John Gillio Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Ran down the river for 1 3/4 hours after work today. Spent the first 30 min. working the shoreline for crappie with nothing to show but a dink white bass. Spent the last 10 min fishing a small hole for smallies. I landed a 10 incher. The time in between was crazy with big whites hitting a size 3 silver Mepps aglia. Ended up landing 50 nice ones (yes I was counting for some unknown reason), another dink, and a nice hybrid striper. Great fishing but as I bent down to pick up the big bass I heard two snaps and three pieces of my favorite medium light, fast action, custom spinning rod came sliding down the line to my hand . No trees above me, and no clue as to what stupid thing I did to cause such an incident. The rod in the picture with the fish is not the one I broke. It's there for asthetic value . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dodge Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 I heard a two snaps and three pieces of my favorite medium light, fast action, custom spinning rod came sliding down the line to my hand . No trees above me, and no clue as to what stupid thing I did to cause such an incident. Well it didn't just break by it's self! You gotta figure this out man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Lordy, that is a huge white bass or mini striper Ha Did the blank have a lifetime warranty? Save the guides and reel seat and rebuild and make it even better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Awesome catch John! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
william.m Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 The time in between was crazy with big whites hitting a size 3 silver Mepps aglia. Ended up landing 50 nice ones (yes I was counting for some unknown reason), another dink, and a nice hybrid striper. Those 50 whites will do it every time.;-) Great catch, sorry about the rod. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronk Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 What a fish!!! Either the rod material was flawed or you somehow damaged it recently w/o noticing. A fish like that one will test your equipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
william.m Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 By the looks of the rod the windings on the guides did not flex with the rest of the blank and created hinge points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gillio Posted October 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 I've landed many fish up to 20+ pounds on this rod and have given it a good workout over the last few years. It flexes quite well especially in the upper portions of the blank. It landed the fish with no problem. It was flexed as I bent to grab the fish but I didn't feel I had extra pressure on it, though I must have. It almost looks like I pushed it straight into the ground to snap it more than once like that. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asherman Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Breaking a rod while landing a large fish is not such a bad day. Breaking a rod by slamming it in a door or some other equally dumb manner is bad day. I've done the dumb alternative more times that I should admit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim A Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Nice hybrid! I can only imagine in your understandable distraction you lifted the rod and "high-sticked" it causing it to blow. And it blew at the guides like william noted, although the bottom break isn't the same. It happens to all of us! I feel for ya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugene f collins Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 Breaking a rod while landing a large fish is not such a bad day. Breaking a rod by slamming it in a door or some other equally dumb manner is bad day. I've done the dumb alternative more times that I should admit. Hey... Nice fish John, sorry to hear about your loss. I feel your pain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dodge Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 Hey... HA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gillio Posted October 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 Everybody likes kung fu fighting. Ha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 I have seen a rod break in somewhat of a similar fashion one time, all at the guides but mostly at the lower tip of the guide foot. It came from my friend wrapping the guides too tightly with his thread and he had not prepped the guide feet before wrapping. The guides were fairly sharp and possibly even a burr still existed. Go to rodbuilding.org and register if not alreadly and post that pic and believe me you'll get the scoop from the best rod engineers in the world as to what they think happened or I'll be happy to do it for you if you're curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gillio Posted October 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 I have seen a rod break in somewhat of a similar fashion one time, all at the guides but mostly at the lower tip of the guide foot. It came from my friend wrapping the guides too tightly with his thread and he had not prepped the guide feet before wrapping. The guides were fairly sharp and possibly even a burr still existed. Go to rodbuilding.org and register if not alreadly and post that pic and believe me you'll get the scoop from the best rod engineers in the world as to what they think happened or I'll be happy to do it for you if you're curious. I'll do that Rob. I'm already registered there. I prepped the guides but I used a metalic thread that I've only used for highlighting in the past. I did wrap things tighter with this thread because it wasn't sitting well on the rod unless I tightened it up some. I'm also wondering if I may have had my line tangled around the tip somehow and that put extra pressure on the rod as the reels drag would be left out of the equation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.