Fishing Rod Exploded...Your Opinion?
 

I "had" an Abu Garcia Villain $180, titanium guides, etc. It's a casting rod. I had 50lb braid and a 20lb fluoro leader.

I think it got snagged or hooked into something big while out past the MB jetty yesterday and when I loaded up on it, it broke into three pieces. The only piece I was able to recover is the piece I was holding. It broke below the first guide.

Anyone have any opinions on whether this qualifies as a warranty claim? The leader is within the rod rating, but I don't think the braid rating is.

Any thoughts?

Depends where you bought it

Tackle warehouse said to contact Abu directly bc I only had the handle and not all pieces. Uh oh...

With Abu Garcia you have to send it to their factory if it is on warranty. If it isn't on warranty they will still take care of it .

I have to send a reel in soon to Abu Garcia and will send it to the factory.

http://www.abugarcia.com/support/warranties

Most dealers will swap you out for another one if they have them in stock. There is usually a $40 blank fee for almost all companies. I've swapped out Seeker's, Okuma's, and Shimano's at both Fisherman's Landing and Dana Landing.

When you "loaded up on it" how deep did you flex the rod? 45, 90, 180 degrees?

Maybe already bruised from a past whack on something hard. The old fiberglass rods were much more forgiving this way...

...I agree....doesn't take a hard whack sometimes either...one of mine fell against the kitchen counter after a rinsing the reel and the next time I hooked a good fish in the kelp and the fish kelped me...I loaded the rod up and snap right were I remember it hitting....love my graphites and carbon fiber rods but no forgiveness for unfortunate neglect

Yes, I did load up on it pretty good. I figured the 20lb leader would break or one of the knots would give.

I guess I should be happy my modified albright and fishnfool knots held! Haha!

As I said before, Tackle warehouse has referred me to Abu (I expected better service from TW). I contacted Abu and we'll see what their response is. If they say no, I may pay a little more for the rod makers that will exchange with no questions asked in the future.

I had the same thing happen to a ABU rod over 20 years ago on a tuna and have not bought one since then. 20-50 rod exploded using 30 pound mono.

Is it common? Who knows. Does it happen? Yes it does :D

if it's a graphite rod, it's not uncommon. Graphite rods can bruise from
being banged around. The bruise grows into a weak spot, then fails.

I have one that was mildly slammed in the tailgate by my wife, just a matter of time. It is not under warranty so there's no replacing it for free, but it's a nice rod so I'm not a fan of just setting it aside. Every time I hook up with it I pray it's not the fish that trashes the rod, although one of these days it's going to explode over something worth keeping and I'll be a tad frustrated.

Update....
 

Good News! Abu emailed and said to call their customer service # and give them $9.95 s/h. Lady said the rod would be at my house 7-10 days.

I have two other Abu rods and now they have a customer for life!