No, it's not the future but it was a bit of the past. Boron/Graphite fly rods were introduced in the late 1970's. Noteable models were the Fenwick Boron X and Browning Silaflex rods. They were certainly decent rods, but Boron is not well suited to use in fishing rods. It's a large fiber, almost 5 mils diameter. The carbon filaments used in most rods is much smaller, perhaps 15 mirons or so. This is about 1/100th the size of the Boron filaments.

On top of that, Boron does not have nearly as good of a relationship between modulus and tensile strength as most graphites being used today in rod manufacturing.

Not to say that rods made from a Boron/Graphite composite aren't any good - they certainly can be. But most of what makes them good is the overall design - not the Boron, which is going to be used in very small quanitities anyway.

Boron was phased out of use in fishing rods by the early 1980's. It's recent rebirth is more for marketing purposes than anything else.

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[This message has been edited by Tom Kirkman (edited 25 October 2005).]