I had a hard time breaking mithra rod when I did my opo quest, and then me and a friend decided to go to SSG and I broke like 3 rods in a row. One for me, One for my friend's crown, and one to sell. As much as I don't want to give out this potential money making scheme away, I don't go out there enough to make it worth while.
I did mithra rod + crayfish paste. My fishing skill is about 16ish. Nebs like that combination, and also whatever was breaking my rod did too. >.> I don't know if it will work for you at lvl 1 or not, as my friend wasn't breaking his rod. If you're patient enough though, I'm sure it should work, and he might have also been using worms and note the paste.