Most of the points made in the above post are correct, and were very well stated When I started fishing (pre WW2) it was bamboo or nothing. Then in the mid 40's fiberglass came to the market, and in about 1948 I was given a Heddon fiberglass as a gift while I was in high school. That was my "go to" rod for years. In fact I still have it, although its been fished to death and retired. As I recall, the fiberglass rods were touted as being maintenance free and the newest thing. But rods like the "wonder" rod weren't cheap, and in some cases cost more than a lot of bamboo of the time. By about 1955 or so, fiberglass had replaced much of the bamboo market, and it stayed that way until the early 1970's when graphite came to market. I was slow to except graphite, but after a year or so I got my first graphite and thought it was the "first coming", and never looked back. Is there one rod material, or length that works in all fishing conditions,NO. Is one better than another, perhaps, depends on what your doing at the time. Should you have rods of bamboo,fiberglass, and graphite-- sure. Now we get to today, with graphite rods that cost over $500.00, thats just nuts. To my mind, the early graphite rods are great, but that changed somewhere in the late 80's or so. Much of my trout fishing is done with bamboo, in a 5 wt. but I also stii fish my other rods. However, when fishing for atlantic salmon or in salt I only use graphite, thats because I'm now an old fart and a 9wt. bamboo rod is a bit much, day in and day out. Do I have some 9wt. bamboo, yes, why, I have no idea, but I do fish them for short periods just to keep my hand in. All of the above post were, I thought, well expressed and it was nice to see that it didn't start a war. Bruce
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