Thread: How to baby a JDM ultralight rod

Just rely on common sense – quality JDM UL blanks have thin walls and low epoxy content. Don't step on them or hit them against anything – if they don't break right away they'll surely be bruised and may break down the road. Don't exceed stated lure weight, and you can cast without worries. Line rating has nothing to do with rod strength – lower limit tells you how well your rod can protect light lines and upper limit tells you how thick of a line the guides on your rod can handle.

As a norm, they are stronger than they look. I treat the JDM's like I do the rest, tender loving care.

as with about any lightweight tackle it is typically just that , most of the real ultralight good stuff ,will fail sooner than later if it gets used a lot .
it is one of those things where it needs to be tossed in my truck or in the boat and go ketch fish . if it cant perform under those conditions then its time to find one that will .
some of the best stuff gets even a slight nick on it and it will snap like a dry twig , might try finding a bit thicker walled blank in a less expensive ultralight rod , not to be downing any rod or manufacturer but it is quite disheartening to break a high dollar rod and yes i have toasted a fair number of decent rods along the way.
my 27 cents if you will

No, they’re not for everybody but handle and fish like nothing you have ever tried.
Bob

Originally Posted by livemusic

I broke a Major Craft SSS-S682L/SFS rod and am not sure how I broke it. Got it repaired and it failed again. Did the same a third time.

Unfortunately, if you don't know how you broke it, there's no reason to think it won't happen over and over again. I would suggest thinking back and trying to remember EXACTLY what you were doing the moment it broke. Granted, the rod could have been damaged earlier if it had been banging around in a boat or truck, but you should know if it broke (the first time) when you were casting, setting the hook, fighting a fish at a distance, had the fish right up to the boat, were unhooking the fish, etc. If the second and third break came at the same location as the repair, then that tells you that the repair was weaker than the rest of the rod or caused a hard spot which didn't let the rod flex enough to spread the force over the full length of the rod. I'll admit I know nothing about rod repair, but I am not at all surprised that a repair job on a solid tipped rod failed.

If you can remember exactly what you were doing when you broke the rod it will be a lot easier to prevent further breaks. First and foremost, I would highly recommend not letting any rod bang around a boat or the back end of a pickup. Make sure your lures are not heavier than what the manufacturer recommends. Weigh them. A 1/4 ounce limit does not mean you can use a 1/4 oz jig and then add a plastic trailer. If the rod broke when you were setting the hooks, well, hate to say it but you were setting the hook too hard. Major Craft doesn't give different line ratings for nylon mono compared to braid, but there is a world of difference in the strain on a rod when setting the hook hard on a big fish if you use mono or if you use either braid or ester, neither of which will stretch like mono. I watched my fishing buddy break a rod while unhooking a modest bass once, he had reeled it in too far and had no idea the amount of bend he had forced into the tip of the rod as he lipped the fish and then pulled it in to him to unhook it. You have to be aware of what you are doing to the rod.

I have no experience with Major Craft rods, but for the JDM rods I am familiar with, there is no need to baby them. You definitely cannot treat them like a beater rod, though. I know that a lot of people who break rods immediately assume there was a manufacturing defect. That is almost surely not the case. By now I have handled thousands of JDM rods (most have been tenkara rods rather than spinning or baitcasting rods, but the process for manufacturing the blanks is essentially the same). I have seen manufacturing defects, but never one that would affect the strength of the rod. On the other hand, I have seen a couple of poorly designed rods that broke more frequently than other models. Maybe your rod fits that category, but unfortunately, the more likely case is that it was something you did that stressed the rod beyond what it was designed to handle. To prevent it from happening again, though, you do have to know exactly what you were doing when it broke.

If, after you get the replacement tip section, it breaks again when you are fishing exactly the way you want to fish, then you are probably right to give up on JDM rods.

Great post Chris...How critical is line weight vs rod line rating?

Originally Posted by s_v

Just rely on common sense – quality JDM UL blanks have thin walls and low epoxy content. Don't step on them or hit them against anything – if they don't break right away they'll surely be bruised and may break down the road. Don't exceed stated lure weight, and you can cast without worries. Line rating has nothing to do with rod strength – lower limit tells you how well your rod can protect light lines and upper limit tells you how thick of a line the guides on your rod can handle.

They wouldn't last a day with me.

I've owned a lot of Major Craft rods...ain't nothing wrong with them. For those that think you have to baby a JDM rod check out the video starting at the 7:37 mark...notice the bend in the rod. I have lost count of the fish this rod has landed..big and little. Most of the JDM UL rods I own have landed one....or more....huge drum. A few seconds into the fight I know what I have on and should just break it off..but I like the challenge of getting the fish in. I keep thinking one of these rods will snap in a fight like this but it has not happened since I started using JDM rods almost 10 year ago.

Regards
Big gaspergou! - YouTube