Son of Rod Love: Steffen 7'6" 3-Weight

Have you heard of Steffen Fly Rods? No? I hadn't either, until I got deeper and deeper into the world of fiberglass rods. Steffen is a small company in Arizona that rolls their own glass blanks. They have the reputation of making some of the best casting rods in the business, so of course I made it a goal to try out some. The first Steffen rod I was lucky enough to acquire was this sweet 7'6" 2/3weight beauty.

It's listed as a 2 or a 3 weight, and I love it with a 3-weight Weight Forward line. In my opinion it is just about a perfect bluegill and brook trout rod. It can handle nymphs and small buggers easily, and it loves dry flies, poppers and foam bodied spiders. The rod loads terrifically in close, yet I can easily cast up to 50 feet with very good accuracy. As I say about most of the fly rods I own, this is one sweet rod!

 

Make sure you check out Steffen Fly Rods!

Rod Love: Baby Poop Edition

I really am not trying to brag when I say that a quick estimation of the past 10 years of my life shows that I have changed approximately 4 billion dirty diapers in that time span. Again, I am not trying to brag, I just want you to know that I am well qualified to know the color of baby poop, which is the exact color of this next rod in my Rod Love series, the Cortland Pro-Crest.

Vintage Cortland fiberglass rods are not what you would call high-end rods. But they do have a following in the fiberglass fly rod world. It seems as though the Cortland FR-2000 rods are most peoples' pick of the litter, but I prefer my Pro-Crest 7'6" 5/6wt rod. As soon as I made one cast with it in my yard I knew it was one of the smoothest rods I had ever held. And I don't care if it is the color of baby poop, it's beautiful in my eyes...

Early Pro-Crests came with a metal ferrule. Later on they came with a tip-over-butt fiberglass ferrule, which is what my rod has. Both versions came in the same color scheme, which some people find off-putting. I say who cares what a rod looks like, as long as it can cast!

Rod Love #4: Diamondglass

I don't know if I have adequately written this in my past blog posts: I love fiberglass fly rods. I love the way they flex. I love the way they cast. I love their inherent understudy lot in life: not as high-brow as bamboo and not as tech-savvy as graphite. I love the way they load a line. I love the disparaging looks I get from other fly fishers when I talk openly about my love for fiberglass. And I love the fact that my casting stroke doesn't have to have pinpoint accuracy to get them to cast well, even though it does have pinpoint accuracy...

That brings me to yet another post in my Rod Love series. In this one I will rave about my Diamondback Diamondglass 805/3, which holds all of the attributes that I discussed above.

Diamondglass rods, especially the older black rods, have picked up a sort of cult following within the already cult-like world of fiberglass rod aficionados. Made for a few years in the early 2000s, it can be extremely difficult to find somebody who is willing to part with one. And for good reason. They are wonderful casting tools that are smooth yet surprisingly powerful. They don't feel soft and whippy like some glass rods, but they also aren't extra stiff like most graphites. They are some of the best glass rods ever built.

A lot of people believe that the best rod in the Diamondglass lineup was an 8' 4wt. I hope to cast one of those some day, but for now my only Diamondglass is the 8' 5wt. I wanted a high-quality 5wt rod that was packable, and boy did I get one. This thing is so smooth I can't even describe it. Usually I would say it is buttery smooth, but butter doesn't do this Diamondglass justice. Maybe super-pureed liquid butter... However you want to describe it, it's one of the nicest casting rods I have ever owned. And its looks exude class. Kind of like it's wearing the fly rod equivalent of a tuxedo. And the thread wraps are its dark red cumberbund...

Since it's such an attractive fly rod, let's look at some pics, shall we?

Rod Love the Third: Old School Sage Glass

A couple of days ago I read through a thread on one of my favorite fiberglass fly rod forums, in which people were answering the question "What one rod would you choose if you could only have one rod?" That question got me to thinking about fly rods, specifically my fly rods, and I quickly came up with an answer. It was good that my answer came quickly, because if I had thought about it for much longer I might have changed my mind about 5 or 20 times... The one rod that I own that can handle pretty much any situation I put it in is my beloved Sage 476SFL, a beautiful old school glass rod that is as sweet as can be!

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 40 years, you should know that Sage is probably the leader in technologically advanced graphite fly rods. Their current rods probably are more technologically sound than my smartphone, and anglers across the globe love them. That's all good and fine, but I prefer their older rods, especially their LL series of graphite rods from the early 90s, and their SFL series of fiberglass rods from the 1980s.

That brings me to this edition of Rod Love. My Sage 476SFL is an awesome casting tool. 4-weight rods are probably the perfect trout fishing rod, and my 7'6" Sage glass rod is no exception. It has the finesse to cast a small fly at short distances, yet it has the power to launch streamers and big nymphs on large water. It loads and unloads smoothly, and somehow my fly always ends up right where I want it. Or at least as close as someone with my casting skill can get it... It's not noodly like some other glass rods, and not too stiff like most of the newer graphite stuff. It's pretty much perfect!

It can be hard to find old school Sage glass rods, but I would suggest you keep on the lookout. If you can find one I am sure you will love it. I also have heard rumors that Sage may be coming out with a new line of glass rods...That should be interesting, if it actually happens... As I mentioned earlier, Sage is at the forefront of graphite rod technology. It will be fun to see how they use that technology with fiberglass.

Rod Love Jr.: Scott F803/3

This is the second in my Rod Love series of blog posts. Again, just like on the first post, don't let the name Rod Love turn you into a dirty bird. This is about one of my awesome fly rods, not some sicko perv story, okay? Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about fly rods!

Actually, just one fly rod, my Scott F803/3. This beautiful rod was built for the Sansui Company's 100th anniversary. I know that because it says so right on the rod. Sansui is a Japanese company that used to make audio components and now sells televisions. I am not sure why Scott made a rod to celebrate the Sansui Company, but in the long run, who really cares?

This rod is sweet! I wanted a longer 3-weight than I had, in order to help keep my backcasts out of the weeds when I fish in small, overgrown brook trout streams late in the season. And so I can make some longer casts while fishing for panfish in any of the thousands of lakes around here. It does both of those things perfectly, and it also throws a beautiful tight loop, just like all my other Scott rods. If you have never had the chance to cast a Scott glass rod, get up off of your davenport right now and go find one! They are some of the sweetest casting tools you will ever lay your hands on.

It's also good looking! Scott has made glass rods in several colors over the years, including yellow, brown, and black, but this is the only model I have ever seen in this deep burgundy color. Maybe they only made these for the Japanese market? I don't know...

Scotts are some of my favorite glass rods, and this F803/3 is a wonderful addition to my arsenal. I Love this Rod!

Rod Love, Part 1: Unstructured Glass

I guess, if you think about it, Rod Love could be a good name for a porn star, but I am not a dirty bird like you, so that never crossed my mind... Instead, I think it's a good name for a blog post about an awesome fly rod. As I have often said and written, fly rods are the coolest tools ever invented by man, so I might as well write about them, huh? The first rod in this series is an awesome 8' 4-weight Unstructured Glass beauty.

You may not have heard of Unstructured Glass rods. They are built by a terrific rod builder/educator/music composer/blogger in Boston named Vladan Milenkovic. Vlad builds rods made out of fiberglass, graphite, and even a fiberglass/bamboo combination. His rods are innovative, to say the least. My 8' 4-weight rod is unlike any other glass rod I own. It is more powerful than any other 4-weight rod I know of, yet the tip is surprisingly supple, so short casts can be made with a deft touch. When I recently took it to a glass rod casting session that was put on by my local Trout Unlimited chapter, it got more raves than any other rod I brought. Several people could not believe it was glass, and others could not believe it was a 4-weight. It is truly unique, and awesome.

Beautiful thread wraps.

Here is what Vlad wrote about this exact rod on his blog: "This was a demo rod for The Fiberglass Manifesto loan program. It is in remarkable shape. While the rod cloth has few small stains, the rod almost looks unfished. This series of rods really went "under the radar." A true 4wt medium fast taper, blonde glass. Exceptionally nice quality flor cork handle, burgundy micarta seat w/bright hardware (tapered ring), and hand-painted "brookie spots" artwork by my signature wraps. Matching color guide wraps with red single turn thread inlays. Guides are original Belmar-style Mildrum stripper and Snake Brand snakes and tip top."

The awesome Brookie Spots above the cork, and Vlad's signature wraps.

The super cool linen micarta reel seat insert. Don't feel bad, I had to look up what micarta is too...

If you would like to check out some of Vlad's other work, head over to his blog at https://rodcatalog.blogspot.com/. It sounds like he won't be selling his Unstructured line of glass rods any more, but he has tons of other cool stuff to read about.