Revisiting cheap fiberglass rods

[td566]

I grew up using a Browning silaflex cork handle purchased from Beaver Sporting Goods in Trenton NJ. Many many great memories and I still use it today.
My dad gave me his Eagle Claw 4 piece trailmaster about 20 years ago and I liked using it for smallmouth, and switched back and forth between the spin and fly handle based on success rate or choice. I think it’s a 7 weight. Haven’t used it lately for fear of breaking it.
My dad used an old green Shakespeare glass rod for both trout and bass that weighed as much as a stick of rebar, and switched to a Browning silaflex after he used mine a few times. Dad’s flyfishing buddy used glass Fenwick rods.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

 

[Bamboozle]

I wouldn't describe Fenwick, Silaflex and certain models of Wonderods as "cheap fiberglass rods."

That being said I fish a TON of glass however all but one rod in my fly rod rotation is new(er) glass. The one exception is a 8'6" 6wt Fenwick FF85-3 probably from 1963-64.

It is one of two 8'6" glass rods I own and I fish it with a fully pimped 1494 Medalist. It is an absolute wonderful rod, ideal for streamers or just about anything else.

 

[wildtrout2]

I wouldn't describe Fenwick, Silaflex and certain models of Wonderods as "cheap fiberglass rods."

Neither would I. But, I saw them mentioned, so I jumped on the band wagon. 🙂

 

[Mashbill]

I’ll jump in- here’s one of my favorites. Wright & McGill Trailmaster, 7 1/2’, has the old line weight designation but throws a 7wt the best. Honey gold fiberglass, Granger style reel seat- stamped “Rod made in Denver Co.”
I called Wright & McGill about the age - their guru told me early 1960’s. I’ve had it a very long time.

I pair it with a Perrine “Free Stripping” 37b automatic reel that I found in a bottom of a crate at Biff’s Gun World on the southside of Louisville Kentucky. Biff’s was an old time “everything hunting & fishing” under the sun hole in the wall. You scrounged around, got real dirty, found something — then you’d go up and haggle with Biff. This reel was jammed up, frozen - looked like hell. I took it apart ( it was jammed with silk line, leader, sand, etc) … soaked it in gun cleaner, lubed it all up and incredibly was able to reassemble it. It’s as smooth as a Swiss watch now. Serial number dates it to mid 1950s.

This rod has that wonderful combination of pure power - but can cast with delicacy when needed. It’s a real treat for me when i get to fish it

 

[TimMurphy]

I’ll jump in- here’s one of my favorites. Wright & McGill Trailmaster, 7 1/2’, has the old line weight designation but throws a 7wt the best. Honey gold fiberglass, Granger style reel seat- stamped “Rod made in Denver Co.”
I called Wright & McGill about the age - their guru told me early 1960’s. I’ve had it a very long time.

I pair it with a Perrine “Free Stripping” 37b automatic reel that I found in a bottom of a crate at Biff’s Gun World on the southside of Louisville Kentucky. Biff’s was an old time “everything hunting & fishing” under the sun hole in the wall. You scrounged around, got real dirty, found something — then you’d go up and haggle with Biff. This reel was jammed up, frozen - looked like hell. I took it apart ( it was jammed with silk line, leader, sand, etc) … soaked it in gun cleaner, lubed it all up and incredibly was able to reassemble it. It’s as smooth as a Swiss watch now. Serial number dates it to mid 1950s.

This rod has that wonderful combination of pure power - but can cast with delicacy when needed. It’s a real treat for me when i get to fish it



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Dear Jerry,

When I was a kid, my dad had an old fly rod from when he was a kid that he said I could have. It was an old Horrocks & Ibbotson with a Shakespeare automatic fly reel which was also a shiny green color like your Perrine, but it mounted sideways.

It had a really old fly line on it, but I cleaned it up and started waving it around and eventually I got some line to come out, so I figured I was good.

I took it to the Mill Race in Holland PA which was a favorite fishing spot when I was a kid. I tied on some monofilament because there was no other way I could figure out to attach a fly to the thick fly line. Then I tied on one of those blister pack McGinty flies that were in every fly kit at local sporting goods stores in the early 1970's. It was the bumble bee looking thing, the Parmachene Belle and Royal Coachman looked too fancy for the bluegills and small bass in the Mill Race. 😉

Much to my surprise, a bluegill ate the McGinty. Having never fished with a fly rod before I figured maybe pushing the lever on the reel would do something? So, I did. Wow, was it ever fast!

I managed to gut a bluegill and not break the fly rod and I was hooked! 😉

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

p.s. I still have the reel around the house somewhere. I broke the ferrule on the rod and set it aside to replace it but lost it between many moves over many years.

 

[Bamboozle]

I’ll jump in- here’s one of my favorites. Wright & McGill Trailmaster, 7 1/2’, has the old line weight designation but throws a 7wt the best. Honey gold fiberglass, Granger style reel seat- stamped “Rod made in Denver Co.”
I called Wright & McGill about the age - their guru told me early 1960’s. I’ve had it a very long time.

I pair it with a Perrine “Free Stripping” 37b automatic reel that I found in a bottom of a crate at Biff’s Gun World on the southside of Louisville Kentucky...


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Sweet rod, "mini ferrules" too!!!

I don't know all the different size Perrine autos but I have a NIB Perrine 87P and some Shakespeare's I bought to try with a Wonderod 1290 I own to fish bait like I used to see the "old timers" do when I was a kid.

Not that I'm an old timer, I should probably get around to trying that combo... 😉

 

[troutbert]

I wouldn't describe Fenwick, Silaflex and certain models of Wonderods as "cheap fiberglass rods."

My first fly rod was a Fenwick, bought around 1970, and as I recall it cost $26. That was not considered a cheap rod at the time. I wanted to buy a cheaper one, made by Browning I think, but my buddies who got me into fly fishing strongly advising paying more and getting the Fenwick. It was a smooth casting rod, which unfortunately I lost.

The Fenwicks were not the most expensive fly rods around. Probably around 1972 my buddy bought an Orvis bamboo rod for $100. I thought that was insanely expensive.

Regarding Wonderods, a guy in our TU chapter said he was having trouble casting, and he had one of those Wonderods. I cast it a little bit and it was very heavy and clunky. Very bad compared to the Fenwicks. I've heard that some models of Wonderods cast nice, but not that one. His casting problems were not solely do the fly rod, but using that rod was handicapping him, making it more difficult to progress in his casting.

 

[fritzer]

When the recent resurgence of glass rods reared it's head up again, I dug up my
8'0"/4 Wt glass rod built with a J Kennedy Fisher blank back in the 70's. Surprisingly the rod felt good in my hands with its comparatively slow action. Now I use the rod whenever I can in small and medium size rivers and streams and love it.

 

[Mike]

I still almost exclusively fish with the 8.5’ True Temper glass fly rod that was given to me on Christmas Day in 1960. I use it for dry fly fishing, nymphing, and occasionally night wet fly fishing. As a kid I used it for drowning worms on stocked trout streams, fishing with a bobber and night crawler for bass on ponds, and for fishing with a bobber and shiner for crappie on the Conowingo Pool of the Susq R.

 

[Bamboozle]

...The Fenwicks were not the most expensive fly rods around. Probably around 1972 my buddy bought an Orvis bamboo rod for $100. I thought that was insanely expensive...

Orvis in general, and especially Orvis bamboo was almost always more than any run of the mill glass rods...

I don't know about 1972 prices, but looking at an old 1975 catalog, an Orvis bamboo rod would cost you well over $200 while their Fullflex glass rods were north of $60.

I don't know what Fenwick rods cost then, but I had a broke-a$$ buddy with a Fenwick FF605 and I doubt he could have afforded much more than a $30 rod...

What I do remember is when the Fenwick HMG graphite rods first appeared in the local (all tackle) fishing shop I frequented before I started fly fishing. I seem to recall around an $80 price tag which was incredibly exorbitant for ANY fishing rod in the rack at a place like Edelman's in Newtown Square, PA.

I still remember seeing a guy with an HMG ultralight rod at a local reservoir and dying with envy. A few years later when I stated fly fishing the second rod I bought was a 7'6" 5wt Fenwick HMG. 😉

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Bamboozle,

With the modern fiberglass rods now pushing the $ 500.00 mark even a used $ 100.00 Fenwick from the 1960's is still a viable option if one wants to use glass. That may be double what the rod cost new, but if it's in good shape it can still be fished.

Here is another Edelman's story. When I got out of the USAF in 1987, I took a job in Pennsauken NJ. My boss at the time was an avid outdoorsman, and on slow days we would sometimes take long lunches, buy a 6-pack, and cruise around. He'd show me good fishing spots in South Jersey, and we'd visit all the sporting goods stores too.

In 1987 he took me into the Edelman's on Rte 130 below Camden. I spied a 7'6" Fenwick HMG 5 weight with a bag but no rod tube on sale for $ 79.99 which was half the $ 149.99 retail at the time. I didn't have the coin on me to buy then and there but I hustled back to Lower Bucks County after work, picked up my brother Terry and we set off for South Jersey. I bought the rod and begged the clerk to find me another, but they didn't have one. I bought my brother a 7'6" 5 weight Kunnan rod as a consolation prize and it was a damn nice rod for $ 49.00. We used those rods for 2 or 3 years and caught plenty of fish. I wound up selling my HMG to a neighbor for $ 100.00 when I bought a Sage 590 RP.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[falcon]

When I worked in central NJ I would go to Edelmans Sporting Goods in Bound Brook on my lunch break. Great store for Fishing, Hunting, Camping etc. They did rod refurbishing and reel repairs too. I bought a lot of gear there. The sales people knew their stuff. They always had good prices and sales. Really sad when they closed.

Kunnan rods were really quite good.