Fiberglass Fly Rods

[Lotech]

Within the last year or two, I've been interested in and in fact bought and built a couple of glass rods. I really like the slower action, and the way they feel with a fish on. I like them because they kind of have a bamboo feel at a working man's price. I'm wondering how many of us here at FAOL have been bitten by the same bug. Anyone here with the itch that only fiberglass can scratch? I see that even TFO has gotten into glass with a nice little 6'9" 5 weight.

[Bamboozle]

"Fellow Fiberfanatics, my name is Bamboozle and I'm a Glassaholic!"

I discovered fiberglass a few years ago when I bought a sweet Winston 6'6" 3wt. After that, the addiction began in earnest. As a person who fished nothing but bamboo, by choice for most of my life, I was DELIGHTED with the feel that glass offered. Besides bamboo I also own a slew of graphite, but I probably would have never purchased a graphite rod IF I found glass a little sooner. These days, I find that I am fishing glass more than anything else in my quiver.

I have discovered that short glass rods are the PERFECT tool for the small to super small mountain creeks I like to fish. They also are wonderful for the normal sized creeks I spend the remainder of my time fishing. While it can be an oddball rod to find in graphite, an 8'0" 5wt glass rod is about as perfect as a trout fishing rod can be, in my neck of the woods.

I have bought quite a few glass rods in the last few years. When I couldn't find what I was after in the fly shop racks, I went the custom builder route.

Besides all of the vintage glass out there, make sure to check out the new Hardy glass rods as well as custom offerings from Mike McFarland or Mark Steffen.

I'm sure you already know about the Fiberglass Flyrodders Forum

Welcome to the not-so-dark side!

[turvy]

I've posted here on fiberglass before but will repeat. I bought a nice graphite rod a few years ago after having fished an old Wonderod for more years than I care to admit. After a couple trips I put the new rod in the closet and it hasn't come out since. My Wonderod is model 708 in the seven foot variety. It was bought in the early 70's and has a great butt section that allows you to put the screws to the bigger smallies in fast water and still a fairly decent tip. I think I'll fish it to my grave. I plan on going to Canada and do some big nothern fishing in a few years but will get a bigger rod for that only because I wouldn't want to damage my good rod.

[anglerdave]

I have a Fenwick 7 1/2' 6wt that was built for me on a Woodstream blank back in the late 70's. Nice rod and fun to fish, but still fish my graphites most of the time.

[onemorecast]

I got bit hard by the glass bug after buying a Diamondglass rod this past winter. It's an 8' 4 wt and I just fell in love with it. I picked up a McFarland rod recently also and started poking around in the forum Bamboozle mentioned.

Bam is right about the shorties being perfect for small mountain streams. I haven't cast a shorty graphite rod (less than 7 feet) that had the flex, finesse AND backbone to properly present flies in tight spaces like a glass rod can.

IIRC, the new Hardy glass rods sell for $350 and are a very nice casting rod. I got a chance to try one out at a bamboo/traditional event and it was a sweet casting rod. I'm currently having a bamboo made, so I need to save my pennies.

I'm very glad to see slower rods come back into fashion. That tells me that people are re-discovering the beauty and traditon of fly fishing and maybe slowing down the pace a little.

[wayneb]

Hi All;

I have at least twent four glass rods, most are different. I have duplicates of a couple of secret gems.

Oh, by the way, I only have three graphite rods and haven't used them in two years.

So, yes I'm a Fiberglass a holic and I'm proud to be one!

Wayneb

[dudley]

I've pretty much always fished glass from the time I was a kid. My first quality fly rod was a Lamiglas 4wt that my father built for me in the early '70s. I fished that rod and some other glass rods well into the '90s before I got myself my first graphite trout rod.
To this day most of my fresh water fishing is still with glass. Besides the Lami, my main sticks are a Phillipson Royal, an Orvis Golden Eagle and a W&M Featherlite. I also have rods from Fenwick, Garcia/Conolon, and Berkley

[Bobinmich]

Most people that are taken to boo or glass fish small streams where delicate presentations are required to trout within 30 feet or less. In particular, people seem to like the action of these rods in this type of cast. This is, naturally, not a universal truth. There are many reasons to be drawn to a particular construction besides action. History, appearance, name, all are draws but are of a more subjective nature. The action of these rods, however, is a scientific fact and is definitely different than faster action graphite.

To explain "action" is an impossible tast because it means so many different things to so many people. If you want to get into the "geeky" scientific world, you can lull yourself to sleep reading about attempts to explain it. Try Bill Hanneman's Common Cents or even my stuff on my website under Mechanics of Flycasting - book page of www.HATofMichigan.org. But the most understandable characteristic of a rod is static strength (sometimes called stiffness). Graphite rods are, as a rule, stiffer than bamboo or glass.

The lower stiffness of glass or boo tends to require a slower and longer casting stroke in shorter casts. This results in what people tend to call a more relaxed feel. But most importantly, the longer casting stroke allows more time to allign and direct the cast, resulting in better accuracy on short distance casts. Think of it like the sighting plane on a firearm. The longer sighting plane of a rifle is inherantly more accurate than the shorter sighting plane of a pistol.

Now many of you will say this is all b-s and you just like bamboo or glass better. And that is fine. But rest assured, your casting style and the rivers you fish can point towards why you like them better. And it is not just preference to one type of construction or another - there are reasons based in science why you do. And those of you who prefer graphite are probably right too - especially if you routinely have to reach out 70 or 80 feet. Every tool has it's propper usage. You can drive a tack with a 16 oz. hammer and you can drive a 20d nail with a tack hammer. But we know which hammer the framer uses and which one the upholsterer used.

Godspeed and good fishing,

Bob

[Jim Sentell]

I have a Fenwick FF706 that throws a Wulff TT5F 60-70' with no problem as I fish mainly medium to large lakes in southern NJ for Bass and Panfish. The casts don't need to be more than 25-40' but I always want to go out in the vacant lot next door to me (175' deep) and test a rod's maximum capabilities. A SA WF6F is sluggish when carrying 30-35' of line in the air for more than two false casts. Haven't tried a 4wt. line on it.

It loads immediately and has caught some feisty 'gill and several decent (2-3# bass) and, at only 7' it feels as if you're hand-lining; cast all day long and no fatigue. Gotta love that letter "C" bend, too.

Of course, the "industry" still dictates the market and stiff "it'll cast from here to Montauk" rods will be the norm, but, for participants who have gone through the BS and learned to fish, they will stick to, or go back to "fly fishing rods" and leave the telephone poles to the utility companies.

Nothin' like glass and ultralight for child-like fishing pleasure as I remember from the good 'ole 40s and 50s.

Jim

[Tyro]

I picked up a Diamondglass 3wt. this winter as a small water and panfish rod. I'm really enjoying the action on it and seem to cast better with it as a relative rookie to the sport.