I don't know if I agree with the "A good fisherman will keep the rod tip no higher than 45 degrees" statement. 

 

I would imagine the line angle has to be factored in somehow. In the picture above, the line is right below the rod tip (as if boating a fish) which makes the warnings make sense. But I have to believe that with an average cast the effective angles would change as well.

7 minutes ago, garroyo130 said:

I would imagine the line angle has to be factored in somehow.

Which is how I work it - Line and main part of the rod no more than 90-degree angle...closer the fish is to the canoe, the lower my rod tip goes.

 

Only rods I've broken in 50+ years were due to accidents...not while a fish was on.

Also you might want to take into consideration the new rods that abu and okuma were selling, the ones where you can bend the tip of the rod into an "S" shape without it breaking. Savage gear also used the technology. I tried it with my browser rod.

2 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Only rods I've broken in 50+ years were due to accidents...not while a fish was on.

 

   Same here.      jj

This does not apply to all the new solid carbon rods coming about. 90 degree is highly encouraged  

Common sense

Tom

Never broke one with a fish....while in a boat.   I did, however,  break one on a large cat that dove under my kayak.  Admittedly my fault....but the dynamics change in a kayak 

On 1/14/2021 at 11:14 AM, garroyo130 said:

I don't know if I agree with the "A good fisherman will keep the rod tip no higher than 45 degrees" statement. 

 

I would imagine the line angle has to be factored in somehow. In the picture above, the line is right below the rod tip (as if boating a fish) which makes the warnings make sense. But I have to believe that with an average cast the effective angles would change as well.

The whole point is in fighting and landing fish. It doesn't matter nearly as much with Intermediate Modulus blanks, but I promise you that with something like a Toray 1100 or IM8 HM graphite rod, you will risk breaking rods if you don't keep that bend at 90 degrees or less. High sticking kills many many rods and the strange part is that many of the guys breaking them are then complaining about the poor quality of those $400 rods. They just don't realize.

 

If a guy just can't help high sticking or boat flipping fish, my advice (not that anyone asked for it) to him would be to stick to the IM6 rods. They are way more forgiving.