Trev, I disagree that 50s & 60s glass was only blue collar. The
original marketing pitch was about light weight and the indestructible nature of glass. The earliest Wonderods sold for $60 -
in 1947! As mentioned above, Silaflex rods commanded premium prices well into the 70s. Many companies took the Sears Catalog tiered approach of
Good, Better, Best. While our blue collar ancestors bought the
Good rods, the
Best rods were marked with gaudy prices. In the late 50s/60s glass prices came down sharply as competition increased. Soon there were so many companies that fly rods below $10 were common.
I'm seeing many of my secret favorites outed in this thread.
The all purpose glass rod is 8 to 9' for a 6/7 weight line (or old school HDH/HCH if marked at all). These rods can do it all - present a dry fly, swing a cast of wets, throw a small lure, drift a worm through a run, and toss bass bugs/streamers. The best of these are referenced all the time, such as the big Fenwicks, Phillipsons, and Garcia Conolons. Every glass fanatic should own a couple or a few.
To me those fun
other rods were marketed in the 50s/60s despite not being all purpose. Typically these were 6' to 7'6" for an HEH/HDH line (or later inevitably marked as 6 weights). For instance, while not exactly blue collar, the Garcia Wulff 6', 7', and 7'6" models may have been the best rods ever from the very prolific Conolon operation. I think the shorter rods were designed for light fly fishing rather than all purpose angling (and maybe some company pride too). Rods like the 7' Heddons, 7'3" Garcia 2636, or 7'6" Browning 022975 were originally bargain priced, but are still fun to cast and fish. The big operations like Garcia Conolon, US Fiberglass (South Bend, Gladding, HI, Actionrod), Montague/True Temper (many, many private label rods), and Shakespeare all made nice, short,
other rods worth trying if the price is right. This was particularly true after the Fenwick patent expired and they all went to tip-over-butt ferrules seemingly overnight.
Tom
Posted: 28 Nov 2020, 19:32 • 