Slowing Down With Glass

There for a while I was getting pretty fast and furious with buying and selling fiberglass fly rods. If I saw one that I wanted to try, I would sell off a couple of the ones I already owned, and snap up the new one. If it turned out I wasn't a fan of the new one, I would sell it off and find something else to try. Seemed like I was receiving 2-3 rods in the mail every week, and mailing off just as many.

That frenzy of activity has slowed down in the past couple of months, almost to a complete stop. It got to a point where I really liked all the rods I own, so I didn't want to sell any of them off. And spending time online looking for rods isn't the healthiest thing I could be doing, so I thought I better curtail those activities.

There was one niche that I wanted to fill, though, and I got a rod that filled it last week. I wanted a fairly inexpensive pack rod that I could just throw in the trunk of my car to have in case of any fishing emergencies that might arise. You never know when you might need to fish, so you better have a rod available, I think. And I think I got an almost perfect rod for that niche.

It's a 4-piece 7' 5/6weight vintage glass rod made by the Timberline Rod Company. Timberline was owned by Bill Franke, a custom rod builder based in New Hampshire. He used Lamiglas blanks for his rods, as well as for the L.L. Bean labeled pack rods that he made for that company. As you probably know, Lamiglas makes some awesome fiberglass fly rod blanks, and my new Timberline rod is no exception.

To be totally cliche, it's buttery smooth yet packs some power. It casts very accurately in close, yet I have had no trouble getting it out to 50'. It seems like it will be a great all-around rod that should work in most situations that I might come across around here.

I also got a new, cheap reel to pair with it and keep in the car. It's a Marado Revolution, which was super cheap, but should be OK for what I will be using it for. And hey, if it breaks, it's not a big deal, I'll just find another reel.