Rod Rant

[Maxximus Redneckus]

Anyone notice the reviews on rods wether its a ugly stik or a gloomis with 500 reviews.The rod broke the fist 5 inches from the tip...2 reasons high sticking or a nick in the rod.people are so professional when they say the POLE broke on the first cast or a 1 lb fish. What's yalls take on this phenomenon

[Tywithay]

If it breaks on the first fish, it's the rod. If it breaks after a month, it's you. May be a nick, shipping damage, manufacturing defect, or whatever; those show up early. After that break-in period, a rod will only break if you damage it or mistreat it.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

If a rod tip is bent beyond 90* to the butt, the user is at fault regardless of the age. A defect or shipping damage will be evident the first time the rod is loaded. Some of the reasons this seems so common include years of Ugly Stick's indestructible claims/commercials and televised tournaments showing pros abusing their equipment and imo, sometimes the fish as well.

[Master Bait'r]

If it breaks on the first fish, it's the rod. If it breaks after a month, it's you. May be a nick, shipping damage, manufacturing defect, or whatever; those show up early. After that break-in period, a rod will only break if you damage it or mistreat it.

 

 

This is how I've always thought about it.  I recently broke a tip off setting a hook on a nice rod, and although I don't recall doing something that damaged it, I have to assume it's my fault.  If it was a defect, it would have broken long before.  

[Kevin22]

Its the uneducated (referring to the use of a high dollar rod) people misusing the rod. 

 

A friend of mine swears by the cheap pflueger president combo. Works great for him, he catches a lot of fish! He went and bought an *** black this spring, his first expensive rod. The first fish he caught was a freshwater drum, probably a pound or so I'd guess. What did he do? Swung it over and high-sticked the rod to swing the fish into his hands. Yep, SNAP!. Then a 5 minute cussing spree of how that rod is a piece of crap and that he wasted $120.

 

Some don't understand that when you get a high quality rod they are thinner and more sensitive. You can't abuse them like you can a $30 walmart special. 

[gulfcaptain]

I would say 99% of the time it's user error.  I have only broke 3 rods, one after 10yrs of service and it was a CalStar Saltwater jigstick.  Wasn't so mad about the rod exploding into 4 pieces bouncing a 3lb bonito over the rail, more upset about the AFTCO Lightweight roller guides that went into the water with 2 of the pieces.  The other 2 were both the same blanks, and both broke in the same places.  I found out one of them they changed their blank design and the other well an X-fast Flipping stick wasn't up to my style of fishing and decided to swap to a different action and brand.  But is it the rods fault, well no as I push my tackle to the limits at times.  The only one that was rod defect was the one they changed design, happened to have a weak spot in the middle of the blank.

[smalljaw67]

I had a friend that was breaking high end sticks like they were going out of style, he insisted he was using them correctly. He got a new Irod Air series and he was going with another friend but this guy had a camera with him and when I talked to him the next day he had broke his new rod and my other friend sent me the video by email and how did the rod break?? He tried boat flipping a 4lb fish and when I told him it was his fault he told me he watches the pros do it on T.V. all the time and their rods don't break. How do you tell someone they're wrong when they see guys who make a living fishing and they are boat flipping fish? Someone here didn't think they did anything wrong and they even acknowledged the rod was under load when he netted the fish while holding a rod under load straight up in the air, the tips bent beyond 90 degrees and snapped but it was done dozens of times before with no ill affects, so how do you explain that to people? I told my friend, he may get away with it a dozen time, maybe even 100 times but boat flipping big fish will result in a broken rod eventually and he still insist the rod had a problem and it could have but when you break every single high end rod you ever owned, you have to be doing something wrong.

[Kevin22]

I still don't believe the boat-flip rod breaking theory. I flip walleye, catfish, and drum up a 15-20 foot wall with spinning and casting gear year around. I can flip a 3lb sheep up a 20' rod with a ML spinning rod without it breaking.. why can't you lift a 4# fish with a H flippin stick 2 feet into the boat? 

 

Being on the safe side, I can account for at least 700 fish so far this year that I have "boat flipped", most up the 15' wall. No rod breakage. Now figure about 1000 fish a year for the last 10 years. That's 10,000 fish flipped up a 15' wall with no rod breakage. So keep right on telling me the 2' flip into your boat will snap that rod every time! 

 

I'm not using ugly sticks either, so don't give me that excuse. 

[frogflogger]

If one wants to flip fish - then one must learn how to do it with minimum strain on tackle.

[Tywithay]

I still don't believe the boat-flip rod breaking theory. I flip walleye, catfish, and drum up a 15-20 foot wall with spinning and casting gear year around. I can flip a 3lb sheep up a 20' rod with a ML spinning rod without it breaking.. why can't you lift a 4# fish with a H flippin stick 2 feet into the boat?

Being on the safe side, I can account for at least 700 fish so far this year that I have "boat flipped", most up the 15' wall. No rod breakage. Now figure about 1000 fish a year for the last 10 years. That's 10,000 fish flipped up a 15' wall with no rod breakage. So keep right on telling me the 2' flip into your boat will snap that rod every time!

I'm not using ugly sticks either, so don't give me that excuse.

Do you hold the rod up at 90 degrees, or do you hold it out over the wall and reel them up? Boat flipping and dragging a fish up an embankment are very different things.

[F14A-B]

I never broke a rod boat flippin LMB was I lucky ?

I just never have... I started it in 85... Buku Bass flipped over the side of glass boats, Flipping.

I believe Rods being lighter nowadays and with extreme feel, has contributed... I have to say in many ways good rods are not as tough as they once were.... Carrot, Veritas, the white carrot, Bps, even Rage rods were breaking like crazy so it's not just user error, but both poor product and I dare say careless use? It's always better to lip the fish or net them, in my opinion, with today's rods. Who knows, but I have seen a huge difference in rod breakage the last 12 or so years.

[smalljaw67]

I still don't believe the boat-flip rod breaking theory. I flip walleye, catfish, and drum up a 15-20 foot wall with spinning and casting gear year around. I can flip a 3lb sheep up a 20' rod with a ML spinning rod without it breaking.. why can't you lift a 4# fish with a H flippin stick 2 feet into the boat? 

 

Being on the safe side, I can account for at least 700 fish so far this year that I have "boat flipped", most up the 15' wall. No rod breakage. Now figure about 1000 fish a year for the last 10 years. That's 10,000 fish flipped up a 15' wall with no rod breakage. So keep right on telling me the 2' flip into your boat will snap that rod every time! 

 

I'm not using ugly sticks either, so don't give me that excuse. 

 

How does one "boat-flip" up a 20' wall? What you do is totally different and when I say boat flipping a 4lb fish I'm not talking a heavy power flipping stick, I'm talking a normall all purpose 7' MH-F with a lure rating 1/4oz to 3/4oz or a 4 power rod. Those are the rods I've watched my friend break and I watch the pros do the same thing. They hold rod straight out and get the fish close and rather than get down to lip it they grab the blank about half way up and lift the fish in the boat, it is still wrong but much better than guys that hold the rod at the handle and do it and it does happen. I got to talk to some very knowledgeable people from St. Croix and I asked them is we hit the maximum for weight meaning that rods can't get any lighter and I'm talking medium to medium heavy bass rods. They told me they can make them a good bit lighter but they would get double the amount of returns as guys still insist using medium rods to boat flip 3lb and 4lb fish, in fact boat flipping is the number one reason for rod breakage and high sticking is a distant second, at least that is there theory.

[Kevin22]

How does one "boat-flip" up a 20' wall? What you do is totally different and when I say boat flipping a 4lb fish I'm not talking a heavy power flipping stick, I'm talking a normall all purpose 7' MH-F with a lure rating 1/4oz to 3/4oz or a 4 power rod. Those are the rods I've watched my friend break and I watch the pros do the same thing. They hold rod straight out and get the fish close and rather than get down to lip it they grab the blank about half way up and lift the fish in the boat, it is still wrong but much better than guys that hold the rod at the handle and do it and it does happen. I got to talk to some very knowledgeable people from St. Croix and I asked them is we hit the maximum for weight meaning that rods can't get any lighter and I'm talking medium to medium heavy bass rods. They told me they can make them a good bit lighter but they would get double the amount of returns as guys still insist using medium rods to boat flip 3lb and 4lb fish, in fact boat flipping is the number one reason for rod breakage and high sticking is a distant second, at least that is there theory.

 

 

Reel down as far as possible and then swing in one hard motion straight up in the air. Rod ends up straight up and down (180º). The same motion of a boat flip only 18 feet higher. 

[Kevin22]

Do you hold the rod up at 90 degrees, or do you hold it out over the wall and reel them up? Boat flipping and dragging a fish up an embankment are very different things.

 

No, not even close! Get the fish below you and reel down as far as possible, then with one quick motion you swing the fish up and over the wall and fence. Rod ends up straight above you (180º). If you hold the rod out and reel you will lose the fish almost every time. 

[Kevin22]

By the way, so we don't all get confused. 90 degrees is straight out in front of you. A circle is full motion from your feet. Your feet are at 0º, head is 180º, straight out in front of you would be 90º, straight out behind you would be 270º, back at your feet again is the full 360º. The only way 90º is up is if you are laying on your back. 

[gulfcaptain]

you can flip fish without breaking your rod.  I've flipped 15lb yellowtail over the rail on sportboats.  Wind down as far as you can and with the rod lowered, put your thumb on the spool and lift.  Once the fish has cleared the rail/side of the boat let off the spool to land the fish in the bottom of the boat.  And the pro's do break their rods, Major League Fishing has had more than one pro break their rods while trying to flip the fish into the boat without it touching the deck.  It's much less stressful to reach down or get a net and land the fish then bouncing it off the bottom of the boat trying to look "cool" just because the pro's do it.  Main reason there is simple, TIME.  If you watch the guys on FLW, most grab a net which aren't allowed in the Elite Series.

[gulfcaptain]

Oh, and when you lift the fish, you do it to the side, not straight up causing you to "High Stick" the fish which will result in a nice POW followed by a few choice words about how crappy that new rod YOU just broke.

[iabass8]

By the way, so we don't all get confused. 90 degrees is straight out in front of you. A circle is full motion from your feet. Your feet are at 0º, head is 180º, straight out in front of you would be 90º, straight out behind you would be 270º, back at your feet again is the full 360º. The only way 90º is up is if you are laying on your back. 

 

 

You're the only one that's confused on this one.....

 

Unless you're fishing in a manner that probably everybody, your rod and its motions are in front of you, not around you.

 

You hold the fishing rod in front of you at roughly waist/rip/mid chest area. That's 0/360.....

 

I've also seen many, many people break fishing rods doing the exact same thing you're talking about on the river fishing below the tailwaters above the different "walls" along each lock and dam and I'm very familiar /w the height as I've even succombed to fishing in those nonsensical areas at times. Flipping fish in the manner you're talking about is asinine. 

[gulfcaptain]

Think the clock time might have been better so we all know what 3, 6, 9, and 12 are.....well unless we all have gone digital, then back to the above mentioned degrees.

[SirSnookalot]

I don't ever see anyone breaking rods, at least not from sea walls.   We, meaning everyone out here, flip fish up all the time, that said the right rod is a big asset.  Once in a while we may catch smaller 3-5# snook, you can just lift them right up, but for the most part we spring them up.  There is a limit, can't do it with a 10# fish, can't even get their heads out of the water, springing probably no more than 10' in height.  I use a mh spinning rod when fishing those places, a friend was lifting 5 pounders with his 9 wt fly rod yesterday, but a highly experienced fisherman.  Flipping from a boat is much harder, just can't get the same kind of spring action, I can see rods breaking then.

Past 90 degrees may or may not be a problem.  I have caught many 100# fish on a 25 lb rod nearly doubled over, the rod has been in service about 7 years, still going strong.  A more expensive graphite rod probably may not have lasted as it's pushed passed it's limit.

As of late I've been catching tarpon up to about 70# on a mh spinning rod, the key is the drag.  Too tight a drag the line, knots or rod can snap, I don't suggest using anything heavier than 20# braid, plenty strong for fish in this weight class.

[tomustang]

Anyone notice the reviews on rods wether its a ugly stik or a gloomis with 500 reviews.The rod broke the fist 5 inches from the tip...2 reasons high sticking or a nick in the rod.people are so professional when they say the POLE broke on the first cast or a 1 lb fish. What's yalls take on this phenomenon

If a lot of rods came with a little guide on proper handling/use I bet the bad reviews would shrink a bit. Most people buying cheaper rods wouldn't care much though

[coak]

As mentioned earlier, I wonder what kind of impact BASS/FLW watching has on the avg angler? I realize that not everything can be attributed to tv and the pros, but how is a kid or novice angler going to know if he sees opposite rules/ways of boating fish. I for one do not like televised BASS or MLF episodes as it promotes an unhealthy way to boat fish.