Mini Glass Cast

If you have spent any time on this blog at all, you probably know that I have a deep rooted love for fiberglass fly rods. They are slow, you can feel them load, you don't have to have expert timing to make them work correctly, and they are cool. I, personally, also have a special thing for vintage glass. It's not that I don't like modern glass. It's just that I usually can't afford modern glass, so instead I have piles and piles of vintage glass. I think it secretly makes me happy inside to know that old things can work so well. Gives me some hope for myself...

I have several friends who also love glass rods, and we have, on occasion, gotten together to cast each others' rods. But I recently found out that I have two more friends who love glass, so of course I made plans for those two to join me in a hastily planned "mini glass cast".

It was a cold, windy day on the Minnesota tundra. We had heard that it was supposed to be in 40s, which seemed doable, but I don't think it ever got above 35, and the wind gusts had to have been around 35, as well. In other words, it was almost too cold to be out casting fly rods in a yard, but that didn't stop us.

I forgot to take any pics at this mini glass cast, so this is from an earlier get-together...

My friend, Greg, was the first to arrive. He unveiled several lovely old Fenwicks, along with a newer Diamondback 7' 3wt, a really cool James Green Spring Creek 8' 4wt, and a cannon of a Seele 8'8" 6wt. I brought a couple of Scotts, a Sage, a Wonderod, a Berkley Parametric, and a couple of others. Greg cast my rods, I cast his, and then we switched up, and then we went back to what we started with, and so on and so on.

Along the way my friend Peter arrived. He did not bring the numbers of rods that the rest of us brought, but he more than made up for that with quality. The first rod he took out, if my memory is correct, was a 7'9" 4wt Lemon Drop, which boggled everyone's minds. Then he unsheathed a 7'8" 4wt Chris Barclay rod, which made our jaws drop. Then he brought out a 7'6" 4wt Orvis Superfine, which took a backseat to none of the others. Talk about nice, modern glass rods!

So the three of us spent the next couple of hours trying to ignore how cold we were as we all went back and forth from rod to rod to rod and then back again. After all of that casting, we came to one conclusion: all glass rods have their own merit and strong points, and they are all awesome in their own way. What a fun, cold day!