[Fishwhere]

Originally Posted by Walleyedude

I've only broken one rod while fishing, and it was my fault, I was casting a lure that was WAY over the rod's rating and I snapped off the tip. In my experience, any decent quality graphite rod from around $80-100 and up should last for years and years. I also haven't noticed any difference whatsoever in the durability of those $80-100 rods compared to the high end $500+ rods.

There's no way that decent quality graphite rods should be breaking like that, no matter how big the fish, and especially not two in a day. I don't see any issues with using a medium light rod for walleye and pike fishing, there's a lot of anglers out there doing that all the time, myself included.

I don't want this to come of as "preachy" or know-it-all like, so please don't take it that way, that's not my intention at all. The first thing I'd suggest is to back off on your drag significantly, especially when using a L or ML rod and/or braid. Let the fish run, especially when they get close to the boat. You don't want to totally wear a fish out, but if your drag is set correctly, a fish should be able to nearly spool you long before it should break a rod.

The second biggest thing is don't "high stick" a fish when fighting it. The closer to straight up and down your rod is (12 o'clock), the more susceptible the tip is to breaking, because you're asking the tip alone to absorb all the shock and bend to 90 degrees or more. Keep your rod tip between 1-4 o'clock when fighting a fish or trying to net it, that way you take full advantage of the butt section of the rod where all the power is and it's far more forgiving. Never lift a fish into the boat with your rod either unless you're using serious MH or H action rod.

Take a look at the G Loomis E6X rods in that price range, they've got some really nice walleye specific actions and they're made at the same factory to the same action/power specs as the rest of the Loomis lineup.

What he said