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Ever had a rod..

5K views 38 replies 28 participants last post by  corykj 
#1 ·
Out fishing shell on an outgoing with a buddy and caught a fair fish and little later later had a bump and set the hook and the FTU grey rod broke about a ft above the handle like a gun shot on a shell fish.

Seen my share of tips and such break but not like this.

Have you ever had one break like this?

I have had tips break and
 
#2 ·
Out fishing shell on an outgoing with a buddy and caught a fair fish and little later later had a bump and set the hook and the FTU grey rod broke about a ft above the handle like a gun shot on a shell fish.

Seen my share of tips and such break but not like this.

Have you ever had one break like this?

I have had tips break and
I've seen the cheap junk Berkely Cherrywood rods break like that a few times, but nothing of decent quality.
 
#4 ·
it happen's


guy's
this happen's??
then when you go to try to get the blank covered by the warrenty you will get at least a dozen ""what might have happened or this is why"" :biggrin: the bottom line is this the dang thing simply broke ??
yes there is a reason my personal thought's is ""quality control during assembly"" now just what does this mean, i am noy reel sure just what it mean's for a fact but if you are turning out 100's of blank's per hr & your job entail's doing a certain thing during that process & you are just an employee what is say that you screw up & don't do something right or you miss a step & rather than go back to correct your error you just fix it & continue??
well this mean's that how many blank's missed that "priority step" or check point or just what ever it might have been & some blank's get over looked & shipped who's ever gonna know?? :biggrin:
so i don't think it's totally a **** rod blank because my guy's tell me they hear it from the high dollar blank's as well, the more the blank cost it seem's the thinner the outer wall now this i am sure is something that will get a big debate on but all i am saying is, i just don't think you can grade a rod by a break like that.
it is like my self i am 73 & i am in good shape so far & i just had a friend that was 50 that had a major hart attack "dead" yes it is genes but that same thing goe's for why did this rod break at the grip almost ???
because iy just did ????? :spineyes:
stix
 
#6 ·
I saw a carrot stix snap like that between the split grips. With as many blanks that are made there will be a few bad ones with weak spots. May also have been a weak spot from a prior incident. Do you ever use an egg weight slip rig and hook the keeper and have the weight slapping the blank during a long boat ride? I have seen this too. Some rod builders can look at the anatomy of the break and tell exactly what went wrong.
http://www.rodmakermagazine.com/blog/october/387/

http://www.fishingscout.com/anglers/SmackDaddy
 
#7 ·
Ya, A buddy of mine from here StevieRay bought a new CCA Redfish Rod from Academy awhile back and the first slot Red of the day on a jig the rod broke about 12" above the reel in the middle of the fight. He took it back no prob though and got an Allstar I think.
 
#9 ·
I still have an old orig alstar prm in the garage that never broke over the years.

The FTU rod is at least 8 months and several trips on it.

I got smart several years ago and bought an assortment of tips and can fix one on the fly but this is the first one that I have seen break other than the first tip to 6 inches off the tip.
 
#10 ·
You can fix it with hot glue and a wood dowel that is the correct size to slide inside the blank and patch the two pieces back together.

You may have to trim the dowel a little to get a good fit, but its better than trashing it and will make a good back-up rod or beginner rod for the kids.
 
#12 ·
Call me crazy but I have heard of this a lot more with higher end rods(Gloomis especially) becuase they use a higher module, higher qaulity graphite. This gives the rod a higher sensativity in a lighter package. Downside is they are more brittle.

Kinda like a high grade steel knife that will hold a edge better than a low carbon cheap blade. But if you use the good steel to pry you will snap your blade.

Just like anyting else it is a give and take relationship, you cant have something without looseing something else.

On the other hand the company should stand behind their product and understand things like that happen.
Good Luck
LongshotJames
 
#13 ·
Did it break in the area you hold your rod as you put it in your rod holder on your back? I noticed you switch rods frequently, you could have helped create a breaking point over time, due to hand placement and the weight of your reel. Just an observation and thought. I have had a few different types of rods break in the same area, usually due to human error some way or another, especially if they have been used more than just a few times.
 
#14 ·
Capt John,
That was me out there. Usually do not switch that much but trying two different bait setups. Holding my rod like that does not seem to have any more pressure than most people that hold their rod on the shank every once in a while or put it in a belt or backpack.

That was you with the pearl/ch fb doing the tall boy shake and bake wasn't it? I have seen that move quite a few times from a fishing buddy and hate to see the fish want it that way. You throwing mono or braid?
 
#16 ·
Capt John,

That was you with the pearl/ch fb doing the tall boy shake and bake wasn't it? I have seen that move quite a few times from a fishing buddy and hate to see the fish want it that way. You throwing mono or braid?
Yes, that was me. I throw 30# Power-Pro with a 25# leader, was using Vanish till today. Will be switching to something more durable and trustworthy. Broke off 2 fish the past few days, both times my leader broke.
 
#15 ·
Nick

All it takes is a little nick, you may not even notice it. Just like scratching glass and popping it. This is why you never lean your rods up against anything especially concrete. Gater
 
#18 ·
Well what most people don't know is that pretty much most company's in the industry use the same standards to judge Rod breakage's for warranty purposes and that it is very easy most of the time for them to tell whether or not it was user error. An extremely high percentage of all Rod breakages are user error. Also most Rods will exhibit a defect usually on the first couple of times the Rod is flexed (most custom builders have experienced this). This was one of the main reasons we developed the Rod Jacket so that our customers can protect against this. Usually it doesn't take much more than a small nick.
Although the lower end rods due seem to exhibit a higher defect percentage. One of the guys we were fishing with had it happen the other week. Also the extremely higher end modulus Rods are much more likely to Break, if treated improperly high sticking, bouncing fish in the boat scratches etc. I would venture to say most Anglers have never had proper instruction as to the proper way to handle and fish a high end rod.

The last couple of years most of the company's are dropping their lifetime warranty's due to the high number of replacements due to user error. With the poor economy companies can no longer afford to just replace high end rods. We might come up with an educational video that explains alot of this, who knows. The industry sure could use it.

JimD by no means are we commenting on your specific break, just trying to offer some insight that should be useful to others. That is definitely the worst feeling not to mention it can be dangerous.
 
#19 ·
I use Suffix 30. Let me know what you find for leader. I got in that area one evening and broke or lost 4 fatboys/ jointed fb's out there on the same leader in 20lb.

I just hope one of your fish was not a Saturday fish that was a money fish.
 
#20 ·
I was fishing the jetties when I got a hit that bent my FTU cheaper green rod in half. The rod snapped in half exposing some notches of fiberglass in the rod blank. This was the first time I used this rod. When I took it back with my reciept I was told it had been abused because of a scratch a foot above the break where a weight had hit it. Thats why I don't buy rods from FTU anymore. Customer service my A---.
 
#23 ·
My buddy did that same thing to one of my favorites. I was watching him, and that rod had caught 100s of fish. I agree, somehow you get a small nick there, or something that causes a weak point in the graphite. It sure hurt me to see it happen!
 
#25 ·
This happens to a lot of FTU rods. The 300 dollar green Rods are 10 dollar Chinese blanks. The eyes are a fifth of what they sell them for as well. There spend less then 50 bucks to make them. And yes the customer service and Warrantys have gone to **** because they get so many returned due to poor quality.
 
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