Went fishing this weekend in SW Missouri, (IT WAS COLD!!!), guides froze up and had to dip them in the “warm” spring water to melt the ice, but it was fun! Anyway, I saw a couple of posts about glass rods, there was one about Shakespeare Wonder-Rods, and I just happen to have one (it is/was my dad’s, not giving it back), but never used it, stuck with the graphite that I learned on, but took it with me and used it. It was really fun, and I found it pretty easy to cast, had a 7 weight line on it, and was getting some pretty good length on my casts. I have no idea what model it is, the sticker is worn off, but it is 8’6" long, so if anyone has a suggestion upon what the model number is I would appreciate it. The only “negative” is that it is “heavy”, I think I am going to name it the “Telephone Pole”. I caught some fish on it, and it was fun to bring them in, and kind of nostalgic. My brother bought a Eagle Claw Glass rod, and had alot of fun with it, even though I caught the first fish on it, ha ha! So thanks to those people talking about glass rods, I probably would have never used it, and never had the experience I had. I may get another! But next is Bamboo!
Drew
I’ve heard those old wonderod’s are pretty nice. They do (or did) make them in shorter/lighter lengths too. I’ve seen them on ebay. I recently purchased an old Fenwick glass fly rod (7.5 ft 6wt) and used it for the first time yesterday too. Just a sweet casting little rod. I paired it with and old pflueger medalist and it worked great. Brought in several nice trout without a problem. Easy to see why both those Fenwick glass rods and the medalists were so popular in the 70s and 80s.
I’m in SW MO too. I was at Taneycomo and it was VERY cold. But the fishing was great which makes up for a lot.
Greg
There were many models and tapers of Wonderods it would be impossible to idenify it without more imformation.
I was at Bennett, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, need to go back to Taney, everytime I am down there my time fishing is limited, never had a chance to start out at daybreak and fish all day, always have to go spend time with family or go to Silver dollar City, they just don’t understand the addiction. I may have to check out ebay for a Fenwick.
Jerry - I figured it would be pretty hard to identify with no markings other than the length but thanks.
Drew
Went my rods and got out my “Wonderod” It’s marked as a No 1470 7’ 9" Model FCA Last time I was at Bennett I saw a man showing his new Bamboo that he was fishing with. Instead of getting out my boo from the motorhome I started to fish with the wonderod. Got as many question as he did and everone wanted to try it out. I use a pfluger medalist reel with it.
Drew,
If you can post a picture, I can probably figure out the rod model. Also indicate how many pieces, how many guides, guide wrap colors, etc.
One of my favorite rods is an old glass one that I rebuilt. It was an 8’6" Berkeley Buccaneer 7/8wt that I bought on impulse at an auction of household goods for $8. After a few years of not doing anything with it, I decided to play around with it to practice rod building. I stripped off the guides, grip and reel seat, then slowly and carefully scraped off all the yellow paint and pale green primer. The bare blank is a rich light reddish brown color, and I rebuilt it with an aluminum reel seat, new grip, and all new snake guides using a nice green color for the wraps. All told, I pumped less than $40 into this rod. What I got for my efforts is a nice, slow action rod that isn’t even remotely like the rod I bought at auction, and it has grown to be one of my favorite rods. I would not part with it for 5 times what I have into it. Enjoy yours!