Fly fishing in the United States has been driven by a continuous evolution of gear and tactics. In the nineteenth century, Charles F. Orvis invented (or at least popularized) the first modern fly reel, and Hiram Leonard pioneered making rods from Calcutta and then Tonkin cane that were light enough to cast with one hand. Over the last one hundred and fifty years or so, rod materials have evolved from split cane to fiberglass and finally to today’s graphite. Some fly fishers, however, have discovered that newer isn’t always better. The rediscovery of cane rods began decades ago, but over the last dozen years or so, fly fishers also have begun to rediscover the virtues of fiberglass rods.
My own fly-fishing journey started when I was a teenager in the 1970s with a hand-me-down fiberglass rod (probably from Herters) and a boat-anchor heavy South Bend reel. I went with my father on backpacking trips in the Sierra Nevada and fishing trips to Idaho and Montana. I eventually graduated to dabbling in rod building by making an inexpertly wrapped rod from a (graphite) Fenwick HMG blank. Along the way, I received a Hardy Marquis reel my father purchased at the Pall Mall Hardy shop in London and eventually a state-of-the-art Sage RPL graphite pack rod. Then, in the 1990s, I left fly fishing behind for the most part to pursue graduate school, skiing, mountain biking, marriage, family, and work.
Fast-forward to the 2010s. A chance invitation to join a multiday fishing trip kick-started me back into the sport. A few years after reequipping myself with current-technology gear, I ended up in London on business with part of a day to kill. I wandered into Farlows, a storied English retailer on Pall Mall, and a 3-weight Hardy fiberglass fly rod (“The Stream”) caught my eye. Flying home with a two-piece rod in my carry-on baggage seemed like it might be a challenge, so I didn’t pull the trigger. I didn’t forget the rod, however, and picked one up a few months later in the United States. That May, I put it to use on the McCloud River, fell in love with the action and with my fishing results, and . . . promptly fell down the internet fiberglass fly rod rabbit hole. A dozen years later, I have too many rods, almost all of them fiberglass, and glass rods are my go-to for almost all of my fishing these days.
The Evolution of Fly Rods
Fiberglass played a key role in one of the handful of shifts in technology that have characterized the evolution and popularization of fly fishing. Prior to the 1870s, most fishing rods were heavy, two-handed rigs made of woods such as hickory or greenheart and were fished with wet flies. A big step forward in the sport was driven in the mid-nineteenth century by the advent of silk fly lines, dry flies, and a new generation of single-handed rods made from split cane by makers such as Hiram Leonard and his contemporaries. These innovations in the 1800s pretty much created the sport we know today.
Another big step forward came in the mid-twentieth century with the introduction of plastic-coated braided fly lines, nylon monofilament leaders, and rods made from fiberglass tubes. The resulting gear was much cheaper and more easily maintained than the earlier silk and split-cane rigs. These innovations helped drive the widespread availability of affordable fly-fishing equipment to the newly prosperous American middle class in the 1950s and 1960s.
The most recent change was the application of carbon fiber composites (aka graphite) to fly rods. Graphite delivered a new level of material performance to rod designers, enabling them to develop rods that were much lighter and stiffer than was possible with fiberglass. While the last few decades have seen evolutionary improvements in fiber weave, epoxy matrix resins, and tapers, the last big technology step occurred more than forty years ago.
As a material, graphite has driven the evolution of increasingly diverse (and complex) ways to catch fish. One example is Czech/Euro nymphing, where the fly fisher suspends weighted nymphs directly below a short line and an extended leader. Euro nymphing rods are typically long (10-plus feet) and light (3-weight, for example) to enable the angler to feel the bottom and the sometimes subtle strikes. Another example is indicator nymphing with multiple weighted nymphs, which often requires energetic casting, active manipulation of the line on the water to achieve a drag-free drift, and decisive hook sets. Indicator nymphing rods are typically long and light and sport progressive (even stout) flex profiles.
In addition to developing specialty rods, many high-end graphite rod makers are engaged in an arms race at the limits of angling performance. Rods are often judged based on how well they support 100-foot casts, push big grasshopper imitations across wide rivers in windy conditions, or handle hook sets with heavy, multifly nymph rigs. Modern graphite rods provide highly progressive actions that yield an easy path to longer casting distance — just add power. This kind of action enables fast hook sets necessary for indicator fishing when fish show very fast grab-and-spit behaviors. But it also can deaden the feel of a rod when making short casts or when a smaller fish is on the line. When fishing with light tippets such as 6X, many graphite rods also require anglers to be careful to exert only light pressure to prevent breaking off larger fish. Modern “faster is better” fly rods have also driven line makers to create overweight lines that are necessary to make these ultrafast rods perform well. A cynic might even say that an angler using an ultrafast 5-weight rod and an overweight line really owns a mislabeled 6-weight or even 7-weight rod and line.
The Reemergence of Fiberglass
The fly-fishing industry’s focus on graphite led most fly rod makers to drop their fiberglass rod lines in the 1980s as a result of a lack of demand. Fiberglass rods started to reappear in the 1990s. Scott, for example, reintroduced glass rods with their Fibertouch series in 1995–1996 and has released multiple generations of glass rods in the years since. Hardy has released at least three generations of glass rods since the mid-1990s. From this restart, fiberglass makers proliferated in the 2000s, and their numbers increased in the 2010s as anglers (re)discovered that they liked the feel of fiberglass fly rods when casting and especially with fish on the line. Today, anglers can purchase new rods from major companies such as Echo, Epic, Orvis, Redington, and Scott and from a myriad of smaller companies and artisan makers, a few of whom roll their own blanks. Fiberglass rods available today range from entry-level rods available at low price points to high-end glass rods with fine-tuned actions and beautiful, high-quality components and finishes that are every bit as sophisticated as the latest graphite rods.
Fiberglass Properties
Pretty much all modern fly rods are made of some kind of fiber embedded in a resin matrix. In split cane (aka bamboo), the fibers and matrix are a mixture of mostly cellulose and lignin. Graphite rods use carbon fiber cloth embedded in (usually) an epoxy matrix. Fiberglass uses cloth with fibers made of a mixture of oxides of (mostly) silicon, aluminum, boron, calcium, and magnesium. Fiberglass is much less expensive to make than carbon fiber, and while glass fibers are not as stiff as carbon fibers, fiberglass composites tend to be more impact resistant and less prone to catastrophic failure than those made from graphite. The different material properties of fiberglass and graphite lead to some key differences when they are used to make rods. In general, fiberglass rod blanks are larger in diameter and heavier than graphite blanks with comparable flex profiles. This weight difference leads to a significantly different “feel” when casting. When flexed without a line (or cast with just a very short amount of line out), a heavier rod will tend to “self-load” (flex under its own weight) more than a very light rod. This self-loading can make the flex of a fiberglass rod less dependent on the length of line out than that of a comparable graphite rod. For many casters, fiberglass rods feel good with a wider range of fly line weights than graphite rods. The additional inertia of a heavier fiberglass rod, however, requires a caster to apply more oomph to accelerate the rod and line.
So…Why Fish Glass?
The properties offered by fiberglass enable designers to create rods that excel in many real-world fishing situations. Many fiberglass rods, for example, handle short-line casting well. Fiberglass rods can thus be more forgiving for newer anglers at short and medium casting distances. Glass-rod flex profiles also typically provide lots of tippet protection, enabling anglers using light tippets to put more pressure on fish and bring them to the net faster than with otherwise similar graphite rods. A fiberglass rod with a compliant nature also enables even a small fish to put a significant bend into the rod, which most anglers agree is just plain more fun. This compliance and feel does come at some cost, however. While an excellent caster can put out an entire 100-foot line with almost any rod, mere mortals and mediocre casters like me run into limits with most fiberglass rods. Getting enough line speed to support long casts can be tricky — the unrefined addition of power on the forward cast with a glass rod often leads to an excessive bend in the rod and a tailing loop. Wind and large, bushy flies compound these challenges.
Superior short-line casting and feel with smaller fish make fiberglass rods excellent for fishing the backcountry streams that are scattered across California mountain ranges such as the Sierra, the Trinity Alps, and the ranges in the northeastern corner of the state. A good fly rod that is light in the hand (say, a 7.5foot 4-weight or below) just “disappears,” and the angler can concentrate on reading the water, being stealthy, and getting a good presentation. Even light rods made of fiberglass are plenty tough enough to withstand rock hopping and drops onto granite boulders. An OK caster can make a good 40-foot cast with a 4-weight rod. These rods also make headwaters trout in the 6-to-12-inch range fun to catch.
All of these properties mean that lighter-weight fiberglass rods are perfect for going after many of the native fish represented in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Heritage Trout Challenge. A number of these fish, which include rainbow, redband, golden, and cutthroat trout subspecies, are found only in smaller headwaters creeks and can be caught with light-line and stealth techniques well suited to fiberglass rods.
Another, slightly less obvious application is prospecting for larger fish with dry-dropper rigs in energetic medium-sized freestone rivers. A longer, somewhat heavier glass rod can support the longer casts and line manipulation required to get a nymph down to a trout in a pocket in much the same way as a modern graphite rod. If a big fish grabs the fly, an angler with glass rod can apply serious pressure to direct the fight to a quick end with confidence that the rod will protect the tippet. And the same glass rod can still be a ton of fun when a feisty 10-inch rainbow puts a bend in it.
It’s a State of Mind
Many of us fly fish to challenge ourselves — we’re not about maximizing our catch, but rather about setting rules to make the fly-fishing game interesting. This motivation leads some anglers to Spey cast for steelhead, while others focus on sight fishing with dry flies and still others are hooked on classic split-cane rods. Fishing with glass is a way to escape the “newer is better” treadmill and enjoy success with technology that was state of the art more than fifty years ago.
Those interested in a historical angle can connect with the way California had a significant role in the evolution of fiberglass fly rod design and technology. The Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club in San Francisco, for example, had a profound effect on the industry in the 1970s. GGACC member Jon Tarantino designed rods for R. L. Winston, Hardy, and Scientific Anglers. Scott founder Harry Wilson, who hired Larry Kenney as his first employee, frequently used the GGACC casting pools for testing. Jim Green, of Fenwick and Sage fame, invented the tip-over-butt rod ferrule. Fenwick rods were themselves made in Westminster, California, while Scientific Anglers and Winston and early Hardy rods were made from blanks rolled by J. Kennedy Fisher, first in Southern California and later in Nevada just east of Lake Tahoe.
With a little diligence, many of these older rods can still be found for sale in good used condition at reasonable prices. The best of these rods, which may have been designed and built fifty years ago, remain excellent and enjoyable angling tools. Moreover, an angler interested in gear with a history can purchase a fiberglass Scott rod made in 2023 that draws a direct line back to rods made in San Francisco in the 1970s. And Larry Kenney is still building glass rods nearly fifty years after he started at Scott. An angler on a budget or just interested in dipping a toe in the water can pick up a fiberglass rod from Echo or Redington or L. L. Bean for not too much money and give glass a go that way.
Fiberglass fly rods offer the intangibles of a community of like-minded anglers, as well. Fly fishing is a niche sport (only something like 15 percent of recreational anglers fly fish), and fiberglass fly rod enthusiasts represent a niche community within that niche. The fiberglass fly rod community has a dynamic online presence represented by websites such as Cameron Mortenson’s Fiberglass Manifesto (see the QR code below). The hashtag #glassisnotdead, which Cameron originated on Instagram, had tagged more than eighty thousand Instagram posts as of February 2023. Some of the most creative artisan fly rod makers working today focus on fiberglass as their material of choice. Fiberglass rod enthusiasts have gathered in many locations over the years for more or less formal conclaves to go fishing, test cast rods, and compare notes. If you see an angler carrying a yellow or orange or white or translucent rod and you’re curious, don’t hesitate to strike up a conversation — it may be your first step in falling down the fiberglass fly rod rabbit hole.
