites.co.uk]

Luckily based on your later post it may just be a surface scratch and you don't need to experiment with the repair kit.

Thanks, I just did the tap method, and It didn't sound different when I was tapping on the scratch and going around it. I went fishing with the rod today for around 1-2 hours, and it was casting fine. Just didn't manage to catch anything so I couldn't see how it does with a bend in the rod.

I agree with John, Wrap over it.

Colin Good Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Today I was fishing my local beach with my 9’
> Surf Rod. As I casted my bail closed and my lure
> came flying back at me, and it struck my rod
> pretty dang hard. There’s a pretty big
> gash/scratch about half way up my rod on the
> blank. What do you suggest I do? Do you think
> it’ll affect the structural integrity of the
> rod? The scratch is deep and I’m worried it
> caused a weak point in the blank and that it’s
> just gonna snap whenever the rod is loaded with
> weight. It’s kinda hard to show how deep the
> scratch is on picture. I could call the company
> who manufactures the rod and see what they say.
> They have a great warranty on there rods.
> You can view images of the scratch with this link:
> [imgur.com]


Over the years This has happened to Graphite rods. They get struck by lures/weights yours or other fishermen or come in contact with sharp corners on boats or other places. Sometime it may be hard enough to have fractured some of those collinear fibers. As you use that rod some more of those fibers may fracture at that spot. Then one day you are playing a small fish, well within the rod rating, and your rod breaks. You get angry, hey, it was only a "small fish" the rod was bad! No, it was that bang that happened years ago. I don't know of any way to tell now rather than common sense from looking at the spot.

As said above, nothing you can really do. If the scratch or nick is deep enough into the graphite, at some point under pressure, such as hard casting or landing a large fish, it may snap.

I nicked my very expensive fly blank on Thursday. On Friday when netting a 20" trout it snapped in two at that spot.

I just got around to looking at your photos. I believe the scratch is superficial and will not impact the integrity of the rod blank. Use it and see what happens. I suspect in another month you'll forget about the scratch all together. In the meantime, if it is damaged to the point of contributing to failure, there really isn't too much you can do about it.

...........

A 1/2 in. or so wrap over the damage would hide it and might even provide a little hoop strength. Or you could look at the scratch every time you pick it up. Lol