To be more specific have you ever broken an fly rod while fishing. Breaking off tips in doors trees, and stuff doesn’t count. I guess while falling or dropping a rod would be a catagory. I’m looking for people that broke rods while hooked up to a fish. I’ve never broken a fly rod fishing but I did snap a cheap spinning rod once while fishing the powerplant outlet pool in Carlsbad. This fish picked up my ghost shrimp and started heading towards the ocean. That old fiberglass rod sounded like a rifle when it broke. I’ve caught 140 pound sailfish and that fish didn’t even know that it was hooked. I’m guessing a very large shark but who knows.
Not yet. (crossing fingers, knocking on wood, wearing a garlic necklace, throwing salt over my shoulder) 
Only broken rods were due to car door accidents, and one while trying to free a snagged lure. I have heard rods (or more likely just the lamination) crack, and have watched guys get spooled by fish that were unexpectedly large & fast.
I’ve been impressed with many rods that seemed to have much more strength, limberness, and backbone than I would ever have guessed!
I’ve never broken any rod, fly or otherwise. This topic came up on another forum I visit, and I was shocked at how many rods were broken while fishing. The rods these guys were talking about are pretty cheap, though.
I was bass fishing a large jig-n-pig style fly on my 5-wt a few months ago. I felt a thump, thump so I set the hook (hard:)) and snapped my 3rd largest section of my 4-piece right in half at a stripping guide when the hook decided it liked a snag more than a bucketmouth’s lips:( Did I mention it was my first cast of the day too… My ears rang the rest of the day (reminded me when I dry fired my bow when the arrow knock fell off the arrow - whole 'nuther story).
Cabela’s, thanks for the excellent return policy/guarantee on the SLT line of rods!
The same summer (this most recent one:)), I landed a 37+ inch channel catfish (25lbs) on my 7-wt. It was creaking in the grip area (stiff flex rod too). I pushed my glasses tight up to my face and looked away as I reeled, took line, reeled. Scary. Never gave into the fish though - didn’t break, although I was sure I was walking away with splinters. (I am proud of the rod and the picture - I will share it if you want later - not to hi-jack)
I have. It was a new Cabelas FT 904-2. I was float tubing Little Virginia lake near Bridgeport, CA. I had a fish on and was stripping the line. Trout about a pound. The rod splintered about 1 1/2 ft from the tip. It didn’t break off, just splintered about a six inch section. I landed the fish and went back to camp and got my wind river 905-4 and finished the trip with it. I was there for a week and that was my first day out and my third fish. I sent the rod back to cabelas for an exchange. They were great. I did break the second rod this year on my tailgate:oops:. Got a new Redigton out of that break. Jimsnarocks
See breaking fish in the saltwater forum
Bob
I’ve broken three
All homerolled 9wts with poorly matched sections
It got to the point where Bob at H&H would just send me out a new blank whenever I called… no questions asked. A few free components too for my trouble.
I watched my fishing partner break a rod two seasons ago
The feeling of helplessness was worse that if I did it myself
He was trying to land a striper of about 20# in very heavy current
I tried to yell at him that his rod, a St Croix Legend 10wt, was dangerously bent over.
He had his mind on the fish and paid no attention to me
Snap!
It made for a good picture anyway
In all honesty, I have never broken a rod playing a fish. I have broken 3 Orvis rods. One was while using it to pry open the tailgate of a Suburban, one while trying to pull down a tree, and one lifting buckets of paint up on the roof. (You don’t really expect me to tell you the dumb a-- things I was doing, do you?) Two of the Orvis rods broke at exactly the same spot. Just above the second ferrule (4 piece). IMHO after examining them, I think Orvis has a congenital defect in this area. Seems like the sections that broke were thinner than the adjacent areas and were in the transition from female ferrule diameter to the bulk diameter of the rod. Again, I was doing stupid things, but it was curious that they both broke in the same spot. Reeks of a minor design flaw but who am I to say. Anyone who would try to pry open the door of a Suburban with a 4 wt. can’t be too credible.
Godspeed,
Bob
A buddy of mine broke his steelhead rod last Saturday while fighting a Steelhead and the rod broke at the cork grip… right in the middle of it. He said he had a hard time fighting that fish from that point on. The rod had a lifetime warrenty, so he is going to return it.
I haven’t yet broken a fly rod but I typically break a spinning rod or two each year.
Roy
Bobinmich
Sounds like you didn’t have any more luck on that tailgate than I did on the cleats on my boat. tried to pry them off three times and never did get them off. Two of the rods were thirty dollar rods but the last one was a St. Crois Legend. was catching bass on a deer hair popper almost every cast that time. Changed flies and when I picked it up the cleat just won’t come off. I was still catching fish on my backup rod but the fun was gone and I went home.
knucks
Caught some streamside foliage on the backcast last winter, and broke the tip of a Scott SAS 9’ for 5 wt when I unknowingly followed through on the forecast. Figured I had probably nicked the blank with a beadhead at some point and weakened it ??
Scott was a bit slow on the warranty replacement, but did provide a new tip section ( it was a two piece rod ) so the rod was virtually new when returned.
Somehow, shortly after I started fly fishing, I happened across JC’s article ( the one that he republished this week ), and took to heart the lesson about fighting fish with the tip low and landing them with as little bend in the rod as possible. Have landed some pretty good size fish on smaller rods, and credit JC for the fact I haven’t yet broken a tip fighting or landing a fish.
I broke an Orvis 12-weight while hooked up to a big tarpon. Orvis had a good warantee program. Inadvertanly broke an Orvis Zero Gravity 8-weight that I won. Called Orvis to get the repair number. Was told it would cost $30. Combine that with $26 shipping and it’s a whole lot more than it use to be.
Two rods, both while fishing. Neither with a fish on. My 7 wt St. Croix Legund Ultra must have been clipped with a bead head at some time since the top 6 inches just came off on a cast one time.
Broke the butt section of the same rod (after fixing the tip) while trying to free a popper from the lilly pads. Insteaqd of pointing the rod at the snag and pulling on the line, I tried to “lift” it free like I was fighting a fish. Sounded like a gunshot. Won’t make that mistake again.
Kevin
Yep, broke a brand new Winston BII-t this summer. It was about the 5th or 6th time I had fished the rod.
I had been out all day and guess I didn’t check the fitting and the first ferrule above the butt section must have started slipping loose over the course of the day. On my forward cast, I heard a snap and the top 3/4 of the rod landed in the river right at my feet.
I fished the rod out of the creek and thought wow,I was OK. When I got home in better light, I noticed the crack. Sent it back to Winston and in about 4-5 weeks, I got it back all fixed. I reckon they replaced the section that was cracked.
Anyway all ended well.
Jeff
Its funny, this site is over 12 years old, I have written about not putting your hand above the cork grip when ‘fighting’ a fish, not pulling the leader all the way out when stringing your rod, not bending your elbow when landing a fish and many other ways to keep from breaking a fly rod and still I talk with guys who have never heard of these things. Things like ‘making sure’ you have enough paraffin on your rod sections so they don’t come apart. Oh, sorry, I forgot about the guarantee. Never mind. 
Nope! Never have broken a fly rod fishing. Many years ago I broke a Lew’s Speed Stick spinning rod the first cast on the retrieve & immediately got it replaced as was a problem with the blank. I guess I’ve been lucky…either that or I don’t fish enough!
Mikey
Broke one rod while fighting a fish.
Bass fishing in Mexico with an AllStar 6’ pistol grip medium weight fast action casting rod.
Set the hook on a fish, the fish pulled, and the rod broke about an inch above the grip. Lost the fish.
No clue why it broke, but I’ll assume that I had somehow damaged the rod because I’d caught hundreds of bass on it prior to it’s failure.
AllStar replaced the rod, even though I had purchased it used (didn’t expect them to do that, nor did I return the rod to them…I just called looking for a replacement, told the guy why I needed it, and he sent me a new rod…nice folks). Good PR though, and I have bought quite a few of their rods since.
Never broken a fly rod while fishing.
It does seem that there are some folks who are hard on rods, and some who aren’t. I did a short stint as the ‘rod repair guy’ for a local tackle store many years ago…saw some folks repeatedly.
Buddy
Broke a fairly good condition Tonka prince cause I am getting older. Lined the rod and somehow missed the eye just above the ferrule and first cast I heard that unforgetable snap. nLooked down and realize I missed an eyelet changed the strees curve of the rod and snapped it, now have a three piece rod. Nick
Never had that happen
Fatman
Oh yeah, I’ve personally heard that unforgetable snap and felt the pain in my stomach as the $500 stick’s tip snapped. It probably would have been much, much different if I had been fishing by myself, on a stream by myself. There I could have had a personal fit, in all it’s glory and savored the moment, BUT I was fishing with my son and his friend and it was the first time taking them out fly fishing on a nice stream. I hung my head, gathered my thoughts without saying a word and walked back to the van where I had another 4 wt with which to play.
Even though the rod wasn’t under warranty, St Croix fixed it in a hurry and only charged me $50 for the repair and the return shipping which I thought was a steal.
The details in their condensed verstion are as follows. I was snagged in a pool just feet in front of me but too deep to reach with my hand. I popped the rod like I had done many times before when caught on obstructions and it was a matter of too much force and the extreme angle of the snag at my feet. Lesson learned. After that I figured out that the very good deal that St. Croix provided for $50 could buy a lot of fly tying suppies and I donated a whole lot of flies to snaggs after that. It just wasn’t worth trying to get them back.
Rick