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Jerry,

Welcome to the Fiberglass Flyrodders! Your pictures did justice to Don's rebuild!


Don, I like your choices for the rewrap. Did you give the grip a quick touch up in the rod lathe? If not, how did you get the cork to look so pretty? More importantly, did you like the way it casts?


Tom

Rob, Welcome to the Fiberglass Flyrodders! It is great to see more people from the UltralightFlyFishing forum. Of course some of the best, ultralight fly rods are glass (yes, I have a rather biased opinion, but it's true).

Jerry, Careful, glass can be very addictive. Rod building can be very addictive. Building glass rods is downright hazardous!

Don, I've run into tip bounce with glass rods before - especially long, softer rods. I think it comes from our modern casting style matched with a soft tip. We all have the "speed up and stop" drilled into our casting technique. With most rods, especially graphite, this adds distance to the cast and forms a tight loop. But with some softer glass, anything more than the barest stop causes a nasty case of the wiggles. Double hauling makes it worse. I cast these rods at a slower speed with almost a roll motion instead of a typical stop. When I finally get it right, the rod stops vibrating and the cast unrolls in a nice, but larger, loop. I guess the slower cast trades distance for comfort and accuracy.

Toothbrush, of course. But toothpaste? I wouldn't have thought to use that.


Tom

Don, The only problem with that "rolling cast" is when a big fish shows up. I revert right back to the "speed up and stop" cast in my haste to get the fly out there. Of course the cast falls apart and I have to pick it all up and start again. I'm not the epitome of a calm and collected fly fisherman.

No snobbery implied - I'm just glad to see new visitors. There are a lot of familiar names on Clark's, Fiberglass, and UltralightFlyfishing. We've got a lot in common, including quite a few members. Of the three forums, UltralightFlyfishing probably has the broadest appeal to the angling public. I expect it will grow quicker and larger than the Glass forum, and probably larger than Clark's in the long run. Jeremy and Les have a great forum going and it's only going to get better.

I agree that a slightly heavier tip helps the cast. As a result, glass and cane are particularly nice for short casts with a light line. Keep an eye peeled for some of the Japanese light line, glass rods. I have a Quiet Loop VF 663, a 6'6", 3 weight that is the nicest 3 weight I've handled so far. Although that might change as I have a couple of 3 weight blanks on "the plan" to build over the next few months.


Tom