First fish on my custom rod, but...

wisconsin heat · July 15, 2019

This weekend was the maiden voyage for my custom built rod. It's a 6' light CRB blank with a Fuji PTS seat and silver carbon thread accents. I paired it with a cheap bfs reel and some 4lb monofilament. I love how it turned out, and it the little 1/8th oz spinnerbait I started with well. 5 minutes into using it, I caught my first fish! A chunk I ballpark in the ~17" range.

I loosened the drag and the Rod handled it like a champ. However, 10 minutes later I expertly cast my spinner bait over a tree limb and as I brought the bait up and gave the rod a downward flick to retrieve the lure. The rod snapped. In half. At the midesection. Right after the second guide. Needless to say, the feeling sucked. After putting hours into researching components and assembling the rod only to have it snap like this was so disappointing.

Do any builders here have any idea what could have gone wrong? Why would the blank snap in the mid section? I was babying the rod, and it had 4 lb mono on it- I WAS NOT stressing this rod to the point of breaking.

Additionally, is there anything that can be done about this? I thought I remembered reading that if a rod blank breaks somewhere in the midesection that it can be salvaged. Has anyone done anything like this before? Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated. I'd hate to have to give up on this rod already.

MickD · July 15, 2019

It's hard to imagine any rod being overloaded with 4 pound mono unless it was previously damaged by striking into a hard object or had a manufacturing defect.

I take from the photo that the break shows considerable "shredding, splintering." Am I right? If yes then a repair is tough. I've done a couple, but it's not a sure thing.

Have you told your story to the blank manufacturer. I would expect they would have a warranty that would get you a new blank. Not perfect considering what you put into the build, but better than nothing.