Whenever I look at rods in the store, I notice that some of them will have a very slight bend left or right. If I am purchasing one, I would choose a straight one, but does it matter?

 

Will a slightly bent blank eventually straighten with use? Or will a straight blank eventually take a slight bend in use?

Recently a guy I know had a custom Century Weapon built by one of Black Pelicans builders, pretty sure it was Trent.  The blank alone is close to $500 and the total build was about $1000.  Turns out the builder used a bent blank.  When he contacted him, he was a real condescending POS and said it would perform just as well and there was nothing my buddy could do.  The builder said that they can't send back blemished blanks to Century in the UK, which is a lie. My builder is a Century dealer, and he won't accept any kind of blemish. A slight bend in the blank isn't going to be detrimental to performance, but you wouldn't expect to pay full price for a new car with a huge gouge in the paint.

Personally I dont think a bend in the tip really hurts anything, but I would never buy a rod with a bend.  Even if it was like half price, it would bother me to no end.  I did get a bent preordered Mojo Bass from the first batch out of Mexico and it had a mean bend in the tip.  I had broke 4 rods in an automatic window mishap with a new Passat.  I didn't have another 6'10 ML, so i kept it.  It bothered the hell out of me, but I don't think it was detrimental performance at all.  I've caught thousands of fish on that rod.  When the thread started to unwind from the keep and some of the guides I retired it.   

I think some lighter blanks can actually take a bend if they are stored with tension on the blank.  I've got an UL Fenwick that did that.  Its a 7' Moderate UL, so it was like a whip anyway.

If the blank has a bend from the factory, I don't think its going to straighten.

I don't think most good quality graphite blanks will bend enough from normal use to where you can actually notice it with the naked eye.  Thats just my experience, but I could be wrong.

I think every single rod I own has a slight curve if I look down it. Unless it’s egregious, it’s usually something I pay no mind to. 

Blanks will not change their bend characteristics after they are made.  Whatever shape it's in is permanent.

 

Slight bends are not IMO detrimental to function, but can be hard to overlook when looking down them all day long.  It's up to the personal preferences of the buyers.  When building one can orient the guides so that the bend is not as obvious.  

8 hours ago, MickD said:

Blanks will not change their bend characteristics after they are made.  Whatever shape it's in is permanent.

 

Slight bends are not IMO detrimental to function, but can be hard to overlook when looking down them all day long.  It's up to the personal preferences of the buyers.  When building one can orient the guides so that the bend is not as obvious.  

This is right on. And I’ll add that no blank is arrow straight due to the manufacturing process. I’ll return something with dogleg, multidirectional bends but beyond that build on the straightest axis.  I doubt century or anyone else will pay international shipping on returns.  

should they be built curve down or curve up when there is a slight bend? Seems like left/right are not great in comparison.

On 9/22/2025 at 8:56 PM, txchaser said:

should they be built curve down or curve up when there is a slight bend? Seems like left/right are not great in comparison.

Yes

I’m not a rod builder but have, like most spent a lot of money on them!

I’ve always heard that all blanks have a “backbone” and the guide placement is oriented to optimize performance with this in mind.

Mr. Loomis along with Trey Kistler promotes this method of optimization in their builds. I feel other production brands are not “optimized” which results in a randomness.

 

A slight up or downwards bend I could possibly live with but a left or right is way outside my ocd.

On 9/24/2025 at 5:24 AM, Motoboss said:

I’ve always heard that all blanks have a “backbone” and the guide placement is oriented to optimize performance with this in mind.

Mr. Loomis along with Trey Kistler promotes this method of optimization in their builds. I feel other production brands are not “optimized” which results in a randomness.

 

A slight up or downwards bend I could possibly live with but a left or right is way outside my ocd.

 

I totally agree with this.

 

I would add that if a rod is purchased new and it is not straight, to say it is permanently going to stay that way is not always true. It is only true if there is no forces of change applied to the blank.

 

Rods can be bent by improper storage. If a person leaves a rod leaning against a wall in a bent curve for a long enough period of time and say heat is a factor like in a garage with no air conditioning, then the rods will take on a new shape based on this external force applied for a long period of time.

 

It is not the carbon fibers doing the bending. It is the epoxy binder which is a plastic and can change shape over time with applied force.

 

Another example from inside a house with air conditioner is a buddy of mine who thought it was a good idea to build a rod rack on the ceiling of a room to keep his rods and reels up and out of the way. But, he stored them with weighted lures hanging off the tips. When he pulled those same rods down the next season, the tips were now bent out of shape. The rods took on a new shape based on the weight and time they were left stored horizontally.

 

So in theory if a rod can change shape over time, and it comes with a bend, then in theory if one applied the correct amount of force for the right amount of time could in theory begin to attempt to straighten a rod.

 

I have to agree with motoboss that a right or left bend would bother me, but a slight up or down bend not so much. But what he says about the spine or backbone of a rod is accurate.

 

Gary Loomis hired aerospace engineers to develop the new carbon fiber blanks. And they found that there was one degree on most, not all, but most blanks that is weakest where the rod would naturally want to bend into and this was taken into account by top engineers who developed the process to discover and use spine to our advantage.

 

If you listen to Gary Loomis explain it he is very clear. He wants a rod to load up straight into that weakest degree on the blank and unload straight. If this one degree were not placed precisely where he says and his aerospace engineers say it goes, then the rod will not load straight and will not unload straight.

 

Water flows to weakest resistance. A rod blank when thrown back will also flow into the weakest spot. If it is straight back, then a rod loads and unloads straight as Gary Loomis states in following video. If the spine is not placed straight up, then as the rod swings into the cast backswing, it will not load straight and will begin to skew off to one side or the other because it is seeking its weakest spot to flow into which is no longer in the right location.

 

I want all of the rods in my collection that show such a spine to all be oriented the same. So when I go from one rod to another, they will behave similarly. If a person does not follow this, then their rod collection will have spines all over the place and going from one rod to the next will not perform similarly. One rod might skew to the left. Another rod skews to the right in backswing. And the person use such a collection of rods will have to use muscles to try and adjust to each rod. If all are oriented the same way, then less muscle is required and less work involved for fishing.

 

I truly believe what Gary Loomis shares here. This is correct rod science until there is a more compelling physical argument against it. Spining a rod is still standard in rod manufacturing at companies who care. As stated, most rods DO NOT adhere to spine standards and are all over the place. Very few do it, and even fewer do it right. Some companies who try to spine rods place it 180 degrees in wrong location.

 

When I go into a rod shop spine is one of the first things I look for in a brand. If it is spined correctly I know I am dealing with a rod company who cares. If I find spines all over the place it goes back in the rack and skipped and passed over. This important factor in rods has been sidelined over the years and overwritten with unscientific alternatives that do not hold water in my opinion. Gary Loomis gets it right! What Gary Loomis says here is gospel truth. I strictly adhere to this for all of my rods that show a spine or backbone.

 

Do you want a rod collection all over the place? Or, spine aligned to each other to behave similarly? Its a choice based in physical science. This is established science for decades. And there is nothing out there today that changes or overwrites this science. Listen closely and carefully to Gary Loomis do his best to explain it. He gets it right in my opinion.

 

Even Dr. Matthew Cashion posts videos saying precisely the same as what is said here:

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, all fishing rod blanks have a "spine" or natural bend axis, even if not always obvious to the naked eye. This spine is the result of the manufacturing process, where rolled materials create a stiffer and softer side. The spine is the natural bending point of the rod, and identifying and building a rod on this spine ensures maximum performance and longevity by preventing stress and twisting. 

That’s the result of a quick google search and mirrors what I have always been told.  There is a difference between the spine and a defect though.  If you’ve ever put heavy stress on a rod and it wants to roll to one side or the other, that’s a build with no consideration to the spine.  

I wouldn't care.  Many days it might be the only bend my rod gets.

Actually the spine has been proven to be the weakest axis as far as dead lift capacity. Consider also the lever effect of the guides which causes the twist not the “spine “ and the fact that rods are used and bend on more than one axis building on the straightest axis makes the most sense. Absolutely, the attention to detail that’s not feasible in a mass production scenario is a major advantage of custom builds. 

Rods with a slight bend, guides on a rod that don't quite line up, more line on one side of my baitcasting reel, buzzbaits that run to the left, know matter how I bend the wire, a spinnerbait that turns ever so slightly on its's side at higher speeds, a rattle trap that sounds different than all the rest, a crankbait that I can not tune to run exactly straight, crankbaits that are missing one eye, lures with the wrong shade of chartreuse,  Ragebuggs, that have lost one of their appendages, bent inline spinners that I can't get exactly straight, a tackle box latch that is crooked when closed, a kayak paddle that is slightly off center, one cylinder on an outboard that occasionally misfires when throttle is applied, a single drop of oil under my car in the morning, and a stupid song that I heard on the radio driving to the lake that keeps playing in my head over and over.  These are all things that will drive me crazy if I let them, or I can just go fishing.

On 9/24/2025 at 9:56 AM, FloridaFishinFool said:

If you listen to Gary Loomis explain it he is very clear. He wants a rod to load up straight into that weakest degree on the blank and unload straight. If this one degree were not placed precisely where he says and his aerospace engineers say it goes, then the rod will not load straight and will not unload straight.

This may or may not be consistently associated with the spine of the rod, but it is easily found by deflecting the tip a few inches with the butt tied down and observing the shape of the path of the tip as it vibrates in recovery.  If in the right orientation it will have what the golf industry calls "flat line oscillation," FLO.  A truly steady and straight path which does not end up going oval or some other shape with time.  Do a search for flat line oscillation on line, something like "flat line oscillation in golf club design" and you'll see a lot of info.  A fellow rod builder who also builds golf clubs informed me about this in our discussions of True Natural Frequency.  I need to get a bunch of blanks in hand so I can determine the relationship between the axis of FLO and the spine, if there is one.

On 9/22/2025 at 12:24 AM, GetFishorDieTryin said:

The blank alone is close to $500 and the total build was about $1000. 

If you pay a $1,000 for a fishing rod, its not about performance anymore.. when you pay premium you should get premium.

 

 

I can't imagine paying $1000 for a fishing rod, $100 maybe.

^ I've got a few $200 rods in my arsenal, but bought on sale or even used (ALF Used market is GREAT) so haven't paid over $140 for any of them

On 9/24/2025 at 9:31 AM, king fisher said:

I wouldn't care.  Many days it might be the only bend my rod gets.

 

It was pretty norm before especially with high modulus carbon prepreg, new and improved rollers squeezing so hard, it was impossible to make them straight like Indian hair.

6 hours ago, Gera said:

he blank alone is close to $500

Show me a $500 blank that is not a fly blank.  I have never seen one.