Any of you here still like to play with some of the old classic fiberglass rods from the past?

I have 3.
Berkley Curt Gowdy Parametric 7 wt
Fenwick FF75 6 wt and a
Shakespeare Wonderod 7' 5 wt.

I've caught several steelhead on the Berkley. My biggest was a #17 on the Rogue near Agness.

The other two are new to me and will see a lot of trout time - maybe some summer steelies for the 6 wt.

They'll teach you to slow down right away, but are a blast to fish.

Anyone?

I fished cheap fiberglass through the college years backpacking into great country and then went to the hot set up in graphite/etc for years afterward. Then 40 years later because I fish a lot of tiny streams in the Bighorns I got a Scott fiberglass and I have never been more pleased with a rod out on the streams.

Sorry my early experience is not fiber glass at it's best but I guess all of my early rods were broomsticks and I would not recommend them to anyone other than subsurface fishing in big water and still it would be hard to to feel a hit. May be a result of my starving college student situation. But today's rods are sweet and so I expect some were as well in the past, especially in the lighter weights.

Still have some 5, 6, 7, and a 9-wt Fenwicks, and they get a little exercise each year. Not quite as snappy as the modern stuff, but if I'm out fishing I'd be happy with a stick, kite string, and bent straight pin (is that possible?). Being out there is what's important.

The tools though are still old friends and treasures to me, and will likely be landfill material when someone cleans out the estate.

Have a good one,

53, I love my old Fenwick Fenglass rods.. I have 7.5', two 8' and an 8.5' for number 6 line.. Also a 9' 8 and 10..
Have a bunch of new rods, but compared to the soft old Fenwicks I fine the new stuff as hundsup said like handling a broom.. Can't wait to get started.. The river here is opening, and tried the Bighorn yesterday.. No luck, but I did n't fish very long..

I really do enjoy the lighter wt rods on small water.

Trout on any small stream running nymphs or drys. Small mouth bass on the Umpqua or John Day is a blast!

On the Rogue, during the salmon fly hatch, I reach for the graphite for it's better backbone and quicker response.

I do use the heavier glass rods for other things, like running plugs for steelhead or twitching traditional flies for summer steelhead.

It's kind of like stepping into the woods with an iron sighted 30-30.... not always the best tool for the job, but sometimes it's perfect

I still have the two fenwicks I bought in the 1960's one is a 6'for a 6 wt line and the other an 8' for a 5 wt line and the pflugger 1492 reels that I put on them! Yea I have a lot of rods, but I do fish the 5 wt a lot more in recent years than I have in the past! A friend of mine still talks about that brown trout I caught with the 6' fenwick on a Grey Wulf # 10 to this very day and that was 48 years ago!

I bought my 7.5' first in about 1973 and the 8' about a year later.. Bought the 9' 10wt last summer..

I still use my system 6 scientific angler,started out with a Berkley in 1970.

The Epic rods from New Zealand are mighty interesting... lots of power when you finally get there, but really slow with the flex running right down into the cork.

The only fiberglass rod I have is an old Wright-McGill 8½' for 7 weight, #8A. It wears a, gulp, automatic reel of the same vintage. I got it for $5 at my late uncle's estate sale, simply because it was the rod that my cousin and I used as little kids fishing for goggle-eyes (crappies)- my first exposure to beating water to a froth with a fly line. Inspired by this discussion I went and dug it out, and you know what, it doesn't have a bad action (but the automatic reel will get left behind if I ever actually fish it).

gnoahhh,

Actually, panfish, crappie and bass are some of the funnest fly rod fishing out there.

We have a lake nearby that has a good supply of all and it's a ton of fun to toss micro jigs or beadhead flies after them.

You can sight fish for the spawning gills and pretty much catch everyone of them - then turn them loose and see them on the beds again just minutes later.

Smallmouth bass are a great target too.

A pal of mine just bought his first fly gear this winter and I'll have him on the lake practicing his cast, while being successful on all the slabsides

Still have one Wonderrod and even several Steel rods!! Don't fish the Wonderrod very often as I use my fathers older Heddon Bamboo when I feel the need to slow down. Older IM6 rods are also very nice to cast.

I like some Fenwick FF rods, others I'm going to sell off. Probably won't sell the two System 6 rods, and am always looking for a deal on a System 5.

But one of my favorite glass rods is "classic" in name only. A Cabelas CGR purchased when they were closing them out for only $59.95. Not pretty, but that 6'6" 4wt is the cat's meow for some of the brushy streams back home. And isn't bad at all at the panfish pond either.

Ah, the old 8'6" Shakespeare Wonderod. Quite the stick in its day.

Opening day of trout on our river will be spent teaching a friend that's just getting into fly fishing.
He bought a package deal 6wt.

I'll take that opportunity to play with the FF75 and the Wonderod.

I've been fishing hard for winter steelhead and it's been slim pickings. Slowing down and just floating and nymphing, catch and release will be a fun break for me.

We get to mich. in time, plan to try my. 9' 8 wt for steelhead!!

That will be an awesome set up.

I caught a nice 6# steelie on the S. Umpqua just yesterday.
Half the city had side drifted the hole so we changed it up and ran some 3.0 mag lips - went 1 for 2.

ALL our coastal and west side river are blown out now and probably will be for better than a week....disgusting !