I was reading this piece on MidCurrent about fighting big fish. For many of us, fighting a fish over 50# on a fly rod is rare. Studying how to apply pressure on such big fish is important and learning from our mishaps along the way does help for the next time we are so fortunate to hook into those special fish.
I have broken six rods (3 through falls, 3 fighting fish). The fighting fish encounters were against fish sub-10#’s with the fish close at hand, the rod held more vertical, the tip bent down and hoisting/drawing the fish near me to grab the leader. That is the dangerous moment for the rod. Whether the rod tip was previously damaged by me or faulty I don’t know, but the position I put the bent rod into is often a fatal error for the rod.
Be mindful of a vertical rod with a very bent tip!!! Use the full power of the rod down down into the mid section toward the butt/handle when managing fish. And, be very careful in protecting those rod tips from banging against anything while casting or improperly storing the rod sections.
SwittersB & Exploring 
Never really thought of the tips being damaged from things could have a future effect. Always kind of just thought that if you break the rod.. its broken.. but if its not broken, its fine. I will have to look a little bit closer when I am rushing to stuff my rods into my car to get to the lake as fast as possible!
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With graphite rods a frequent event for some fishermen is to do a high set of the rod with tree branches overhead…the rod tip whaps the limb ever so slightly and seems none the worse for wear. But, that can be a fatal error for the rod in the future.
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Yep. We’ve found that slamming rods in car doors does them little good as well.
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Somehow I have avoided that. I prefer to trip down stream banks and break rods and bones.
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