Broken Rods and "Explainations"

[Deleted User]

I think this topic deserves a thread. I copy and pasted my fall and broken rod story from the 'Bigstew/Big Fish' thread here. We want to hear some good ones about both the breakage stories and the replacement 'stories'. ....

Hey, I better explain why I have been taking to 'tumbling' my way to the river, because I don't want people to think I'm a clutz or dangerous to bankfish with http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif . First, I'm 6'3" and about 245 lbs, and kind of top heavy http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif , and have a weak left ankle, due to b-ball mishaps. And I have to wear size 12 wading boots so I can fit both my orthotics and feet into them. Thus the smooth felt bottom boots (which are best in the river on mossy rocks, but bad on bank mud) are large and wide; kinda like 2 snow boards. These steep "trails" down to the river often have smooth slippery sections that become a ski slope for me. But my feet just slip out from under me. The first hole we went to yesterday had a steep slope, as most do, but it wasn't slippery mud that caused my worst fall ever. I had grabbed about a 1/2" thick branch to use as leverage to step and swing over a ways to another path, with 'Stew just below me. That dang branch snapped right as I was swinging over to the other river approach and I just fell hard and rolled right into rocks and sticker vines. I was lying still with my head angled down toward the river and 'Stew thought I was unconscience because I wasn't moving. Then he and Jerry heard me start to laugh. But I couldn't move because I was tangled in sharp sticker vines. I didn't want to tear my waders any more and I was already bleeding pretty bad from my left ear and left hand. I had to compress my hand for quite awhile as the boys fished. The bad part turned good though was the graphite rod I snapped clean about in the middle of the butt section. I later told the store I bought it from that it broke under the weight of a big one. That was true, but fortunately they thought I was talking about a big fish. Didn't want to ruin a nice vision for them - so I accepted a replacement rod. I've spent sooo much money there that I didn't let it bother my conscience - until right now. I am feeling a little guilty about the rod thing. So, how have most of you guys actually broken your rods, and be honest with the story you gave the store or factory trying for a replacement. I'm sure they just shake their heads after hearing the same ol', same ol' all the time. I'd love to hear some good broken rod stories and "explainations" for replacement purposes. http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif - RT

[Deleted User]

Broken rods? I have four words that come to mind. Car doors,truck lids. Enough said. As for RT's big fall here is an eyewitness report. I viewed the steep hillside with a bit of apprehension worried that I would slip and fall embarassing myself in front of my fishing partners. So carefully I started down the bank just behind Jerry sidestepping my way down. I suddenly heard a snap and the sound of 250 lbs. hitting the ground. I knew in a moment what had happened so I quickly side stepped Steve's hurdling carcass as it begin it's journey towards the river. When the RT comet finally landed I looked at him and thought he was unconcious until he started laughing. Steve continued to amuse Jerry and I the rest of the day with two more falls but fortunately no more broken rods

[Coot22]

Hey RT,

I work at Fisherman Marine Supply at Delta Park so believe me when I say that I have heard them all! Many times, I simply ignore the reason and look at the rod. You can pretty much tell if the rod was broken due to a failure in the blank or if it was mishandled. However, rods like lamiglas and gloomis have to be sent to the factory and so we tell the customers that immediately. Many rod companies have deals with the tackle shops where if they take the broken rod and send it back to the manufacturer, they will get a new one back. If, at work, we carry the rod and it is not a gloomis or a lamiglas, we will just take it back and send it to the company on the rod builders dime. This keeps us from ******* off the customer and keep them coming back and spending lots more money, because we showed them good faith, and we don't lose a cent for it. It is just good business. Shakespeare, berkely, penn, daiwa and North river rods are all backed by the company so we just give the customer an identical rod right off of the shelf or if they want a new one, we let them pay the difference. Good business.
As for the north river rods, those are our own store brand rods. We buy the blanks from overseas and then send them to W.W. Griggs over in aloha and they tie up the rods for us. They are by far the most popular of all of our rods! No matter what happens to the rod, we give them a new one. This is because the mark up is so huge on those rods for us, it is more than you can imagine even though we are selling them at $70 or $80 each, we dont mind losing a rod here and there because, as afore mentioned, it is simply good business! Keep the customer coming back and spending their paychecks!!! (I should be a share holder in that company considering that almost all of the money i make goes right back into the store!)
Dont feel bad about your deception. Everyone does it, doesnt make it right if everyone does it but still, and to be honest, the guys behind the counter enjoy hearing these stories (we get a lot of crazy stories...if you want to here some email me...i cant say some of the things that went on at work because it may upset some people). Anyway, we are making so much money off of people such as yourself that you should not worry about it one bit. It is the least that we can do for such good customers! Good post R.T. I can not wait to hear everyone's own stories...like I said, I love to hear 'em!!!

-Cody

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"10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish"

[drifter]

Broken rods - I used to fish Fenwick HMG graphite. This rod would break if you sneezed. http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/frown.gif Enough said. Drifter.

[birdhunter]

I remember sending in a Lami into Fishermen's. They shipped it to the company but they would not replace it. They said it was a non-warrenty break but I could buy a replicate for cost, but that was still a LOT of money. Just not worth it to me. Ended up buying another rod and reel for less money than I would have spent on just the Lami rod @ cost!

TBT it was a broken rod I found in the river so I wasn't too sad about not getting a replacemnt for free. Damn, that was cold water though. Cooter, are you trying to get yourself fired? Keep it on the DL man, I'd hate to have one of my connections disappear!

[willierower]

I broke 2 identical Lamiglas rods in 2 days. Both times I gave the salesman behind the counter the same excuse. I told him the rod broke on hooksets. The first day I got an identical rod to the one I broke. The second day I got a little lighter rod.
I actually broke both rods by getting a little rough fighting chinook. I guess you are not supposed to reel right down to the water with the rod tip, Clamp down on the spool and lift up as hard as you can. For some reason the rod just snaps?

[WheresMyBobber]

I once actually did break the tip section (at the ferrell)on a Lamiglass rod fighting a steelhead one time. I drove up to Woodland, they looked at it and replaced it no questions asked. Unfortunately, I had made the rod myself, so they gave me a blank that I had to re-tie.

But the heartbreaker was when I broke one of my bamboo fly rods. It wasn't one that had a lot of collectors value, so I spent hours and hours scraping that thing down to bare wood, put on new guides, did some ornate wrapping, and revarnished it. It was fun to take out and trout fish with once in a while until the day I shut the car door on it.
http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/frown.gif No one to lie to about getting that one replaced.

[birdhunter]

Shoot, I forgot to tell the story I told 'em about how the rod broke. Cooter helped me "reconstruct" the events that occured. Here they are:

We were out in our rinky dink 15 ft drift boat anchored in 100 ft of water fishing the Columbia for oversized sturgeon in December. Of course we were the only ones out ther aside from the barges and the floaters. Well we hadn't had so much as a nibble on account of the fact that Cooter was making me fish with sandshrimp. I personally prefer a whole nutria when I target the 15-20 ft fish and so I put one on there, heaved out the 1/2 oz of weight needed to reach the bottom and had just put the rod in the rod holder when BAMN!! A 15 ft sturgeon grabbed the newt and took off towards the Pacifica Oceana. Well I quickly assessed the situation and set the hook as hard as I could. Now remember that I was using my Lamiglass rod so I could detect those light bites. Well just as I reefed back on the rod I hear a crack and the front half of it goes sailing down the line towards the 23 foot fish. Well I guess when the rod tip actually hit that fish it must have surprised him because he took out another 1000 yards of line. I was begining to get a little worried, battling a 30 foot sturgeon in waves that had their own waves and us in a little rinky dink 7 ft john boat. Well I decided then and there that i would not rest until that fish was subdued, so I tightened the drag and we went up and down the river from Bonneville to Astoria and then back to Bonneville, over the dam, to the Dalles, then back down and over the dam again until we ended up just about where we had started. I was acting sort of as a bobber the whole time onaccoutofthefact that I was only in a float tube and only had one fin. Well by then I had fought that fish for a good 73 hrs and it was begining to get tired. I was feeling a little strain on my thumb as I didn't really have a drag, but just pressed down hard on the spool with my thumb until it cut through my thumb and reached the bone. About that time the blood clotted enough and stopped the spool from moving. Well I thought for sure I had him. I had only been using Stren 2 lb test for my mainline and still had half a rod, but I figured that 37 ft fish was mine. When I finally got him up next to me (remember, I was only wearing one of those inflatable seat devices found in planes) the fish was plumb beat. There was something in his eyes though that made me feel sorry for him and I bring myself to kill him. That and about 100 OSP ossifers were circling around waiting for me to lift so much as a fin outta the water. Well I unhooked that 45 foot sturgeon and he drifted silently away toward the brimey bottom. As he went, I swear I saw him wink at me (for those of you who don't think fish can wink, I would suggest that maybe you just haven't been paying enough attention while releasing them. They are very subtle). As I left I couldn't help but feel lucky onaccountofthefact that the 50 ft sturgeon decided to go after the whole horse I had for bait and not think I was a more tempting morsel. So that is the story of how I broke my Lamiglass rod and released my first oversized sturgeon, a 57 footer.

And even after all of that, they wouldn't give me a new rod. Can you believe it??!!!

[superfly]

Hey R.T why don't you tell them what happens when 245 lbs sits on a 101/2 foot float rod!
As for breaking rods, I have purposley been trying on several models of the allstars since I am the rep, I want to see what they can really take, I have been very impressed on what they will take. Story one, lifted a 13 lb coho straight out of the water with a 9602, which is an 8 ft noodle rod. The rod was u shaped but did not brake.
story 2 loaded 20 lb line on 1263, a rod rated up to 10 or 12 lb, proceeded to hook many chinook that day and really put the screws to them, thought I had broke for sure when I hooked into a 38 lb buck, but no even when I high sticked it, it still did not brake and I owned that dam fish. Any wyas I am impressed, and really believe in the product.
Superfly

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If you want to run with the big dawgs then get your ass off of the porch!!

[birdhunter]

You all are very lucky. I happen to have found an artist rendition of that horrific battle. This was drawn by our very own Coot. Don't laugh, it's better than anything I could do. This clearly shows the size of the 72 ft fish that I was fighting. Hopefully this will put any doubts to rest.

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/aol?imgid=1611787



[This message has been edited by birdhunter (edited 03-09-2001).]

[Grant Scheele]

I broke my GLoomis IMX 1086 fishing for Mac's on Odell lake. Has anyone else ever panicked and put their thumb down on the spool and pushed the go down button instead of the stop button on the downrigger at the same time. Not a pretty sound. The rod breaking sounds funny also.(laughing buddies) Anyway, I told Loomis the truth and they replaced it for free.

[This message has been edited by O.Mykiss (edited 03-07-2001).]

[Deleted User]

Hey good posts. More! ... Ah, Grant, NO - none of us have ever done that either (read O'My's 'Set the hook in the house' thread). http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif ... And Joe, when are you going to acknowledge your part in the broken A-S? I got up to let you into the front seat storage and when you put it back down I just sat back down on the boat seat. Neither of us noticed the rod leaning on the back side of the seatbox next to the anchor release had slipped into the crevice between the seat lid and compartment frame http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/shocked.gif . But since I forgot the 'look before sitting' rule I will still cover anything the Texas boys won't on that rod - just because I'm a dam good guy http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif BTW, those are very good rods! Especially for the price. - RT

[smilesforu]

Come on RT if that was a doughnut it would be eaten before squashed http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif. Look mom no chocolate on my pants http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

[Steelheadman]

I floated down the Sol Duc (Cowan to Leyendecker) with a buddy whos only drifted this stretch a couple of times. Got into alot of whitewater hit a few rocks. Further on down and the river splits and we veer off down some rapids to the left. Here we go towards the bank where it cuts back to the right and into a tree with branches hanging over. I ducked in the front while this branch came and hit the boat. It caught my NW Special and broke the tip. I sent it to Lamiglas for repair. Just sent a note that it broke and that it was given to me as a gift a few years ago. The warranty was only for one year. Had to pay $32 & tax & postage. Just got it back today.

[This message has been edited by Steelheadman (edited 03-08-2001).]

[MetalHead]

Ok broken rod story. Here's my best. 13 years ago after my first marriage went TU I met the wonderful lady I am married to now. On about our fourth date we decided to go camping and I know a little lake that is full of big brown trout. Well the morning we left I went to fishermans and bought an LCI (old loomis) ultralite trout rod for me, you see I was letting her use my old Reider Rod. Well we get to the camp ground and start unloading the rig. She breaks 6" off the tip taking it out of the car. Of course she's all kinds of sorry. Then she leans it against the car and finishs unloading while I grumble and set up the tent. When shes done emptying the trunk she slams the lid down and breaks the pole in half. Needless to say I didnt do any fishing but she caught a few. The best part of the story though is I took that pole back to fishermans and told them my story. They all laughed and gave me a new rod.

[Deleted User]

Drifter, that's interesting that your Fenwick's broke so easily. Because I used the early Fenwick graphites way back, I just bought one recently for nostalgia reasons. It was the rod I broke in the story above! I was carrying 2 rods and the GLoomis was fine. I think the model was an IMX? It only cost $100. They were out of that model so gave me a hun credit on a more expensive Fenwick "Legacy" model. I've never seen or heard of it yet so I will see how it performs and holds up. It has nice fancy gold guides on it http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif . ...

Marty, you know that if I sat on a donut I would still find it useful. Not so with that rod. ...

Hey MetalHead, I think I know that small 'lake' with only brown trout in it up your way. Were the fish real lethargic and off the bite? ... Geez man, that was the SW Wash. sewage settling pond! Yeeeuuuke! If you ever get those 'trout' to bite (snagged), C&R by shaking them off the hook!

Edit: Please excuse my discusting lame paragraph at the bottom there. I would erase it but I don't want to take any flack for censorship http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif



[This message has been edited by RT (edited 03-08-2001).]

[smilesforu]

LOL you kill me. You would probably sit on it on purpose so you didn't have to chew. http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[fishhead5]

I was putting line on my brand new 1086 in the living room. Things were going pretty good until the cat saw the line spinning off the spool and attacked. Out of instinct I set the hook, the cat got tangled and the fight was on. It was great, all aroung the living room it went. I hollerd at my wife to get the knife and cut the line, when she hit the line the rod went slack. Forgot about the celing fan up above, going around.

Fishhead5

[Deleted User]

Fishead5 that was a hilarious story! Those cats put up a good fight don't they? I was trying to show my son how to flycast out in the front yard and we "caught and released" the neighbors cat several times. There was no fly on the line the cat would just grab ahold of it and wouldn't let go.

[WaterDog]

I know what you mean fishhead5! Good one!

[THE REEL HEY_YALL]

I think Dr. Ruth says they happen from lack of interest.

[MetalHead]

No RT it was'nt LaCamas Lake (there are some corn back brown trout in that lake). I dont even let my dogs swim in that cess pool.

[SteelieSteve]

Many years back I had a early model lamiglass(500 series) that had caught a big number of steelies. While fishing a good hole on the nestucca I set the hook on a big rock and it shnapped right above the ferrel. Lami said sorry that model is out of production/no replacment. Cheap rod but it had great action. Later a year or so caught the tip of my LCI medium heavy in the door and snipped off the very tip. Yaknow those rods have a lot of feel in that last 1/4 inch. It's never been the same. My bro has went through a bunch of those hmg's, don't know what it is about them but they aren't too durable. Hmmm broke about 4 inches off the tip section of a lami ultralite trout rod in the trunk. Turned it into a ok bass rod... LMAO.
Think the same thing happened to my Fenwick fs83 when it was still fairly new(boat box got it). http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif

SS

[bait boy]

there are a couple of firsts here. In '97 I had just gotten out of the navy and had moved from bremerton to vancouver and I found a neat fish called the spring salmon.(I was just learning how to target springers) I had a very old fiberglass eagle claw (those pretty yellow ones). well I kinda got tired of that rod and went to GIjoes and got me a brand new Eagle Claw rod. yee haw I was really fishing now Me and my new rod was gonna catch a springer well 2 weeks straight of getting off grave yard fishing till 2 or 3 in the afternoon the blessed event happened. By now I have seen more than enough fish come to the bank to get that little fish on the bank. so here he comes nice and easy I try to slide him up the bank and wouldnt you know it "snap" and im fishing with half a rod and a 20# springer with his tail still in the water. I got the fish in needless to say. I was happy and sad at the same time. I still had plenty of time to fish so out comes the old yellow rod. well a short time later I get another nibble on old yeller and I set the hook on this fish and "snap" goes yeller. I got that fish in and I was really dissapointed to know that I had just broken my last rod on a freakin CHUB.....

I broke another old yeller on a sturgeon but the old wooden handle is what broke on that one...


Thats my story and I'm stickin to it

Rick

[Snagly]

I put the first half of this up on Bob's board over a year ago, but the story's so good I'll repeat Part I here as well as the update. Happened to a buddy of mine named Jeevan. Jeevan's a fishing nut based in Hong Kong. On his way home to Sri Lanka he stops in Singapore (my town) and buys an 8' medium action inshore saltwater rod. Now Sri Lanka is full of fish (something to do with the Navy patrolling all the time, and the Tamil Tigers doing bad things to anyone they can get), but it's not a very sporting fishing culture. The average tackle is a 4' tuna rod rated for 80lb line. The reel is used to winch in whatever eats your Rapala CD 14 or 18. I guess you're always in a hurry when you might get mortared.

Anyway, enough warm-up. Jeevan gets to his brother's place and says "You gotta see my new rod! It's a beauty!" Takes it out of the tube, assembles it, hands it to Bro who then does what we all do when we get handed a rod, he "flex casts" it. CRACK! Top six inches hit a ceiling fan and go flying across the room like a black dart. With a deadpan face, the brother hands the rod back to Jeevan and says "It's a nice rod, but a little soft in the tip. It would fish better 6" shorter." (Being his only brother, Jeevan didn't kill him.)

Jeevan took the rod back and got it replaced. So here's Part II of our story. Jeevan and I go fishing in Northern Australia every year. This past Sept we are in the back of beyond -- only way in or out is either float plane or helicopter. So on the last day the chopper comes in, loads up the gear and is too heavy to take four anglers. So I hop out and wait for the return shuttle. Everyone's fishing rods were being held by the fellow in the front seat of the chopper. No doors, of course, just the rods angled down with the butts and tips inside the Plexiglas and the rest tucked under Neville's arm. While flying over a big swamp, Nev's grip slips and half the rods go WHOOSH out the window followed by CRACK!!! as they fly into to vertical rotor at the tail. Included in that bundle was Jeevan's replacement rod. Of course none of us on the ground knew what had happened until the chopper pilot landed on the return leg, hopped out and went to the back to take a look and said, "Well, I guess the rotor isn't cracked or it would have broken off by now." It was a very interesting 25 minute ride to the airstrip as the two guides and I looked down thinking "Sh*t! Crocs down in THAT river. Don't crash land there!" or "That's not a bad looking spot for an emergency landing" and so on.

I have since convinced Jeevan that he needs to switch brands and he bought a 5'6" GL2 as a replacement. Maybe it'll bring better luck.

[Greg]

Last Friday, my partner and I were fishing our favorite February river, our favorite way... we call it dead drifting, run the sled up to the head of a hole and shut the motor off, and drag corkies/eggs back through the slot. Anyway, it was purty cold, so I had my friend Mr. Heater all fired up an' cookin'.....My buddy looked back just as we were about to drift into a big snag, and bar-b-cued the last 6" right off his Berkely Air IM7. Didn't help any that it was the only rod he carried that day, or that I proceeded to hit 5 steelhead, and boat 4 of them in the next couple of hours http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Greg

[Killertraylor]

I've busted 4 rods in the last 3 years. The last 2 were rod failures in my opinion, but Lamiglass treated me like it was my fault even though they replaced the rods for free. One snapped while I was setting the hook sturgeon fishing (the guy at the repair counter in Woodland said it was because I let the anchovy scales build up on the rod - even though all the scales were at the butt end and the rod broke half way up.)The other was really wierd - it was a lamiglass titanium - only the second trip I had the rod out and hooked a little 12 lb. chinook that just went wild once I got it in the net. There was plenty of slack line, but the wiggling of the fish caused the tip to vibrate really fast and it just snapped - must have been a defective blank. Took it back to Woodland and he handed me a brand new titanium, but with a long lecture about why it was really my fault that it broke...better than a sharp stick in the eye I guess.

[Steelheader69]

I have a few broken rod stories, most are ACTUALLY legit.

First rod I ever broke was about 17 years ago. I had a brand new berkley lightning rod for trout fishing. I had a monster hit while fishing duck lake at ocean shores for trout. I set the hook and it literally exploded into 3 pieces. Sent the rod back to berkley and they sent me a new one free with a $20 voucher for any berkley product to boot.

I went quite a few years until next break. Was about 5 years ago. Set the hook on a 30lb king. The king made a mad dash into the hole and my drag locked up in my ABU. My Kunnan snapped under the strain before I could straighten out the rod and snap the line. By this time Kunnan had well burned down and was S O L. Luckily I found a guy who does awesome repair work. He fixed the tip section, didn't plug it but used some sort of odd ribbing. The rod is as good, if not better then it was before.

Finally, broke two rods in one day. Was fishing for silvers on the chehalis in my sled with girlfriend and my kids. Was running my old fenwicks with plugs for the kids (they love to pick their own plugs and I let them do what they want with them). My girlfriend and I were throwing spinners with our Lami's. Well, I hooked a small king and the other rods were pulled into boat. Somewhere in all the battle one of my old 85c's snapped the tip. Luckily I only last about an inch off thip. Just took eye off and reglued it down (I could send it back for a new rod, but I'd send an old USA made fenwick for a new one and I like the old ones). Then, next day on chehalis we were fishing and my girlfriend stuck her lami in rod holder. I didn't realize it was there and went to throw my spinner. Sure enough, I took a clean 5 inches off the tip of the rod making my cast. It sliced off the tip and spinner off her rod. Waited til following Saturday and took rod into sportco. Wrote up my return slip. Said that set hook on fish and tip snapped off. Only had to pay the $9 shipping fee that sportco charges. No charge on the rod. I don't feel guilty because I've spent more then enough money through Lami.

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You haven't lived til you've rowed a cataraft. Friends don't let friends run Outcasts.

[Centerpin]

I broke 3 loomis 1263's in two months a couple of years ago. I had ordered the original blank from Ontario so when I was dealing with the guy it was a letter writing campaign at first.

The first rod was kind of a mishap. I had just bought a used truck and we were fishing the north island. All our rods were in the back with the canopy on. We were bouncing from spot to spot in the truck. All of a sudden the rear view mirror got pretty bright and I could see we no longer had a canopy. I bucked a U turn and found my canopy laying top up on the logging road. I checked it over and it was fine. I checked my rod and it was shattered in a spiral fashion. The ******* guy had used sheet metal screws to put the canopy on. I took the laces out of my shoes and laced her down and made it the rest of the day with a backup rod. I sent the blank back and said I was trying to pull a fish over some fast water. He sent me a new one. A week after I built this one up I slipped on a steep cutbank and fell into my rod. I was suspended by the loomis facing head first into the water. Rod #2 busted. I sent that one back and said I broke it on a slab that was easily over 20 lbs. I even sent him a picture of a high 20's steely. He sent me another rod back. I lent my new rod to my brother who had recently broke his in the tailgate. He comes back with the rod in 3 pieces. Said it broke on a cast!

I sent the rod back and I received another blank and a phone call. He asked what I was doing with these rods. I replied that the line rating may be a little off. He asked what type of leader I was using and I said 12 lb maxima. He said there is your problem. Maxima breaks at around 14 lbs. I replied that I would have to back down to 8 lb or 10 lb. I haven't had any rod breakage since.

[rob]

I was using a new Shimano last year for probably the 3rd time. There was a bit of a bank behind me, I snagged some weeds behind me while bringing the rod back for a cast. Rod popped. Told the guy at the store that it just snapped on a cast. He said if there was a defect it would happen in the first few trips out. Dude handed me a new one.
The one that hurts most is the rod I left on my canopy. Don't know if it broke, I never saw it again.

[blacktail]

I've got several good broken rod stories, but the best is...........

I was in Montana flyfishing on Rock Creek about an hour out of Missoula.

It was late July and really hot outside. I didn't have anything with me, so I decided I'd take a little sip of water out of the river - (I know, bad idea).

So, I bend down and start taking a little sip when I see a damned snake underwater looking right at me! Well, I hate snakes so I jumped about five feet in the air and started yelling some obscenities.

I decided I would exact some revenge on that snake, so I grabbed my 9 foot 4 weight IMX Loomis and reeled my fly up to the tip and decided I'd give that snake a little poke.

As I was "poking away" my fly snagged the snake in the mid-section. I wasn't about to catch and release the snake as there was no way I was going to touch it. I lifted it out of the water and the weight of it bent my rod thus pulling a little of the leader out.

My next smart idea was to get the snake off I'd kind of do a windmill and when he smacked onto the rocks either he'd die and I could dislodge my fly, or at impact my fly would come loose. DOH!

Well, as you probably guessed I was wrong. About 3/4's of the way down, old snakey came loose and it was too late for me to react.

SMASH! my rod without snakey collides with the rocks and breaks off about 8" of my rod.

The kicker is when I get home from my trip I get pretty sick and go to the Doc. Doc diagnoses me with Giadaria (Sp.?)and writes me a prescription.

For those of you that don't know what Giadaria is....It's some sort of a microrganism found in untreated water that can make you sick.

Sadly a true story

Mike

[Deleted User]

Blacktail,

That's a great story! I would love to use it in my funny story section of my book, with your name credit of course. E-mail me or post if it's OK. ... BTW, I was born in Missoula and fished Rock Creek with my Dad and bigger brother; and the Blackfoot River too. I have returned many times to fish both over the years since we moved to Oregon when I was young. ... Drinking from the river huh http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif I have ****** many times in that creek over the years ... when was this incident with snakey? Probably cow excrament that got to ya. http://www.ifish.net/forum/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

RT

[OneLastCast]

This is not a broken rod story but the RT toboggan ride down the slope reminded me of this.

In the mid 1970’s I worked in the sporting goods department at GI Joe’s with a fellow named Bob. Now Bob was a big affable, barrel chested guy who was slightly handicapped. Often we had customers that wanted to fish with us and one day Bob was convinced to go with this guy. They went up the Clackamas to try a few holes, a typical winter day with horizontal rain and everything wet and dripping. They parked the car at one hole with a fairly steep bank access. With all the rain the trail was slipperier than hot cat sh#$ on cold linoleum. Bob took two steps, his feet flew up so he could kiss his toes without bending over and he proceeded to do a double gainer with a twist and a half and landed in a moaning heap 20 yards down the slope. Bob’s new partner peaked over the edge to see if Bob was alright and saw Bob with his leg literally wrapped up around his neck. As Bob was rolling around he could hear the guy up on the roadway repeating the mantra ‘OH! MY GOD! Over and over and over again, hitting every note in every octave. Finally Bob rolled into a comfortable position and reached around his head, pulled his leg down and strapped it back on his stump. Bob’s handicap (unknown to his fishing partner) was he had an artificial leg. Apparently the guy was fairly quiet the rest of the day. Bob was contemplating learning CPR.

Bob said the leg didn’t slow him up fishing to much except it had a tendency of trying to float if he waded to deep.

OneLastCast

[Deleted User]

Great story OLC! And good for Bob. But that poor guy that thought Bob had snapped his leg in half might never be the same around muddy steep slopes again? - RT

[fishhead5]

Around here we call it "Beaver Fever".(get your mind out of the gutter RT) Them little critters come from what the beavers deposit in the river.

Fishhead5

[blacktail]

RT,

Feel free to use my story.

Mike