I consider myself a newcomer to fiberglass, having only built a few fly rods on fiberglass blanks. Five rods, three different colors. All rods were built for my own use, I don’t sell/market finished fly rods.

That said, I don’t see the consumer side of the business. So I’ve have been wondering whether there’s a blank color bias with customers seeking custom fiberglass rods. When I started purchasing blanks I wanted my finished rods to be identified as fiberglass rods. Dark brown or black blanks would have been of no interest to me.

Larger scale fiberglass blank companies offer a wide range of colors, as do some large commercial fiberglass rod companies. In the custom market, are retail builders on this site seeing any color trends from consumers?

Good question. I carry blanks ranging from bright green to dark brown and they all sell pretty consistently. I have two new blanks in the works and based on feedback I went with darker more traditional colors.

The glass rods with which I fish run the color spectrum from black, to Fisher/Winston/Claudio Brown, a lighter tobacco color, yellow, and raw white...I just ordered a rod that is a translucent brown...some sanded, some not. I don't care if other fishermen idntify my rods as glass, grass, or graphite, and I enjoy them all.

Those are the colors I identify with most vintage 'glass rods, well several shades of brown, so I don't follow your reasoning.

White and bright colors are not an option for this ol’ boy. Even back in the early 70s, I didn’t want psychedelic colors on my fly rods or lines. As for my rods, about the gaudiest it ever got was Berkley yellow.

To echo what wjude said above, if you look at many dark production rods they are also wrapped with dark color threads. Wrapping flaws aren’t as apparent when there is less contrast. Contrasting colors, especially on light colored blanks, show every little flaw.

(I only fish my rods in the dark. )

Hayden