Over the last couple of years here we have often expressed our opinions on the relative worth and problems using either hollow glass or solid glass male
spigot ferrules. Personally Ive always liked solid glass spigots. My normal sourse are brand new solid glass fishing rod blanks from a varity of vendors. I
usually try and pick a rod around 6 or 7ft and 20# class, one piece and usually found in white. I also buy some of the 48 inch solid glass ice rod blanks too.
I like the tapers available on both and like the longer thicker tapered areas on the long blanks for the large diameter spigots needed on multi piece glass
rods. By buying half a dozen or more rod blanks at a time the shipping costs for the over length blanks is spread out over the group. Usually including the per
item cost of shipping the long blanks run around $15 each, way cheaper than a good set of NS ferrules and not only can you get quite a few spigots out of one
blank, but the left overs are megga handy. One use is a sub size insert into the butt of a blank to fit a small diameter wood reel seat. You can fit the taper
into the primary blank, then mark it and what length you need for your seat insert, cuck it up in a lath or even a simple drill motor and turn down the area
behind your mark to fit your ID of your wood seat snugly. I can absolutely say this piece of solid glass is gonna be much stronger than any piece of wood dowl
used to serve the same purpose. Same holds true for a set of step down hollow glass rod stubs to get you down to your ID simply the solid glass is stronger and
its a faster to make and more cost effective in the long run. Makes a great stub for a removable fighting butt too. For exactly the same reasons I like this
solid rod material for spigots, often the taper is so close that minimul sanding is necessary a really good fit into the female, and factually the solid spigot
is stronger than the hollow rod blank itself at the ferruling point.
Ive heard it said that the solid spigot creates to a lessor degree a flat spot at the spigot joint. Id like to hopefully clear a little of that conception with
some deflection photos here. Next that it doesnt transmit the felt vibration from the tip as well. Again, I think it does just as well as the hollow spigot,
and that proper guide placement and number of guides has just as much to do with sensititivity as the spigot.
Ive been working over the last few years on quite a few different Lee Wulff Conolon Clones, both trying to duplicate and to hopefully produce and improved rod
in some mannor. Having the originals and quite a few of the prototypes Im interested in sure helps alot for comparison and developing ideas. Along these lines
the little one piece 2070 7wt is one of my favorites. While it weighs only 1.7 ounces and is full flexing and a relatively fast taper its as originally
produced able to work well with lighter lines all the way down to a 5wt DT. However with a 7wt it can become a potent Salmon and Steelhead rod in expert hands.
The rod itself is capable of handling the 7wt lines and heavy gauge leaders and tippets needed for a big salmon or steelhead.
Some of the things I dont like about the 2070. First its one piece and hard to transport carfully, also the long tube in a car or SUV turns on the visit me
lights to sticky fingered folks. Next I dont like the cork grip or cork reel seat with UL style rings on a 7wt rod made to bring in Salmon or Steelhead. My
big ham hands just cant fit that little piece of cork with a big fish on. The thin and soft cork of the seat cuts easily with a reel foot and if you put alot
of pressure on the rings to keep your reel on that just makes matters worse over the years. Don't get me wrong, that or a similar grip and ring set is on
both my Orvis superfine UL 1 & 2wts and they fit perfectly my favorite little reels for them, the Martin 61s however I am not fishing Salmon or Steelhead
with either rig.
So over the last couple of years Ive been playing with a few of the obsolete blanks to come up with something I like better in a short light rod for big fish.
On the table is a two piece three tip staggered ferrule Wulff that Im in the guide tape up stage of testing best guide placement and size for each of the three
different tips, should be finished by winter this year.
However this one a two piece 6ft Wulff is the one thats getting some fishing testing now. And the one today sense it was 98 degrees today that I did a little
static deflection testing today in the shade.
I think you will find some of the pictures and some of my observations interesting. Spigot material is the solid glass rod type. guides are all oversized at
least one size, the tip is an extra large, stripper is oversized from the factory one, its a chrome plated SS Mildrum 12MM. The guide placment is different and
to my tastes from the factory production 2070 and one additional snake is used.
For me on this prototype rod I wanted a good old solid no problems aluminum reel seat. I choose a vintage late 60s early 70s Allen with two locking rings, same
ones Conolon used on their better rods. For the cork its an aftermarket Fenwick pattern modified half wells its hand filling and then some. For my Prototype Im
using a Ryobi Magnesium 355 UL for line size 6/7, it balances perfectly on both this prototype rod (finished weight with aluminum seat and Fenwick cork, etc
2.1 oz, just .4 more than the factory rod).
First the prototype rod itself
By the way the tape on the butt ring is to keep the seat scratch free while I work on the rod
Now the deflection tests, this is what I do to all the rods I make, both to test the product to be free of reasonable
defects as well as to prove the lack of dead spots and proper guide spacing. In the case of a 7wt rod, I am using
a 10 pound lead deadweight. The line is attached to the hook keeper, a pretty good test of the keepers stength,
then run through the guides finally onto a spring hook and to the suspended weight. The rod butt and seat is wrapped
in rags to fit snuggly in a pvc pipe to the point my hand would cover the grip, then placed on wood blocks at that point
and 50 pounds of granite gravel and sand placed on the PVC to anchor the rod at about 2 Oclock over the weight. I then adjust the 100 plus pound commerical
salt water trout line I have for testing all my rods until the 10 pound weight is just clearing the ground. At this point its producing the maximum deflection
it can with the rod at 2 Oclock. When fishing I would rather this deflection would be to the side to produce leverage against a fish but for testing purposes
and to take
pictures I am doing it in the virtical. I figure not many of use are going to lift a fish weighing 10 pound or more out of the water fully to put it unde a net
or hoist it into a boat, so its a pretty good test of the entire rod.
Now the pictures
Note the smooth arce and progressive parabolic taper under load all the way into the grip
even stress at the stripping guide
even stress at the first snake on the tip side of the solid glass spigot ferrule
Stress between the two and across the ferrule note the smoothly increasing curve of the parabolic taper from
behind the stripper through the spigot and beyond the first tip snake
As the taper narrows the curve deepens and you can see the distribution evenly though each guide
while the rod butt and grip are at 2 Oclock the tip is nearly Virtical now
from behind
Again note the smooth curve of the rod, and lack of flat spots
Finally the test equipment
For me that pretty well says there is no loss of sensitivity with a solid glass spigot, especially on a 7wt rod,
and that its a pretty strong connection that can do everything the basic blank is able to do.
Richard
