This question is a serious one because I really don’t know the answer. I’ve never cast or fished with a fiberglass fly rod. What is the attraction with them? Actually, I have fished with bamboo and they feel really heavy after using graphite for so long. Is it for reasons of nostalgia that we build glass and bamboo rods? I know Mike McFarland and have seen his work. His glass rods are beautiful. Again, I am not opposed to either material, I’m just looking to be informed.
Thanks,
Bruce
How much time ya got?? (for the answer!!)
They’re stronger than graphite.
Lighter than bamboo.
Cast like a dream … all be it slower than graphite.
First heard of them as “the poor mans bamboo” … lots of similarities/lots of differences, too!!!
Clean, gentle presentation.
Precise.
OK … I’ll let someone else jump in here!!
Thanks, Betty. I hope people don’t interpret my question as a smart— comment because that isn’t at all my intent.
Bruce
When a bead head hits the rod you don’t have to cringe and start saving for the next one. Glass rods didn’t come with Lifetime guarantees, they didn’t need them. 
Its fun to fish old school 40 year old garage sale finds.
just a different aspect of the sport.
My reasons.
Eric
Oh, heck, NO!! There was a time (old person moment!! it’ll pass!!) when I asked that very same question! That was before I handled a Hardy Glass rod. OMG!! I’d never held something quite that fine … or cast anything remotely close to it. What a revelation!! It’s totally fun to cast graphite, then bamboo, then glass, one right after the other. Given time to adjust to the difference in the timing … gawd! Then to use them each on the stream, and feel the rod work! Wow!! (I’m sitting here drooling!!). Something you owe to yourself. It’s truly remarkable!!! Each rod has it’s own niche, and each one its own joie de vie, but, wow, what a natural high!
Btw, Betty, I picked up that Diamondglass last weekend, and you were right, the BBS II is great with it! Got it spooled with a WF4F Cortland Sylk line, but I might try to find the same line in a DT…it seems its got an issue casting inside 25 feet or so, and I think a DT will help with that.
I bought it up in erie and while casting for a few “real” trout, I caught a few smolts…no “real” fish on it though, yet, despite some serious effort. It’s killin’ me! 
FANTASTIC!!! What a super little combination!! I’m so happy you found your rod!
If you held Mike’s rods in your hands, you know why their so nice. They are also lightweight. Comparing his 7 ft 4wt to an old Heddon is like night and day. No comparison.
Ask him about his steelie rod —I held it in my hands in March of this year and I think it’s a winner. For a glass rod, it’s fast and has the power to turn a steelie.
Big D
Years ago there,(late 80’s, early 90’s) was a commercial for Olds. I think if I remember correctly it had Ringo Starr in it saying “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile”.
Well, McFarland’s, Steffan Brothers, T.L. Johnson, Lamiglas, Diamondglas, Hardy, Scott, T&T, Japanese Fenwicks and other Japanese 'glass rods and soon Tom Morgans glass rods are not your fathers glass. Like mentioned before, they are much lighter, have many different tapers for different types of fishing. I have a couple of Micky F’s I built, that I absoulutly love to fish with. His Spruce Creek Dry fly model in a 6w and his parabolic model in a 5w. Also have a Steffan 3/4 w, 3 Lami’s, 1 Hardy, 3 Fenwicks, a Silaflex and an Eagle Claw. Oh and 3 T.L. Johnson blanks to be built.
I like 'glass I guess.
But if I were you, I’d find a couple different rods to cast or fish. The Lami’s are the slowest of the bunch, then the Micky F’s, the Fenwicks and Silaflex then the Steffan and the Hardy and then the fastest of the lot in the Johnson’s. (The Hardy is an older Fibelite/Fibetube)
All I can say is, I have more expensive rods…however…I built a glass rod on a 7’ 3wt 2pc Lamiglass Firecane blank in 1996, and it’s still my favorite rod hands down. I lined it this year with a Cortland Sylk DT and it is a perfect match.
What I feel is the glass rods greatest attribute, is the way their stroke can be manipulated. If I adjust my stroke, I can easily cast a #10 Stimulator on my 3wt with ease. Much smoother than a comparable graphite rod.
I own some slow fly rods, and I just love them. There are places and times for every level of rod action on the water.
I inherited a St. Croix 7 wt, that I had rebuilt for my wifes uncle. I had Bill Hinton FFF Fly Casting Instructor give it a try. He just love the St. Croix 7 wt’s action and could not believe that it was almost 50 years old and fiberglass.
Then I gave him a 8wt South Bend fiberglass to cast, again he was amazed at the feel of the smooth action of the cast. This one was also about 50 years old.
Then I showed him my prize discovery, a South Bend 59 8-? ft split cane, that had spent the last 50 years in it red cardboard tube in a closet, collecting dust. All for the want of a silk fly line. Now it has a Cortland “Sylk” fly line (thank you Cortland), and it is again singing its song, as it’s line is cast over the waters.
Reminds me of that old song (not so for us Older Than Dirt Folks) but “Slow down, you move to fast. You got to make the morning last, just kicking down on the cobblestones; Looking’ for fun and feeling’ groovy…”!
For heavy weight fly patterns that absorb weight from the water you need a slow fly rod for the wide loops.
I the old days before I was a gleam in my fathers eye, and before he was a gleam in his own fathers eyes, there was a time a place for both quick and slow action fly rods on the water. At first there were only slow fly rods because everything was a wet or weighted. Then came the dry flies, and all of a sudden slow fly rods and wet flies became looked down on by the new “Dry Fly & Up Stream” advocates. They set up so many convoluted rules of engagement of the fish that it became a test to see who could make-up new rules to make it more difficult to catch a fish.
As famous modern quote goes…“We don’t need no stinking rules”!
I have slow fly rods and I love them… ~Parnelli
I even have a fly rod that has no snake guides stripping guides, reel, or reel seat, just a tip-tip for attaching the tapered leader, tippet and fly (it is call Tenkara). It is a delight go fishing with, controlling the movement of a soft-hackle wet fly in the water subsurface enticing the fish to attack the fly.
Snapped this pic of my new glass rod almost as an afterthought at the end of an unproductive evening of fishing. With a little touching-up in Picasa, I managed to make the poor image quality work for the shot…kinda.
At least I like how it turned out.
As you can see, it’s a Diamondglass 7’ 4wt. I’ve got it paired up with an Orvis BBS II reel and a Cortland 444 Sylk line in WF4F. I got it about a month ago and LOVE fishing with it. I finally managed my first “real” catch on the rod this weekend (it was purchased up in Erie, and while trouting up there, I got a few of the steelhead smolt as a by-catch…but they dont count!). First fish was this pretty little brown that my optimistic mind likes to think was stream-born. Hit a #14 Parachute Adams.
I have built several glass rods of various weights and the only reason to do so is because you intentionally want a VERY SLOW rod.