After buying my first fiberglass fly rod, I kinda went crazy buying a few more in a few short weeks. Mainly because it allows me to collect old, cool rods for a fairly small amount of money. I enjoy the "game" of bidding for them on Ebay, and browsing Craigslist, just hoping that someone had stumbled upon one in the corner of their garage and they decided to sell. I plan on upgrading to a modern (more expensive) rod when I can scrounge up enough cash to get one I really want (Swift Epic). But until then, I'll probably just keep looking for the best deals I can find locally.
Eagle Claw Featherlight 5/6 Switch Rod
This was the first "fiberglass" rod that I purchased, even though they are mostly graphite. After seeing the switch rod conversion that This River is Wild had done to their featherlight, I knew I had make my own. Thankfully, it's easy now that The Fiberglass Manifesto helped make it easier to find the needed parts. A mere 15 minutes is all it took to make this easy switch rod. I paired it with Rio Outbound Short that makes this rod super fun to mess around with.
Shakespeare- A924
Bought this rod off Ebay for a mere 20 bucks, and I was super excited when this rod showed up at the door. It is a rod that was built in 1964, and it casts really nice. With it casting like a 7 weight, I plan on using this rod to chase carp around the Denver South Platte. It should be able to help make nice presentations with the heavy flies that we use. I really like the spiral guide wraps, and the overall look of the rod. A very classic and old looking fiberglass rod.
Eagle Claw Trailmaster- TRP-600
Swiped this rod from a guy on Craigslist for 15 bucks the other weekend, mainly just to say that I own an old Eagle Claw fiberglass rod. It is one of the fly/spin convertible rods, and I don't really plan on fishing this rod much, just having it sit in the garage for one to add to my collections. I really like the gold, Eagle Claw logo emblazoned on the cork handle. When I think of old fiberglass fly rods, I think of rods that look exactly like this.
Welcome to the club Mark. When I first started fishing glass, I decided to collect the home town WM rods. I don't fish them much and have several that are mint. Now my favorite is a TL Johnson built here in Colorado. They're great rods. I have a nearly complete collection of WM catalogs from 1951 to about 1983 so if you have any questions about your collection let me know.
ReplyDeleteNothing beats the old Shakespeare glass in my book. I've got three, my fave being a delightful little 5 weight of a wand.
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