By Dave Lewis.
Insight into what causes fishing rods to break can help save yours!
Our panga wallowed in a hefty Pacific swell just a few hundred yards off a rocky peninsula while the skipper used the engine to hold us in a position. The trick was to be safe yet close enough so that we could cast our lures into the sweet spot behind the heaving mass of green water. Balancing precariously on the raised foredeck, one angler launched a popper, an industrial-size lure subscribing a graceful arc. The second it splashed down behind the breaking crest of a swell, he snapped the spinner’s bail shut, and with stiff popping action, began plunging the cup-faced lure over the wave.
Moments later, the surface to the right of the popper boiled as a rusty brown shape suddenly appeared and inhaled the lure. The line came taut, the rod bent and — despite a nearly-locked-down drag — a cubera snapper of trophy proportions effortlessly ripped out yards of line on its first blistering run directly toward the reef.
As the angler reared back against the fish, a resounding crack reverberated around the boat. The rod had snapped about 12 inches from the tip, the line breaking in the process. Hero to zero in a fraction of a second. In disgust, the fellow threw his broken rod to the deck, loudly chastising its manufacturer for a poorly built product.
I’ve witnessed similar scenarios at numerous destinations around the world, noting that anglers often apportion blame on the manufacturer. Most often, though, I’ve been convinced that this has not been the case. But of course, suggesting that the fault might lie with the angler — who just lost a good fish, even perhaps the catch of a lifetime, and broke an expensive rod in the process — is not a good idea.
read more at sportfishingmag.com.
