DH Custom broke

My DH custom broke between the first and second eye. I lent this to my friend to try in a portable next to me and after about 5 minutes he said the tip broke. My friend swears he didn’t reel the lure into the eye. I made the trip to DH and explained my situation. I was told it wasn’t covered and that it was user abuse. Ok, I guess, What are my options. He said he can convert it to a Pani Dropper or I can buy a new one. I went with the Pani dropper and left it there. I called to check on it to see when it would be completed. I was told, that they weren’t going to be doing any repairs anytime soon.. ok I guess…

I have a friend on the UPL that told me his DH broke the same way. Has anyone else had this problem?

Doesn’t surprise me you had this issue with DH. I have spoken to a number of people who have had the same issue with his summer rods and they also reported poor customer service. I have gone in there a number of times to get bait when in a pinch and the owner seems to be arrogant, short with customers and has a bad attitude. My recommendation to you is switch over to Thorne Bros rods-great customer service and IMHO…a much better rod. I now go to the BP gas station for bait right down the road and avoid DH at all costs.

Sounds like my BIL. Breaks everything you give him. I say that’s about how it is for all custom stuff. There are no warranty even if it’s a component defect. I would just do a diy rod wrap and re-wrap . While you at it build your own rod=)

I understand DH or any custom rod builder if they told me that in that situation. Good luck

I called DH to ask a few questions about their custom ice rods. It was the most awkward/uncomfortable conversation Ive had as a potential customer in recent memory. I chalked it up to catching him during peak of busy season.

I am a fan of St Croix rods, but for custom I have been using Elk River rods out of Phillips, WI. They have pretty close the same warranty as St Croix. I just received my big pike custom spinning rod and am looking forward to testing her out this spring. As of yet they don’t offer any ice rods.

Was it an Al Dentes rod? I have some of his Al Dentes and haven’t had trouble. The service I’ve received from Dusty has also been very good. It’s possible he’s just overburdened but that’s still no excuse for poor customer service.

I have an Al Dente and it is a great rod, but it could be easily broken. I think that DH, TB, and TUCR could lose their butts replacing noodle rods. You have to be extremely careful with them. Your nicer than I am, because my buddy would have purchased the rod he broke.
I had a pleasant experience when I ordered from him last year, but I told my buddy to order and Al Dente and he says that they have been jerks both times he has called to check on order status. Now I know well enough to know he isn’t the most patient person, but with what they are charging for rods they shouldn’t be rude.

I’ve been to his shop, he seems to be a one man operation guy with too much to handle. As far as service towards broken rods. You can’t expect too much of a service when you accidently broke it.
A good example of service down the drain is shimano rods. They use to replace people’s broken rods free of charge and had lifetime warranty. Now the warranty is only 1 year and no replacement because too many people were taking advantage of that service. Same goes to gloomis rods wildcard use to be free for high end models now you have to pay for it.

Just buy a Tuned Up Custom! A buddy of mine ordered two precisions. One was in Packer colors and the other in Harley colors. We were able to pick them up at 7am at the shop on a Wednesday morning on the way to ND for a big ice fishing trip. It was either John or Adams dad/father-in-law that met us at the shop and gave us a tour. Yes 7am:) Can’t remember how it works-Dad/FIL… Anyway it was the best customer service ever! Even before this I had great luck going through John. I have three rods now. One I bought at the SBC in Chippewa Falls, the other two were bought over text messages with John. Yes text messages some at 10pm at night-WOW. I tried to go through Thorne Bros and DH. Both were inconvenienced with my questions on rods and both sort of rude. Especially TB. Well after telling friends and family of my experience with both companies they lost about a dozen $100 rods. I hope TUCR keep up the great service!
p.s. My new TUCR sweatshirt is the sh..!
Thanks Again!
Chad

I too have been very impressed with TUCR. I debated between them and DH. DH has a great reputation for making great rods from a lot of forums I’ve read. However I got the same feeling as many. Emails and phonecalls to DH were short and seemed to have some tone to them. I have had the total opposite experience with TUCR. TUCR will bend over backwards to get you what you want. As others have said great customer service. If you leave a message they will get back to you soon. At the St. Paul Ice Show the staff took the time to answer all of my questions no matter how busy or how strange my questions may have been to them. TUCR top notch.

The tip breakage is the issue I have with many of these noodle rods on the market. I feel the incredibly fast transition from noodle tip to stiff backbone is a recipe for easy snapping. Reel up too far or not pay attention while unhooking a fish and and tip easily bends to the backbone. Being the rest can’t bend, the tip bends at an acute angle. The tip is so easy to bend I think a lot of guys don’t realize what happened.

When I build my noodle rods I smooth that transition out a little. These are sight rods, and don’t need to be super fast to help feel bites, and giving another 2″ or so of a more gradual taper still allows easy hooksets in deep water with mono, while allowing the rod to continue loading a little more vs snapping at the sudden transition.

To a point I can understand not replacing all the noodle rods that break. No matter how they are built, sanding a rod down to less than 1mm means it needs to be treated well, and some of people are hard on stuff. The builder doesn’t necessarily know how the equipment was treated. Stinks for the buyer though, and offering at least one 1/2 price replacement per customer doesn’t seem out of line, and would likely have a customer come back again.

Fleet Farm 28″ glass noodle rod = $18. I don’t see how buying a custom rod would put more fish on the ice. Tip gives me good bite indication and it has the backbone others have. What am I missing other than money in my pocket?

Why buy a Ranger 620 when you could catch just as many fish out of an Alumacraft 205? Different strokes for different folks.

Ben Brettingen wrote:

Why buy a Ranger 620 when you could catch just as many fish out of an Alumacraft 205? Different strokes for different folks.

I get it, but seriously I’ve never tried a custom rod and don’t know what I’m missing. Pricey with no warranty is what I’m hearing and there are rod makers like St. Croix making nice rods with warranties.

I have a longboard noodle that splintered when I was reeling in some crappies one night. I was basically told that it was something I did. There is a place to put your hook on the rod, but you are not suppose to use it??? He glued it back together and I hope it works, but have not used it yet. I know what you guys mean when you mention the attitude and the warranty does not seem to be worth anything. I will go elsewhere next time. I have purchased 4 rods for myself and 2 for some friends in the last year. So I was hoping he would take that into consideration when looking at my splintered longboard noodle.

Was thinkin about buying one of his rods last winter until I went and bought bait from him and he just seemed rude.Like it was too much trouble for him to scoop me some minnows and answer a few questions about his rods.I wont spend a dime in his shop ever again.

Gregg Pfeifer wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ben Brettingen wrote:</div>
Why buy a Ranger 620 when you could catch just as many fish out of an Alumacraft 205? Different strokes for different folks.

I get it, but seriously I’ve never tried a custom rod and don’t know what I’m missing. Pricey with no warranty is what I’m hearing and there are rod makers like St. Croix making nice rods with warranties.

I feel a good custom rod can make a noticeable difference, and I still think a good custom rod maker would offer some type of warranty. I never thought there would be that much difference till I bought a custom rod years ago. After that I had a hard time fishing off the shelf rods (I could do it, I just didn’t WANT to). I have some St. Croix open water rods that I really like, but I’m selling my Croix ice rods. Nothing “wrong” with them, but to me they didn’t compare to the custom rods in sensitivity or overall feel of tip to backbone, etc.

One certainly doesn’t need to spend the extra money for a custom rod to catch fish, but in my experience it can help put a couple more fish on the ice, and be a little more enjoyable while doing so.

One piece of advice is to talk to the builder and make sure you have a good feeling before dropping the money on a high dollar rod.

Tucker

I bought a DH rod at the St Paul show. I had my heart set on it after reading positive reviews about the rod online. The rod is great, but I had the same feeling of being an inconvenience to the owner. Short answers to questions, and overall not at all helpful. Being a small company you’d think customer service is #1 priority, but I didn’t even get a “thanks” after the transaction.

In the future my money will be going to TUCR based on the praise they seem to get everywhere for customer service.

I can’t imagine too many custom rod builders having a warranty to cover everything. You just don’t know if a guy abused the rod, stored it properly during transportation or accidentally broke it. Having said that, I will say that I did receive a custom rod with an eyelet a little crooked. I gave a call to TUCR and they said send it back and it was fixed at no charge. I don’t think one could ask for anything better than that. I truly believe in the companies willingness to fix a mistake on there part because lets face it, we are humans and make mistakes. As far as the difference with a custom rod, hands down to me, I will not go back to off the shelf rods. Besides, I plan on getting my money’s worth out of the five I own.

Thanks Tucker, making it even more enjoyable while putting more fish on top is appealing to me. I just think about all the money I wasted on crap over the years to where I am now so I’ve grown skeptical and sit back and watch others waste money on the latest gimmicks before I hestitantly join in.

Ok, considering this is a tuned up custom house (IDO) I will just come out and say it. those of you that know me I know that I am not one to mince words.

Firstly, I will not excuse any poor Customer Service that any of you have received. there is no excuse if you did in fact have a bad experience. We would like the opportunity to make it right.

To the Original poster and ALL Noodle rod owners; Here are a few tips / tricks to keep your noodle for a long time.

There are a few facts you should know. Noodle rods are 1mm of extruded E-Glass. what that means is that they are VERY fragile. I don’t even recommend giving these to kids as most adults have troubles owning them.

Rule #1 NEVER over reel your jig and slam it into your tip. (kids are famous for this) the tip has no where to go but fold over on itself. (1mm e-glass) This is not covered by us, or ANY custom rod builder. THIS IS 99% of the time the cause of breakage between the first and second guide. If that upsets you, we apologize.

Rule#2 to happy noodle ownership. NEVER leave your jigs attached to the hook keepers and, or even your rods when stored. We usually take the drag all the way off, or flip the anti reverse also when storing. Just cut your jigs off you will have a fresh knot next time.

Rule#3 Soft Sided Cases generally break rods. Egg crate foam, hard sided cases are always the safest for storage.

Rule#4 No High Sticking, it’s an ice fishing rod, not a hockey stick Gretzky. keep it in a fishing motion. pointing it at the sky is not a fishing motion.

To the Original poster. Your rod has already been repaired and will be epoxied today. Please call us if you have any questions. 952-471-RODS

NOW on a personal note,

I will also man up here. I have been personally Inundated and working 13 hours a day 6 days a week. I know again, NO excuse. But I have been a little short on the phone, and even a little short in person. I am embarrassed and humbled this morning to see the dissatisfaction of my customers. I try to please all of my customers, I please most. and to those of you that I have not, I apologize and would love the opportunity to get it right. the popularity of our products have put us in a situation that is an uncomfortable one. but PLEASE know that we do value our customers, and we CARE about your needs. THANK YOU for calling me out, I apologize.

Respectfully,
Dustin Hafner

I have no stake whatsoever in this, but kudos for your post, DH.

That may be one of the last real men in America! Good post Dustin.

Got to love when a business owner gets and takes an opportunity to address his clients feedback. This alone would make me want to purchase a rod from him. I love to give second chances when I can.

Thanks Dustin, I handle mine with care but have been using hook keepers (built into my non-DH rod) and notice with a easy turning spinning reel the handle with tighten and put lots of bend in noodles and I’ve been impressed my rods haven’t broke yet – sounds like I’m not far from having that happen though. Thanks for the tips.

I see rule #2 broken all the time.Guys transporting rods with tips bent into a J.Twisting the tip will shorten it’s life,like when guides are iced-up.Seen a guy break a 13 Fishing tickle stick doing that.Said he just twisted it about 30 degrees to pinch off the ice…SNAP!

Great tips. For us new to ice fishing Thanks.

Ladies and Gents, These tips are really meant to help you preserve your investment. We recommend these simple steps with ALL of your rods, Especially noodle rods. Follow these simple steps and your coveted custom WILL be around for a long time.

Thanks again, DH

DH posting in this thread is making me want to stop and buy a couple ice rod blanks while in town next weekend. Might be in to pick your brain Mr. DH

Really cool of Dh to step up. I may have to check out some of his work.