Breaking a rod is more like breaking a bone in your body. It’s painful, uncomfortable, and usually costs a lot of money to fix. Sometimes they just simply need to be replaced. When it is being fixed, your usually without it for a long period of time. Much like letting a broken bone heal. Once it does get fixed, it never feels quite the same. There’s always something there to remind you of how it got broken, or the pain that was associated with the act of breaking it.
How it gets broken is always a story in itself. It never seems to be from actually just fishing. You never hear anyone say, “I was walking down the street and my leg just broke.” No. Usually when a rod breaks it’s, “My rod was leaning against the car, and the wind blew it over, and then the door slammed on it.” Or, “I was at my hotel room in the Florida Keys, putting my rod together, and when I waved it around in the air, the ceiling fan chopped it into pieces.”
Sound familiar? I myself have broken way too many rods to count. Hell, I wouldn’t even want to. I have broken them every way imaginable. Even the dog ate one before. Seriously! But out of all the ways that they have broken, none of them were ever due to proper usage. Sure, some of them have broke while casting , but only after they’ve been wacked by a clouser. And yes, others have broke while fighting a fish, but only after a 300lb Mako deep sixed for the bottom of the ocean, pinning me and the rod against the gunwale of the boat. None of them though, have ever broke from just fishing.
But I guess in all actuality, a broken rod IS a good thing. The one thing I know for sure, is that pretty much the only way it’s going to break, is if it’s being used. It sure as heck isn’t going to break if it’s in the tube, sitting in the back of the closet somewhere. (Well, at least in theory.)
