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Fiberglass Spey
Post 13 Oct 2008, 10:21 • #1 
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Joined: 08/03/06
Posts: 554
Location: US-OR
I saw a glass Hardy spey rod last week on the [e]bay. Has or does anyone else make a glass spey rod? Has anyone cast one? What are your thoughts about a fiberglass spey rod, too heavy? Are there any spey casters on this forum? Thanks.


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Fiberglass Spey
Post 13 Oct 2008, 23:38 • #2 
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Joined: 07/17/06
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Location: South Carolina
Boo ... I am interested in this too. I believe several rod makers have this idea in the works.


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Fiberglass Spey
Post 14 Oct 2008, 03:52 • #3 
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Joined: 06/11/05
Posts: 3327
Location: US-TX
I just bought a spey rod so I can learn to cast one; alas its a graphite rod, but it cost only $82 which is cheep for a spey. Its an 8/9 3 piece 13 footer from albright tackle. I was gonna build one but i can't buy a blank for that price. They sitll have some 14 footers if anyone is intereste in learning, 70% off the MSRP-p-


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Fiberglass Spey
Post 14 Oct 2008, 13:00 • #4 
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Joined: 01/11/06
Posts: 542
Location: Platte City, Missouri
Boo I don't think anyone makes glass 2-handers anymore, but right off the top of my head, you can look for some of the Bruce & Walkers, Hardy, Diawa (not too sure). Pretty much any of the older European made 2-handers were of glass.


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Fiberglass Spey
Post 18 Oct 2008, 06:41 • #5 
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Joined: 06/28/06
Posts: 746
Location: Southern New Hampshire
I picked up a Fenwick Feralite 12 ft FSH on eBay last winter. I'm told it was designed as a Steelhead blank. It looks as though it was built as a "switch rod". Because it is a 2 hand rod, it was pretty easly to handle. I have yet to get it out of the flats ... too many rods, so little time.
I did "test" it a bit - handled a 10wt as well as an 8wt (both salt water taper intermediates). Lots and lots of flex.


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Fiberglass Spey
Post 22 Oct 2008, 09:42 • #6 
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Joined: 06/08/05
Posts: 307
I looked up and couldn't find the Hardy glass spey - can you give an item #?

I think that the Fenwick 12' rod was designed as a "noodle rod" which were popular for light tackle steelheading. That's a lot different than a spey rod, but if it loads progressively as you add power, and doesn't tend to overload swinging wildly past where you stop, you might be able to find or make a spey line that would work for it.

I have been fishing spey rods about 80% of my fishing for the last three years, and 25% for ten years before that, in bamboo and graphite.

I have a 14' Hardy #9-10 glass salmon rod and a 13' #9 Bruce and Walker Cordon Bleu. They are both beasts and feel like a lot of dead weight compared to graphite or bamboo. It's not just the weight, but the swing weight, and they are so thick that wind resistance is noticeable. They don't have the responsive snap that graphite has, that you need for shooting scandi lines. I think they would work fine with big fat heavy skagit lines where their slow action is useful. And for long belly lines with a long front taper like a SA XLT, I don't think you'd be able to get far enough back into the line to make it work. For traditional Double Taper lines, they will work fine but not at the distance I get used to with graphite.

If you could find a 12' #8, it might work a little better. I think 11' in #7 could be engineered to work well in glass but I don't know of any made.

I love the bamboo Sharpe's of Aberdeen Scotties, especially the spliced ones and fish them as spey rods from 9.5' #6 through 13' #9, with the 11' #7 and 12' #8 being my favorites.
I also really enjoy a Bruce and Walker Hexagraph 12' #8-10 (Graphite in six strips assembled like bamboo).
All of these are pretty heavy, and this limits me to a traditional posture of holding the rod down at a comfortable position, chest high. With graphite you can raise your arms higher, as taught by Hugh Falkus, and in this position I can get a lot more distance, especially when wading or shooting line.

For a graphite spey rod that the fiberglass man can love, I go back to my first one, a Sage traditional 4 piece 7136 Graphite III that I made from a blank. It flexes fully with a slow and progressive action but has a lot in reserve when I get some line out. Most modern speycasters call it the "brown noodle". They come up on Ebay regularly for around $300.

You will hear a lot about needing a specialized rod, fast tip action for scandi, or heavy and powerful for skagit, but I think it's just like the fiberglass that most of us appreciate - a progressive action rod that loads evenly and more fully as you add load will be most versatile with a variety of lines and situations.

I am very lucky to have a friend who tests out prototype lines. The spey lines these days are amazing and by far the area of the most innovation going on in flyfishing. For a cast with a given rod, the line weight in grains that's outside the tip, and the length of this, and the speed and acceleration and power you put into it, the length of leader and weight of fly for your anchor, any sink tip, the depth you are wading, and the taper of the line all play significant roles. It's pretty easy to dial in a scandi or skagit head for a given rod, and you can also find a sweet spot for a long belly line with a given rod. But to be comfortable and versatile to fish in real fishing situations that vary from hole to hole, there is no substitute for a lot of regular practice and having a variety of lines to experiment with.

This is what we do all winter long. People think we're crazy, fishing where there are no fish. Last year I forgot a Hardy Bougle 4" and Gunnison G5 and some lines in a gear bag when they got burried in snow while we were practicing in a blizzard, then the tide took them out. I have to admit it must be a sickness. Sometimes when we're really fishing, I notice my buddy isn't letting his fly continue its drift, but pulling it out for another cast over and over again.

It is very easy to get hooked on spey rod fishing!
But it's one thing I cannot recommend glass for, especially for beginners.

-Vinnie in Juneau


Last edited by mvinsel on 22 Oct 2008, 09:44, edited 1 time in total.

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Fiberglass Spey
Post 23 Oct 2008, 14:40 • #7 
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Joined: 01/11/06
Posts: 542
Location: Platte City, Missouri
I tend to agree with ya Vinny. Especially since you can get into 2-handed rods nowadays for cheap.


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