Big bass broke my rod WHERE?

[MickD]

Any possibility that the butt got crushed earlier in its life, like in a car door, or. . . ?  I cannot think of a manufacturing defect that would allow a failure at this point in the rod.  The stress caused by what you describe has to be pretty low and leads me to think that the rod was about ready to go when you caught this fish.

[TnRiver46]

I’ve broken a rod in the reel seat once but I’m pretty special 

 

rods are like sunglasses, you only break or lose the ones you don’t want to break or lose. The cheap crappy ones will stay with you for decades 

[Koz]

22 minutes ago, soflabasser said:

It is common for a rod to break during and right after a hookset.

There is no need to do exaggerated hooksets If you have high quality hooks and know how to set a hook properly. Seems like those who like to do these types of hooksets want to feel strong but it is not the way to show strength. A better show of arm strength is curling 60 pound or bigger dumbbells, anyone can exaggerated hooksets on a fish. It is good you are getting a replacement for the rod. 

 

Well, as I stated, I don't do exaggerated hooksets or try to cross their eyes. Sharp hooks do the job for me.

18 minutes ago, MickD said:

Any possibility that the butt got crushed earlier in its life, like in a car door, or. . . ?  I cannot think of a manufacturing defect that would allow a failure at this point in the rod.  The stress caused by what you describe has to be pretty low and leads me to think that the rod was about ready to go when you caught this fish.

 

No, I have fold down seats and the rod gets put in through the trunk, not the car door, and I've never closed the trunk on it or stepped on it. At home the rod is put away in a rod stand that I made. I'm a frugal person, so I'm careful with my possessions.

 

My teenage son, on the other hand....

[Fishlegs]

21 hours ago, Koz said:

I've been thinking - perhaps when the butt end hit my rock hard abs it simply couldn't take the stress. ?

Oh, man...I did not see that coming. I'm glad I wasn't drinking my coffee when I read this. ?

21 hours ago, Koz said:

I've been thinking - perhaps when the butt end hit my rock hard abs it simply couldn't take the stress. ?

Oh, man...I did not see that coming. I'm glad I wasn't drinking my coffee when I read this. ?

[soflabasser]

23 minutes ago, Koz said:

Well, as I stated, I don't do exaggerated hooksets or try to cross their eyes. Sharp hooks do the job for me.

That is good since exaggerated hooksets are unnecessary and are well known for damaging fishing tackle. 

3 hours ago, Koz said:

I'm ridiculously careful with my stuff.

I am very careful with my fishing rods as well since I want them to last as long as possible. I have rods that are over 25 years old and I still catch lots of nice fish on them.

[MickD]

From what I've read, including a quite complete article on rod failures, usually a rod when failing from a manufacturing defect will fail right away.  During the first few times it's stressed.  Was that the first time the rod was stressed in that way?  

 

From the article photos of failure causes, the closest photo to what your rod looks like is a crush-induced failure.

 

I suppose it could have been crushed during manufacture.  Very interesting.  We may never know the cause.  But a failure under relatively low stress at the strongest area of the rod is very unusual.

 

Have you contacted Lew's yet?  I expect they will provide a replacement.

[Koz]

1 hour ago, MickD said:

From what I've read, including a quite complete article on rod failures, usually a rod when failing from a manufacturing defect will fail right away.  During the first few times it's stressed.  Was that the first time the rod was stressed in that way?  

 

From the article photos of failure causes, the closest photo to what your rod looks like is a crush-induced failure.

 

I suppose it could have been crushed during manufacture.  Very interesting.  We may never know the cause.  But a failure under relatively low stress at the strongest area of the rod is very unusual.

 

Have you contacted Lew's yet?  I expect they will provide a replacement.

 

As I stated, I don’t have a large wingspan so the butt end of this larger split grip rod is often against my side or on my thigh for leverage if I have to horse in a fish. And unlike a lot of areas, 4, 5, and even 6 pound bass are pretty common around here. Dinks are rare. The average smaller bass landed is 2-3 pounds. 

 

Looking at it up close it looks like a stress fracture that had a blowout.

 

Lew’s contacted me yesterday, received photos, got my information, and had me scrape off the part number on the rod in preparation for replacing it.

 

Since there is low stock on my rod they are looking at a suitable replacement.

[roadwarrior]

39 minutes ago, Koz said:

Lew’s contacted me yesterday, received photos, got my information, and had me scrape off the part number on the rod in preparation for replacing it.

 

[Koz]

I just heard back from Lew's and although the rod was out of warranty they stated that because it was such a weird break they will replace the rod. Since they don't have the Mach 2 rod available they are sending me a TP1X series all purpose rod (TP1X70MH) as a replacement.

 

So needless to say I'm ecstatic that they took care of this. I appreciate that they took care of me.

 

I know we all have our favorite brands of rods and reels, and while I don't have tons of gear like many here on BR, I do have multiple setups and most are Lew's. Since I've never fished with a $700 rod and a $500 reel I can't compare my Lew's gear to those, but I fish a lot and catch a lot of fish and I'm more than satisfied with my gear and over the top satisfied with their customer service.

[BassNJake]

On 12/14/2020 at 7:11 PM, A-Jay said:

Nice Done & Welcome to the broke rod club ~

I'm a card carrying member myself

 

Here's some Lew's warranty info

https://www.lews.com/warranties

A-Jay

I never buy heavy action rods.

I make my own by breaking the tips off of my MH rods.

 

16 minutes ago, Koz said:

I just heard back from Lew's and although the rod was out of warranty they stated that because it was such a weird break they will replace the rod. Since they don't have the Mach 2 rod available they are sending me a TP1X series all purpose rod (TP1X70MH) as a replacement.

 

So needless to say I'm ecstatic that they took care of this. I appreciate that they took care of me.

 

I know we all have our favorite brands of rods and reels, and while I don't have tons of gear like many here on BR, I do have multiple setups and most are Lew's. Since I've never fished with a $700 rod and a $500 reel I can't compare my Lew's gear to those, but I fish a lot and catch a lot of fish and I'm more than satisfied with my gear and over the top satisfied with their customer service.

Stories like this will make me consider Lew's for my next purchase.

Glad it worked out for you!!

[Boomstick]

I've never broken a rod at the handle like that, but I have broken a rod trying to pop a lure out of some rocks before and one of my kids broke one of my rods just lifting it out of some pretty spare and weak weeds before. Sometimes it doesn't take much.

 

And hats off to Lews customer service for stepping up bigtime here.

[MickD]

I just have to ask.  What is a "stress fracture?"  I believe that any time stress exceeds strength there will be a fracture.   but the question is, what kind of stress?  And/or was the strength compromised by a previous crush or defect?  Don't kill me, just trying to gain clarity.  

 

I would think that one would have to work pretty hard to get a blank to fail there, even if using a vice to hold the butt.  Unless. . .

 

thanks for sticking with it, I hope to learn.

[Koz]

4 hours ago, MickD said:

I just have to ask.  What is a "stress fracture?"  I believe that any time stress exceeds strength there will be a fracture.   but the question is, what kind of stress?  And/or was the strength compromised by a previous crush or defect?  Don't kill me, just trying to gain clarity.  

 

I would think that one would have to work pretty hard to get a blank to fail there, even if using a vice to hold the butt.  Unless. . .

 

thanks for sticking with it, I hope to learn.

 

I have a habit of pinning the rod into my thigh or gut and horsing the fish in. So my best guess is that by doing so it creates a stress or pivot point between my hands and the end of the rod where it is pinned up against me.

 

So the fish is fighting and flexing the rod above the reel and my pinning the rod against me created another flex between the reel and the butt end of the rod.

 

The rod blank is pushed into the cap so that major stress point of the flex that I created would be at the top (opening) of the cap sleeve covering the rod. If you look at the photo of the cap you can see that the rod broke right at the edge of that sleeve. You can even see the rod blank inside that cap sleeve.

 

The rod was 3+ years old and it could be that a design flaw or a build flaw contributed to that or it was just my fishing style combined with all of those 5 and 6 pounders I landed over that period. Maybe with my short wingspan I need to switch to a rod with a shorter but end.

[TheBasslayer]

I've never seen a rod break in that spot. I have snapped a St. Croix Triumph in half while pulling my bait out of weeds(Needed a medium heavy instead of a medium), but I've never seen anything like this. Hopefully you like your replacement rod! 

[Koz]

I wasn't planning on fishing today but when I stepped outside, out on the porch there was a packing in the unmistakable shape of a fishing rod. Lew's had sent the replacement rod!

 

First off, it was a HEAVY duty tube and other than a slight crunch on one end cap the package was in great shape. Lews also had the tip and butt end wrapped heavily in bubble wrap and it arrived undamaged.

 

My original rod that broke was the Mach 2 baitcaster and they had informed me those were in low stock so they would send a replacement. They have three rods in that exact $99 price point - the new KVD series, the Tournament Performance TP1 and TP1X.

 

Since the broken rod was a 7' MHF I asked them politely for the same in an all purpose rod. The rod they sent was the TP1X.

 

My first impression is that the rod felt nicely balanced, and even after attaching my old Mach 2 SLP reel it felt a little lighter than the Mach 2 combo. Lighter is great when you fish most of the day with one rod.

 

So I headed off to a nearby lagoon to test it out. The first thing I noticed is that the rod shaft is slightly thicker than the Mach 2. This exacerbates the hollow feel of the rod. In other words, the Mach 2 felt more solid. This isn't a positive or a negative, it's just a different feel.

 

The touch on casting was great. In other words, there was no slop and it was easy to hit my targets when casting. I'd say it was even better than my Mach 2.

 

The guides were smooth, and although not the smaller guides as on the Mach 2 casting distance seemed to be the same.

 

This rod has the Winn Dry-Tac split handle grips just as my Mach 2 had. I know some folks hate the Winn grips, but I really like them. I also like the split grip, especially with an overhand pivot cast.

 

However, the one thing I don't like is that the upper grip (near the real) has a larger diameter than the Mach 2. I have smaller hands and I appreciated the smaller diameter of the Mach 2. With the TP1X I found that my left wrist felt a bit tired and uncomfortable after fishing for a while. So even though the rod and reel combo seems lighter, it felt like more work to hold the rod.

 

I'm sure I'll get used to this and my left wrist and hand will get stronger, but for now I find it to be a negative. Because more and more people are shopping online, in the future I hope manufacturers start adding specs and grip circumference or diameter in their product info.

 

As for the sensitivity of the rod. my first impression is that it's not transferring sensation as well as the Mach 2. Where I fish we have muddy bottoms and weeds and no rocks and not much submerged timber. Now it could be that most of our weeds are dead or dying now, but weeds felt mushy when I brought a lure through them and not distinct like I usually felt with the Mach 2.

 

To be fair, the model TP1X I received was an All Purpose rod as I asked for. I treated my Mach 2 like an all purpose, but it might have been specialized. Since the Mach 2 was 3 years old the model number did not match up with the models sold today. And as I said, the rod diameter was slightly larger as well.

 

I did catch two bass today. The first was about a pound and a half and the way the rod reacted and bent it felt like a medium rather than medium heavy rod. Or maybe it was the way this very healthy little guy fought. Now it could be the way the fish hit the bait, but I did not feel the subtlety of the bite as it happened. It was almost like, "Oh, there's a fish on my chatterbait."

 

It was a really poor fishing day and I went another 2 hours without a strike in various lagoons. Then as it was getting dark I told myself, "One more cast." I was fishing a black spinnerbait with a Colorado blade. I felt a solid strike, set the hook, and - nothing. I let the lure sink to the bottom and then started reeling in again. Sure enough, a follow up strike. This time I got a good hookset and landed a 3.5 pounder. I paid attention to the rod and it did react more like a traditional MHF, but again it felt mushy.

 

Now I'm not drawing any final conclusions about this rod after fishing one afternoon and landing only two fish. What I can say is that it is a really nice rod and well put together.

 

I think the biggest issue I am having is that it is a lot different than the main rod I used for the past three years. In fact, all of my other casting and spinning rods felt significantly different than my Mach 2 and because of my comfort with the Mach 2 I fished it 95% of the time.

 

So I like the new TP1X, but I need to get used to it. Today I fished chatterbaits,  spinnerbaits, and crankbaits with it. Next I need to try some ground contact baits and that will help me get a feel for its sensitivity, as will catching more fish.

 

I'm very grateful that Lew's sent me such a great quality replacement. I plan to fish more in the next week and get a better feel for it. I'm sure that in a short time it will feel like the old friend my Mach 2 rod was. I only wish that top grip was slightly smaller. Hopefully the more I use the rod the more it will compress a bit.

[schplurg]

On 12/14/2020 at 7:07 PM, Michigander said:

My buddy broke his new heavy Vendetta rod casting a frog, I don't think rod power protects anything if there's damage to the blank unfortunately.

 

I broke a Vendetta I got at a garage sale so can't say it wasn't already damaged, but the fish was only maaaaybe 2 pounds. I was gonna say I've seen a lot of reports of these rods breaking, but one could probably say that about any rod, or many at least. Only rod I've broken so far, and it broke towards the tip. Can't say I'd buy another one.

[Michigander]

12 minutes ago, schplurg said:

 

I broke a Vendetta I got at a garage sale so can't say it wasn't already damaged, but the fish was only maaaaybe 2 pounds. I was gonna say I've seen a lot of reports of these rods breaking, but one could probably say that about any rod, or many at least. Only rod I've broken so far, and it broke towards the tip. Can't say I'd buy another one.

The first gen Vendetta rods seemed to be fine but the newer ones seem to have more QC issues.

[zeth]

I break probably 2-4 rods a year. No biggie. It happens. Manufacturer defect maybe, damaged by owner likely. Either way see if you can get a new one. I have broken rods in many different ways from hook sets, casting, being dumb, scratching the blank and having it snap where the scratch was, stepping on the rod and thinking it's fine until a couple months later it shatters on a hook set....