I was one of the folks that cast Mike's Hybrids on Saturday. I am going to preface this by saying I don't know Jack about rod technology or any of that jazz. But I know what I like and I just so happened to like these rods. They were light in hand and deadly accurate. Overall just nice smooth rods that weren't on either end of the too fast/too slow spectrum. I am a pretty awful caster, but I had no problems hitting targets from 10-50 feet out and could air out some line at the same time. I could see a rod like this really shining on a place like the Delaware River. All of the rods that Mike and Bob brought were super nice and I really enjoyed casting each one of them.

The glass / graphite composites are still going strong. TFO has a few rods that incorporate glass in the butt for extra strength. WMG does this as well. The SCurve rods are good rods that do not cost much. The examples I have owned, save for the 8 weight Bass rod, were a medium action. Lovely small stream or panfish rods. I used the 2 weight to good effect on a favorite mountain stream throwing micro streamers (upto a size 10, IIRC, bugger) and dry flies.

In a way, I wish rod makers would stop touting high tech resins and materisls and just make fishing rods. But the gear geeks may not buy the newest rod every year if they did...

Resin schmesin, who cares? I don't spend time thinking about it either, but it DOES MATTER. It's what's allowing Mike to create his multi-material hybrid rods. It's also what allowed the cane rod builders of the 1800s to get away from having to place a wrap at every inch of the rod to help hold the blank together. Resins, materials and tapers all go together to create a rod. It ALL counts. Maybe I'll run into Mike this season and I'll get a chance to cast one of his new rods. Sounds like he's still raising the bar when it comes to rod design. People will be on some site in the future talking about Mike McFarland one day the same as we talk about Bill Phillipson, Dr. Howald, Jon E. Tarantino, Harry Winston, Tom Morgan, etc.
BTW, it's not healthy to talk about this too much. I worked with a guy who would come out of left field and start talking about Castro, Kennedy, Nixon and Dan Marino when we would go out for lunch (my favorite rant was about Joe Namath vs Joe Montana). Sadly, he couldn't understand why he couldn't get a second date with a woman. I'm sure his chances sank the moment he would say "Fidel Castro". Yes, resin matters but don't raise the topic when you're on a date.