The Science of Rod Breakage

Just how much force does it take to break a fishing rod? Turns out the answer is, it depends. I found an interesting piece over the weekend in Field & Stream from John Merwin that dates back to 2006. Looks like a fun test. Buy a bunch of “off-the-shelf” fishing rods, lock them solidly into place, then add weights to a bucket hung off the end of the fishing line until the rod snaps – finally, record the weight at the breakage point. Not overly controlled or scientific, but cool none the less.

Turns out there is a reason why Shakespeare Ugly Sticks have been the best selling rod in the world for quite some time – 55-lbs. into the test and the rod still hadn’t broke, and the tester ran out of additional weights to add. Several other popular rods were in the test, some of which you might own. Here’s some of the reasons why John says rods break.

•High Sticking  •Split Shotting  •Superline Spooling  •High Handing

Speaking of rod breakage, check out just how difficult it is to break a solid rod in the video above (ignore the fly fish talk).