How Fly Rods Break

This article is from Louis Cahill at Gink & Gasoline. You should give this a read!

Louis Cahill Photo

Broken fly rods are a fact of life, but there are things you can do to stop it from happening to you.

It happens to all of us. We all know the sinking feeling of holding that treasured favorite fly rod, shattered in our hands. Most of us can’t help but form emotional attachments to our gear. Favorite rods and reels become old friends, with whom we share memories of great days, special fish and life lessons learned. Warrantees are great, but it’s hard to replace an old friend.

I hear a lot of anglers complain about specific rods or rod brands, saying things like, “ I’ll never but another ‘Brand X’ after breaking two in a month.” It’s a delicate topic to address without hurting someone’s feelings, but the truth is, fly rods don’t break for no reason. While a high performance carbon fiber rod is certainly more fragile than its soulful fiberglass counterpart and a full spectrum between, the truth is that anglers break rods.

With extremely rare exception I have never seen a rod break for no apparent reason, even the ones I’ve broken my self.

If you are stewing over that statement, I ask you to bear with me for a bit and entertain the possibility that I’m right. Building and fishing bamboo rods for decades has taught me a thing or two about breaking rods and shedding tears. I’ve seen a lot of rods break and I even saw one catch fire and burn. (Long story.) In the interest of keeping those great fly rods fishing, I’ll share with you the most common reasons fly rods break and how to avoid them.

6 Reasons fly rods break

Physical Trauma
This covers some very obvious issues as well as some very tricky ones. With no scientific evidence I’ll say that the three most common causes for broken fly rods are ceiling fans, car doors and spurned spouses. If you’ve run afoul of any of these, you know it instantly. The remedy is simple. Be more careful handling your rod and you spouse.

PTs can be pretty sneaky though. A rod can be damaged without you even noticing and may not break for some time. Then one day you hook an unremarkable fish and it shatters dramatically. That was the case with the rod pictured in the header. This beloved Scott S4s was most likely damaged when it slipped out of the rod holder on a rough boat ride.

Some of the ways rods are most commonly physically damaged include being hit by flies during casting, being transported in cars or boots, being dropped and being left in hot rooftop rod lockers or rod tubes left in the sun. The latter is particularly tricky because a rod can begin to delaminate without showing any sign.

Of course, physical traumas can occur in manufacturing and shipping. I have found rods on my doorstep, still in the box, in more pieces than normal but while accidents happen, they are rare and manufacturing flaws are even rarer. I have visited the rod shops of many major brands and I can tell you the folks there take care and pride in their work.

Breaks at the ferrules
It’s pretty common for fly rods to break at the ferrules. The female ferrule can split and often the shaft will snap on the male end, either inside or near the ferrule. Frequently it will be the butt section of the rod that breaks, leaving the angler puzzled how the thickest part of the rod could just snap.

These breaks are not mysterious at all. The ferrule junctions receive more stress than any other part of the rod. They are stiffer, and therefore, more prone to stress. This is why one-piece rods are stronger than multi-piece rods. When a rod breaks at the ferrule, it is almost always because that ferrule has become loose. Either during casting or transporting, it has begun to unseat, causing the stress to be distributed unevenly.

Still photos of anglers casting show that a rod is frequently under more stress during casting than when fighting fish. If this force becomes focused on a specific spot by a loose ferrule, even the heaviest of rods can snap. You will likely not feel any difference in the rod when a ferrule is loose, so check them often, especially after transporting them.

High Sticking
High sticking is the most common reason rods are broken when fighting or landing fish. Not to be confused with the high sticking nymphing technique, high sticking when fighting fish refers to the angler applying an un-natural bend to the rod, over-stressing some part of the blank. This usually happens when landing a fish and results when the rod is lifted up, rather than back. The rod will often break in two places. Once in the tip or tip mid, and a second time farther down the rod as the pressure is unevenly released.

Supporting the rod
Another very common way for rods to break while fighting fish is when the angler uses a second hand to support the rod during the fight. It seems like a good idea to put a little extra pressure on the fish by supporting the rod farther up the shaft, but it’s a recipe for disaster. By taking the bend out of the butt section of the rod, you are forcing the stress farther up the blank, where it is not as strong.

Keep your hands on the cork during the fight and you’ll be fine. If your rod hand is getting tired or you just need a little extra leverage, try pressing down on the top of the reel seat or fighting butt. You’ll get just as much relief, while keeping your rod properly flexed.

Sudden Shocks
Fly rods are designed to be loaded smoothly. Sudden shocks can cause the delicate tips to shatter. This can easily happen when your fly catches something, like a tree or guide, in your backcast. I’ve also seen anglers do it willfully, trying to snatch a fly out of a tree. Never use your rod to clear a snag. Point the rod at the snag and pull the line.

Impact
This is really obvious, but rods break when they get whacked against things. Boats, trees, other fly rods, pretty much anything hard will do it. They are especially sensitive to being poked tip-wise into immovable objects. Be careful walking with your rod pointed forward. These kinds of breaks often happen while anglers are using the tip of the rod to dislodge a snagged fly. The sudden shift of a boat or loss of footing can invite disaster. Always expect the worst. Because these are physical traumas, the rod my not break right away, but later when casting or fighting fish.

Know your rod
While I do not know of any fly rod on the market, which I would say is poorly designed or manufactured making it more likely to break, certain types of rods are inherently stronger than others. Fiberglass rods, for example, are much stronger than graphite rods. Most graphite rods have some fiberglass in them to make them stronger. This strength, however, comes at a price.

Fiberglass is a heavier material than graphite. The more fiberglass in a rod blank, the slower the action will be. Many of today’s high performance, fast action rods have little to no fiberglass in their construction. This does not mean these rods are weak, but they are more prone to breaking when mishandled.

If you have been fishing the same fly rod for ten years and decided to upgrade to a new hot stick, you may have experienced this. A good friend of mine went through the same thing. He replaced an old Orvis rod with a brand new Helios-2, 7’ 9” 5wt. He broke two of them in short order. Is the Helios-2 a bad rod?

Hell no! It’s one of my favorites. I have four of them ranging from 4wt-11wt, and I fish them hard with no problems. I have learned from years of saltwater fly fishing for species like tarpon, how to use a fly rod under the most stressful circumstances. My buddy, who I love dearly and I’m sure is reading this, has a bad habit of high sticking fish, and he catches a lot of big fish. These days he’s much happier fishing a Superfine Glass rod. It’s the perfect tool for the way he fishes.

I hope this helps you keep your favorite fly rod in service for many years to come. When the worst happens, don’t cry. There’s a new love for you, right around the corner. 

Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline  
www.ginkandgasoline.com