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.