New fishing rods

[woodmaster9]

Hello Gentlemen, I have a question for y'all. Now I'm an older guy and I retired about 9 mo ago. I bought myself a few retirement toys. One of them was a new rod, a shakesphere uglystick. Up to now I have always just used the old rods I had from when I was a kid... all of them inexpensive fiberglass. This new rod is new, high technology carbon fiber, as most of them are these days. The da$$ thing broke on me the second time I used it! What a piece of crap! I have rods that are over 50 yrs old and they have sure seen their share of both use and abuse but none of them have ever just snapped in two. I was telling a friend about it and he said that he has had 3 break on him. Is this the new normal? My old ones have been stepped on, thrown, dragged, picked up by the tip, left out in weather, fell in the river, used as a walking stick on steep banks and everything else you can imagine.

 

[BoosterC]

The modern ugly sticks have a 7 warranty.
http://www.uglystik.com/UglyStik-warranty-service.html

How did you break it? What type of fishing are you doing?

 

[woodmaster9]

The modern ugly sticks have a 7 warranty.
http://www.uglystik.com/UglyStik-warranty-service.html

How did you break it? What type of fishing are you doing?

I looked up the warranty on their site and it says 1 year, plus you have to have a receipt. I bought this about 10 mos ago but lost the receipt when we moved. All it was that I had the rod tip in my left hand while pulling my line out of some weeds with the right. I wasn't pullling very hard either and there was very little pressure on the tip but it just snapped in two. Less force than it would take to break a toothpick. This was only the second time using it, it is/was like brand new... still has the plastic wrap on the cork grips. Junk! I just ordered a St Croix as a replacement because it is US made. The ugly stick is probably made in china, which of course would explain everything.

 

[woodmaster9]

Here's the warranty page I saw..
http://www.shakespeare-fishing.com/Shakespeare-warranty-service.html

 

[woodmaster9]

If you scroll down on your link, it says, under Rods, 1 -yr there too. I don't think they know what the warranty is.

 

[lampern]

I love my older Ugly Sticks, ones I've had for years

A lot of the St Croix rods are now made in Mexico but they still have USA made rods

 

[Coenen]

Knock on wood, I've only ever broken a couple of rods. Just about every one happened in a way similar to what you describe. The entire rod is flexible if you're holding the butt section. Start moving your hand up the rod, and you start increasing the risk of a break.

The newer high density carbon rods are super nice, but also more prone to failure. There's a trade off there.

 

[Doog]

I broke a St Croix Premier (USA-made) on a hook set into wood years ago. They were great about it. I paid to ship the broken rod back. They sent me a new one.

 

[woodmaster9]

Thanks guys. It's a bit surprising to me that these rods breaking so easily is acceptable. It would not have been acceptable back in the day. To me it isn't now. I'd bet the tackle companies love it though. To me, a rod is like a gun. You buy it, take reasonable care of it, and it should last long after you're gone. I'm going to have to keep my eye out for a 'new' old rod.

 

[hopper]

Hate that!!
I have maybee 8 Ugly's new and old never broken one, but if I did I wouldn't hesitate to buy another. Conan had some good advise to prevent breaks.

 

[Cmp1]

I have an UL Ugly Stik,,,,never have liked it,,,,hate the handles,don't like the feel of it in my hand,,,,just my opinion

 

[woodmaster9]

I love my older Ugly Sticks, ones I've had for years

A lot of the St Croix rods are now made in Mexico but they still have USA made rods

Yes I saw that. The one I ordered is supposed to be US. Mexico is ok I suppose, better than china, the land of inferior junk, fakes and counterfeits, and dealers of death.

 

[Batjack]

The trouble with all carbon fiber rods is that they can not handle ANY abuse, and by abuse I mean smacking something like the side of the boat or motor or the truck tailgate. Anything with a hard, sharp edge will "nick" it and that's a weak point and a break waiting to happen. You can't just toss them in the back of the truck or the bottom of the boat like old rods.

 

[Ruger#3]

I’ve had a couple failures on carbon fiber rods over the years. They either completely collapsed from being loaded up or the tip snapped when lightly impacting something. They are stout for their weight but brittle. The light weight makes them a pleasure to cast. It’s a trade off.

 

[BoosterC]

Here's the warranty page I saw..
http://www.shakespeare-fishing.com/Shakespeare-warranty-service.html

If you scroll down on your link, it says, under Rods, 1 -yr there too. I don't think they know what the warranty is.

You said you broke an Uglystik. The link you gave is for run-of-the-mill shakespeare rods. They are a different category of Rods. At the top banner menu of your link you will see the word UglyStik for that warranty.

Uglystiks have a spiral fiberglass core and solid about the last 1/4 to 1/5 of the rod. They have clear-white about the last 4" of the tip. You can bend a true Uglystik back upon itself to form a circle.

When I bought my Uglystik some 30+ yrs ago, they had a lifetime warranty.

 

[Cmp1]

I have an old Cardinal rod that the tip broke off of,,,,got with AG,,,,sent me a new rod,,,,it was my favorite graphite rod,,,,

 

[lampern]

Yes I saw that. The one I ordered is supposed to be US. Mexico is ok I suppose, better than china, the land of inferior junk, fakes and counterfeits, and dealers of death.

American made St Croix are good factory rods

 

[sbroadwell]

Wow, I could write a book on this! I'm on a temporary rod building hiatus (but might have to start back if my normal day job goes away, as many will.) But, over the last 15-20 years I've built and sold a couple thousand rods. Just about all were carbon fiber - that's the norm these days, and offers many benefits to fiberglass.

But, some drawbacks, too. Barjack is right - if you ever hit something pretty hard with the rod, it may very well do internal damage. It will look fine, but the next time you put some stress on that part, it will break right in half.

I test all rod blanks before building them into a rod, as every now and then a blank will have an internal flaw, and better to find that our before putting a lot of work into it. But, commercial rod companies don't do this. It's less expensive for them to just give your your money back than take a lot of extra time in the production. A rod that you pay $50 for costs a commercial rod company about $10, even less if it is made in China, which most of them are. I get the occasional email from Chinese companies, trying to sell me rods with my name on them. If I were to buy several thousand, I could get them for $10 apiece or so, and be able to sell them for $100. But, heck, I don't want my name on a piece of you know what like that! But, that's the way all those rods are made that you see with store brands, and even with famous bass fishermen's name on them.

I'm really surprised the Ugly Stick broke, though. They aren't really good rods at all, from the build quality and sensitivity, but they have always been bulletproof, at least the fiberglass ones were. The ones with the solid tips could just about be tied in a knot and not break. I've not handled their carbon rods, and I suspect they transition to fiberglass near the tip. A point of changing flexibility is always a weak point, the rod sort of hinges there and breaks easier.

But, with rare exceptions, I'll never go back to fiberglass (one of those exceptions is topwater popping cork fishing for stripers and hybrids. I built myself an 8 foot S glass rod for that, as sensitivity doesn't matter there. You see the fish hit). You can feel SO much more with a sensitive rod. Last weekend, I went bass fishing at a little pond in Athens. Caught six, all on an unweighted Senko. They were mostly small, 12-15 inches, and barely hit. One each one, I could barely feel a little single tap. No way I would have felt that with a glass rod. I would have either lost the fish, or he would have swallowed the lure.

 

[lampern]

Who makes the best blanks?

 

[Cmp1]

Wow, I could write a book on this! I'm on a temporary rod building hiatus (but might have to start back if my normal day job goes away, as many will.) But, over the last 15-20 years I've built and sold a couple thousand rods. Just about all were carbon fiber - that's the norm these days, and offers many benefits to fiberglass.

But, some drawbacks, too. Barjack is right - if you ever hit something pretty hard with the rod, it may very well do internal damage. It will look fine, but the next time you put some stress on that part, it will break right in half.

I test all rod blanks before building them into a rod, as every now and then a blank will have an internal flaw, and better to find that our before putting a lot of work into it. But, commercial rod companies don't do this. It's less expensive for them to just give your your money back than take a lot of extra time in the production. A rod that you pay $50 for costs a commercial rod company about $10, even less if it is made in China, which most of them are. I get the occasional email from Chinese companies, trying to sell me rods with my name on them. If I were to buy several thousand, I could get them for $10 apiece or so, and be able to sell them for $100. But, heck, I don't want my name on a piece of you know what like that! But, that's the way all those rods are made that you see with store brands, and even with famous bass fishermen's name on them.

I'm really surprised the Ugly Stick broke, though. They aren't really good rods at all, from the build quality and sensitivity, but they have always been bulletproof, at least the fiberglass ones were. The ones with the solid tips could just about be tied in a knot and not break. I've not handled their carbon rods, and I suspect they transition to fiberglass near the tip. A point of changing flexibility is always a weak point, the rod sort of hinges there and breaks easier.

But, with rare exceptions, I'll never go back to fiberglass (one of those exceptions is topwater popping cork fishing for stripers and hybrids. I built myself an 8 foot S glass rod for that, as sensitivity doesn't matter there. You see the fish hit). You can feel SO much more with a sensitive rod. Last weekend, I went bass fishing at a little pond in Athens. Caught six, all on an unweighted Senko. They were mostly small, 12-15 inches, and barely hit. One each one, I could barely feel a little single tap. No way I would have felt that with a glass rod. I would have either lost the fish, or he would have swallowed the lure.

Still would like to talk you into building me a Rod,,,,