Fiberglass?

[TonyMuljat]

I see there appears to be a resurgence in fiberglass rods?? I seem to remember it was considered clear that graphite was a superior product. Is that being challenged now?

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Graphite made it possible to make longer and lighter weight rods that still have great action.

The longest 5 weight fiberglass fly rod was around 8 feet but a few were 8'6".

Graphite has allowed them to build #5 weight rods to 10 and even 11 feet long.


As a retailer I lived through the big change over from fiberglass to graphite.


My old 'Geezer Patrol' friends of the Greatest Generation like Joe Schirshac actually lived through the big change from split cane to fiberglass after WWII (1950s).


In shorter lengths the fiberglass and split cane rods are still wonderful casting rods.

What is happening right now is more affordable fiberglass rods are showing up in shorter lengths than graphite.

For small stream fishing these fiberglass rods are really wonderful.

Longer light weight graphite fly rods are better for nymphing or casting further on open water.



.

[Bob G]

Well said Billy!

[DLJeff]

Plus there is the cool retro factor. Since many old fiberglass rods got tossed when graphite came along, there isn't as many of them around. Hence, they become collector items and a great conversation piece when a bunch of fly fishers get together. Based on the few fiberglass rods I've ever owned, they all had a much fuller action, flexing clear down into the handle. Closer to most bamboo actions. That's another reason many people like them. They get that slow, easy full flex action in a rod that is a little more durable and easier to take care of.

Check out Cameron Mortenson's "Fiberglass Manifesto" web site.

[Darian]

As I recall, one of the selling points for graphite was that it didn't "bounce" or recoil at the end of a casting stroke causing a number of waves in the line as it landed on the water. Graphite had a dampening affect similar to Bamboo. It does seem to me that when I last cast a Fenwick, FF85, it did recoil and create a bunch of "S" shaped curves in the line.

At any rate, some of my favorite rods for Bass and Sunnies were glass (Lamiglas, Orvis-FulFlex, Fenwick, Eagle Claw and an old Southbend). The latest iteration of glass is the SAGE, Butter rod. A wonderful, soft feel and slow action rod that casts like a dream. Too rich for my blood, tho. :cool:

[dpentoney]

I never made the switch to graphite. Graphite may be better for casting, but glass is so much better when it comes to fighting fish.

[Paul B.]

I have to agree that they are a lot of fun when fighting fish. I bought a 6.5' 2wt a couple of years ago for places like the Silver Fork. I like it so much that I just bought a 8'2" 5wt.
I doubt it will replace my old graphite trout rods but it should be a lot of fun.

[Dan LeCount]

I think glass has some advantages in technical fishing and isn't cool just because its retro. It's many times more durable then graphite so if you're on a backcountry trip or somewhere else you don't think you can get a repair, it has some advantages. In the salt if you're not casting for distance, but fighting very strong fish, it can be great. A lot of the heavy duty saltwater boats that troll for things like big marlin and tuna still prefer glass for its strength. I have friends that keep 1 and 2 piece glass rods in their flats boats as workhorse rods that can take a lot of abuse. If you're fishing a technical spring creek or tailwater, glass is amazingly smooth at casting and has great absorption of the fishes movements once you get them on. It protects lighter tippets better and has a weird effect of dulling the fishes panic, and almost "puts them to sleep" as my friend likes to put it.

Fiberglass kept developing and improving after the introduction of graphite, but it wasn't the new big thing, so wasn't what most companies and stores wanted to push to the consumers. Lighter, longer and farther casting has been one of the prime directives for the fly rod industry for some time compared to rods designed to be more durable and smoother casting. Still, graphite was a huge boon in many situations where casting far or reaching far was needed. New dimensions of saltwater fishing and long rod fishing were achieved thanks to graphite. Modern spey rods, salt rods, high sticking rods have opened up the boundaries of fly fishing coupled with modern reels, tippets, flies and hooks, almost no species of fish is out of bounds with a fly rod if they come within 50 feet of the waters surface.

During this golden age of graphite, fiberglass continued to evolve. Lamiglas brought out S-glass but no one noticed since they were too preoccupied with testing the limits of the new carbon based material. S glass is a very quick recovering glass. Now "S2 glass" is around and its pretty remarkable stuff. It's not graphite, but it is almost like a mid point between the 2 if possible.

Lamiglas, Scott, Hardy and a few larger rod companies kept making glass fly rods off and on over the years. There's also a large number of smaller companies that have been producing specialty glass fly rods like Tom Morgan from Winston, Steffen Bros, McFarland, Epic fly rods/CTS, Mario Wojnicki, Kabuto, James Green, etc. Now Reddington and Orvis are starting to offer glass rods. I wouldn't be surprised if Sage started offering a model in the next year or 2. The glass industry has had a big resurgence in the last 5 years thanks to guys like Cameron Mortenson from the Fiberglass Manifesto and I hate to say it, but Ebay has been good for the material. People tested out these old rods for pennies on the dollar and rediscovered some great fly fishing tools.

When the waters low and clear on the tailwater and I'm fishing dries on 7x, I usually go back to an old, smooth glass rod and have landed some pretty big fish thanks to its remarkable properties. I know some big fish hunters like Hal Janssen and Doug Ouellette that still prefer glass in certain situations for landing big fish.

Long story short, glass isn't cool just because its retro, its cool because its still a great material to make into fly rods.

[Dan LeCount]

Btw, I'm going to wrap a few custom glass rods this winter, I'll post up some pics if I get the chance.

[Darian]

Good summation of the reasons for and evolution of glass rods. Reminded me that I have an old Fisher, 8.5' glass blank that I never started. Maybe that's a good winter project. Thanks for the motivation. :cool:

[Dan LeCount]

Good summation of the reasons for and evolution of glass rods. Reminded me that I have an old Fisher, 8.5' glass blank that I never started. Maybe that's a good winter project. Thanks for the motivation. :cool:

Those old Fishers are some pretty sweet blanks. I almost bought an 8 footer a few weeks back, but the guy wanted too much. I'm going to be wrapping some Epics and some Blue Halos instead.

[Mr F]

Those old Fishers are some pretty sweet blanks. I almost bought an 8 footer a few weeks back, but the guy wanted too much. I'm going to be wrapping some Epics and some Blue Halos instead.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to cast a few glass rods with Cameron Mortenson at the Denver Fly Fishing Show. I must say that the Epic rods were AMAZING. Plenty of power + distance, but with the smooth action you expect from glass. My Epic 480 blank is now on order. The new Orvis Superfine Glass rods were great as well.

Cameron is planning to attend the Pleasanton show. For those interested in the new crop of glass rods I highly recommend going to his seminar.

[Dan LeCount]

Yea, Cams a super good dude.

[Ned Morris]

Glass is still awesome even to this day. I still use my Grandfather's Fenwick Model FF60 6'0" 5wt from the 60's with an old Berkeley 540 Reel Hardy Knock-off I picked up at a garage sale about 15 years ago when I broke my Sage click and pawl I got in High School. Have to say this is my favorite rod for all the tiny bushy streams of that make their way to the desert in the Eastern Sierra. I landed one really nice Brown on this several years ago and to this day one of my most memorable days fishing the sierras.