there is no rod in the market that doesn't break,
rods has a life time just like any other things that we buy,
from what i saw i don't believe that the problem is from the rod or high sticking,
i am a big fan of Daiwa but from my experience i believe that at the time that the fish decided to take off the drag didn't give,
the dogfight tend to be a bit sticky on the drag side, if you change to carbonex you will feel a bit safer,