As mentioned they were popular in the 60's and 70's with the bass and bream guys. Besides fly fishing becoming somewhat of a boutique sport with some where brand names took on too much significance the reason I think they fell out of favor is they tend to be heavy and with the rise in popularity of the lighter weight graphite rods they made for a unbalanced rig. Back in my youth when most everyone tended to buy fiberglass true temper or heddon rods you saw a lot of them.
