i was fly fishing with my dad on the south platte near deckers when we decided to do some scouting over a bridge when we noticed a large rainbow sitting out infront of a large rock. my dad climbed down to get in possision behind the bow under the bridge. a few cast later the big trout drifts to the side and FISH ON. after a very short lived fight this smart old fish turns,heads toward the rock and POP! line goes slack and the rock tip hits the top of the bridge shattering busting the tip.

As i never got the chance to send you the story of how my 8 wt was killed, here it is.

We were fishing in Sylvania in the U.P. and I rigged my 8 weight up with a 2/0 tarpon bunny fly and a steel leader for pike, but didn't hook anything all day, so I left it in the back of the canoe and picked up a spinner bait (I'm going to end up in fishing Hell!) while we paddled back for lunch we had that rod get hit so hard, I thought I hooked a runaway freight train... I grab the rod and tighten up on the drag and *Snap!!!* the rod literally shattered into pieces in my hand... it was splinters, and I still have some of it in my hand. So it seemed fly fishing was out for the week, and I wasn't very happy to snap a 100 dollar fly rod that was my dads. and for about a week after, if someone brought up that story, I felt like taking a swing at them.

Well, one day I was practicing my fly casting in the front yard for a change (friend's idea). So I string up the rod, leader, no fly though, as we were casting towards the house, as that direction had the most grass. So I get to casting, one random cast goes waaaay too high, and I end up some how hooking the shutter on an upstairs window! No idea how I hooked it with nothing on the leader. So I tug on it repeatedly, and sure enough, I do a high-stick tug, and crack it went. Boy was my face red when I had to explain what happened to it to my dad.

I was invited to a picnic at my friends farm pond last summer. This was a yearly event that attracted about 50 or so people. We would camp, sit around the fire, sing songs, play guitars and eat picnic food. People had come acustomed to watching me fly fish the pond during this party and for a few weeks prior to the party everyone would ask, " are you bringing your fly rod so we can watch you fish?". "Of course" I would answer then explain how I just purchased and brand new Thomas & Thomas and was excited about using it for the first time.

As the food and music was winding down and the fire and singing started up I decided to hit the water. I did not make a big production out of this but by the time I walked to the truck and grabbed my fly rod and walked to the edge of the pond a small crowd had gathered. "Is that your new rod your so proud of?" everyone asked. I had to show it off and make the mistake and telling everyone how much it cost. By the time I was rigged and ready to go no less than 20 people were standing at the bank anticipating my arrival to the water. They were not strangers either. It was my wife and kids, my boss, close friends and business associates.

As the crowd watched I proudly walk to the bank with my new rod in my right hand and a can of diet coke in the left. I placed my right foot into the jon boat and quickly feel it move out to sea with my left foot still planted firmly on the ground. It was no big deal, I'm older but still have the athletic ability of a 20 year old. I dropped my rod to the safety of the bottom of the boat and flung my body into the chair in the boat without spilling a drop of my diet coke. As I'm gliding to the middle of the pond thinking of how I just avoided disaster I hear a "snap". I look down to see the leg of the chair was resting firmly on top of my new rod. It has turned a 3 piece rod into a 4 piece rod.

I set the oars in the water and in one stroke I'm back to the bank a little more than embarrassed but no one knew that my rod had broke. Unknowingly my wife had bailed me out by asking if I had forgotten something. I ran to the truck, pulled out another rod, jump into the boat and paddled to the safety of the middle of the pond before anyone could figure out what happend.

i had just moved to alaska with the wife and kids. my son and i were no strangers to fishing as we did that almost every evening, we were however strangers to fishing for kings in alaska. the first evening we were the we went to ship creek in downtown anchorage to catch high tide as a couple of the locals had told us to do. i was always the one to guide my son and pass down knowledge with each adventure. this time we were both going in blind but i still had to act like i knew what to do.
we got to an open spot wich is not easy to do in the land of combat fishing that is alaska as we would figure out in short order. we would also figure out that kings are a different fish with different insticts. we began casting our flies to the middle of the creek not stopping to wonder why we were the only ones using fly rods and it wasn't long before i set the line at just the right time to hook a king in the tail(i was a little too late to get his mouth). i learned very quickly that you don't ever want to hook a king in the tail with any rig, much less a fly rig!
this fish did what kings are very adept at and took off down stream like a shark was on his tail instead of a fly. i saw what was going to happen and took off downstream in persuit. i ducked under people's lines and went over people trying not to lose my line and warning people at the same time.
just as the fish was really starting to build up speed, i looked back and yelled at my son to bring the net and hurry. as i turned around i saw the couple with their 8 year old son standing in my path too late to stop or miss them. my rod was outstretched towards the creek and i hit the two adults at waist level at wich time they collapsed and my rod broke into several pieces. the very end section of the rod went with the fish that obviously got away.
another fisherman caught the fish over a week later with my rod end still attached to it's tail. unfortunately, i am still paying for medical damages to the couple.

The second way, let you or Cermele borrow one... (Just kidding)

My dad had just bought a G. Loomis 8 wt. and was in love with it. The problem was that it was a 2 piece and he only had rod tube for a 4 piece. In my father's infinite wisdom he decided that a fifty dollar rod tube was an unnecessary expense and while I didn't agree, father always knows best and besides he'd "never broke a rod yet". So on that fateful september morning we loaded our gear into my jeep and his most prized piece of fishing equipment sat proudly on top of everything so as not to be damaged. When we bought ice at the gas station he took the rod out, set it against the bumper, filled the cooler, told me where burning daylight and slammed the hatch closed. There was a sickening crunch followed by a painful grown. I ran to the back, and there was dad with a look in his eyes like a man who had just taken one to the jewels, holding his brand knew four piece.

Once I was fishing out of a small boat with a 5 horse outboard engine, trolling streamers off my fly line when the engine stopped. With it being somewhat windy, the line went from behind the boat to underneath it, and when the engine did start, pulled the line around the prop and with it my tip and about 6" of the rod with it. That had to be the worse day of the season, even worse than when I cracked the tip of my Diamondback bamboo rod when the leader got tangled around the tip and when I went to pull up the slack line, the tip doubled over between the tip and the 2nd guide.

I was just getting home after a long day fishing and just put the rod on the shelf. Not thinking anything of it I went in the house, ate, shower, all the normal stuff. I heard this comotion in the garage and when I went out to see what it was. My cat was jumping from my truck to the lure hanging. Luckey for the cat on the last jump before I could stop her she missed the hooks on the lure but grabbed it enough to pull hard enough to snap the tip. Now odds say that the tipgot broke sometime before that but I like to tell everyone that the road fought and got ten pound fish but couldnt handle a 2 pound cat.

I lived in a tent (weatherport to be exact) for 4 months on Lake Creek Alaska, approximently 100 miles from the nearest town, and being the avid fly fisherman that I am I brought 2 rods, a 6 weight for rainbows, laketrout and pike, and an 8 weight for pike and salmon. I was casting my 8 weight to a school of sockeyes, and the leadeyed mad tom cliped the rod tip and took it right off. break number one... Now being depressed, I grapped the 6 weight and took a few casts, hooked a real nice sockeye, got it to the back, and placed the rod down, got the hook out of the fishes mouth ( yes I hooked him in the mouth) and in the process I stumbled on a rock took a step back and stepped on my 6 wt. it was not a pretty site, and made for some long nights in that damn tent, but i loved it anyways.