Rob: I agree that most rod breakage is angler error, and God knows I have made my share of them. My worst was on a central america trip. I had a brand new G Loomis 10' 10 weight GLX, about a $500 rod at that time. As I pulled the line through the tip I had the tip way up over my head and apparently pulled almost straight down on that slender tip. Naturally it snapped before having ever been cast once. It was 100% my fault but I was mad at Loomis for about an hour before I thought about what I had done. I later learned that what I did was a fairly common mistake.