Fiberglass rods

I recently inherited a fiberglass Fenwick fly rod and being a fly fishing novice I thought I'd ask about it here.  It's a ff806 (8 foot, 2 piece, 6 weight, 3 1/2 oz.), I've looked this up on the internet and it seems that fiberglass rods like this still have a following for people who want a slower action rod (for whatever reason).  I also remember there being some discussion here about wanting a slower action rod in the kayak.

Anyway, any thoughts on fiberglass vs graphite?  I know that I like the sensitivity of graphite when I'm conventional fishing and waiting to "feel a bite", but it's my understanding that you don't feel bites on fly rods, so why bother with the graphite?

Brian

Funny you should mention a fiberglass fly rod... I was just reading a neat blog article by Brian Okeefe on his love affair with fiberglass rods.

http://thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/11/okeefes-fiberglass-adventures_6803.html

I've had a couple of fiberglass rods over the years... they still work great.  In fly fishing, rod sensitivity is generally a non-issue, with a couple of notable exceptions.  Swinging flies for steelhead/salmon is one, stillwater fishing in lakes (where you cast and strip the fly back) is another, and nymphing without using an indicator of some sort is a third.  That isn't to say glass won't work in these applications, just that the sensitivity of graphite is helpful.

For most fly fishing applications, what matters most is how a rod "loads" or harnesses the weight/momentum of the fly line to make your casts.  Glass rods tend to be softer or "slower" that most graphite which makes them easier to load and cast.  It takes some skill to load a stiff graphite road (though if you can, they will cast much further and buck the wind much better.)

The big advantage of glass over graphite is toughness... glass rods are hard to break, unless you do something really dumb like sit on them or slam a car door on them.  Not that I have ever, ever done either of those.  Nope, never.  It is almost unheard of for a fish to break a glass rod.

On the other hand, glass is heavier than graphite.  No big deal on a 5 or 6 wt trout rod, but if you are casting an 8 or 9 wt steelhead rig all day, it takes a toll.

Anyway, sounds like you have a nice all-around rod for Oregon.  6 wt is just a wee bit heavy for most river trout, just right for some of the bigger lake trout, and perfect for warm water fish like bass.  Did you score a reel and line with it?  I saw that Fisherman's was having a sale on Pflueger Medalist fly reels the other day, like $25 bucks.  They are a no-frills, old-school, bomb-proof reel.  I think they had Cortland 333 fly line pretty cheap to.

Thanks ThreeWeight.  The reel did come with a South Bend Automatic reel with some really old fly line on it.  I'll probably use it for practice in the back yard/local park but switch it out when it actually comes time to do some fishing this spring.

I also got a bunch of spinning rods and reels (decent 90's stuff), a few ocean set ups, and a ton of trout/bass/panfish tackle.  Basically all the gear you'd expect someone living in the Central Valley of California to have.

I guess none of my wife's Grandfather's children or grandchildren ever got into fishing so I'm the lucky recipient.  I guess the many abalone I used to bring down to him  from NorCal made an impression.

Brian

Brian,
Fiberglass rods do have a strong following.  Your rod is discussed quite a bit at this site.

http://fiberglassflyrodders.yuku.com/[/b]      ... I wish I had a Grandpa that had fished with something besides a bamboo pole and bobber .... altho no complaints on the one I had.
Mike

Don't get hung up on line weight when you are thinking about fiberglass or bamboo rods. Before graphite rods came along, it was rare to see fly lines below 6 weights. An 8' 6wt fiberglass rod has a much lighter feel than the same size graphite, and will work fine for most trout fishing situations.

Heavier lines are much easier to cast in the wind, and are better with heavier flies typically used in the saltwater. I typically use 7 or 8 weight bamboo rods when fishing from the kayak in Puget Sound for sea-run cutthroat. Most fly fisherman would tell you that a 4 or 5 weight is best for this type of fishing, since the sea-runs aren't big enough to put a bend in a stiff action 7 weight graphite. Another example is lake fishing. My medium action 6 weight bamboo rod bends deeper for 12-16" fish than the 3 weight graphite rod my partner typically uses.

For rods 8 feet and below, the weight difference between graphite and fiberglass isn't that significant.

Fenwicks were the premium rods of the 1950's and 1960's. The Company's roots are in Kent, WA, and the first rods were made in a garage near Lake Fenwick on the West Hill of Kent. Don Green and Jim Green were the rod designers, and both left to form Sage when the Company was moved to California. Here are a couple of articles that may be of interest to history buffs.

http://www.fenwickfishing.com/about_history.php
http://www.sexyloops.com/articles/jimgreen.shtml


Tom

i love my old fenwick fiberglass rods...they are a bit of a collectors item on ebay too

Cool thread. My first fly rod, purchased in Bellevue, WA in 1964 was a Fenwick ferralite ff86 (8' 6"). That got broke in early '65 when my fishing buddy Loren threw a rock at me from about 100 feet away, hoping to make a splash next to me, and the rock hit my rod. It broke at the "shatter" where the rock hit a few casts later. Took that rod back, as it was still on warranty, and exchanged it for the only other Fenwick in stock, an 8 footer.

Fly fished a bit with that rod, and then my dad's job got us transferred to Honolulu in Jan '67. Rod sat in its case until 2001, when I got interested in fly fishing again. But I didn't really fish it much again until the summer of 2002. Now I don't use it hardly at all. I'm being careful with this rod.

Inscription reads: ff80   8'   3 1/2 oz  DT6f-HCH     Serial #B 9775, whcih makes me wonder if the B stands for Bainbridge Island, as Fenwick manufactured rods there for a while, in what is now the Sage factory.

Its a 6wt, as the DT6f-HCH was the line designation used back then, but can cast a 5 wt. line pretty well.
I might have to use it, as I broke the tip on my TFO 6wt again and have to send it in.  I have a really cheap Scientific Anglers 9' 6wt rod in IM6 graphite which I have been using as my spare, but it isn't as classy as an old Fenwick glass rod.

I hardly ever use the Fenwick anymore, though, as it is near mint, with only a few very fine scratches on it.  I actually like to use my graphite rods over this, as I can cast farther with them.