New Orvis Glass

[Gila Trout]

There was a time when I mainly fished glass rods and had a pretty nice collection. I had rods by Winston, Russ Peak, SA, Fisher, Phillipson, T&T, Walton Powell, Harnell, Sila- Flex, Shakespear, Dennis Franke/ Glass Tech, Hardy, Diamondback, Orchard, Fenwick, Orvis, Lamiglas and Scott. Some of these rods were great and some were not so great. This was a time when for the most part glass rods were considered out dated, kind of heavy and a poor casting tool compared to a graphite rod. At this time one could buy really high end, nice glass rods for $50 to $100, a few of my Peak rods were probably more than a $100. When I lived in Reno I caught one of the biggest trout of my fly fishing career from the Truckee river on my Scott 8' 4 wt. brown glass rod that I bought new at the Reno Fly Shop for $75.00 back in 1982. That rod could be worth close to a $1000 today. As time went on I sold or traded most of glass rods away and went back to graphite and have not fished a glass rods in years.

Then came the second coming of glass fly rods. Those glass rods I paid little or nothing for were now selling for hundreds of dollars and small rod makers were poping up from time to time making some really nice glass rods that used the new modern E and S cloth glass along with modern resins that was much lighter and the old glass from the 50, 60s &70s. Over the past 10 or 15 years some of the bigger rod makers like Winston, Scott, T&T and Hardy have introduced different lines of glass rods for several years and then discontinued them. These rods were nice but were selling for $500 to $700. Small rod makers like Mark Steffen, Dave Redington, and Mike McFarland continued to produce really great glass at reasonable prices and still do today.

Which brings us the presant. Over the past year or so Redington, Echo and Orvis have released small lines of glass rods that are really nice and not to expensive compared to Scott and T&T and the really fine independant makers that are getting $500 and up for their rods. Last November at the Marriott's Fly Fishing Fair the Orvis rep had their new line of glass rods to cast a 7' 3 wt. 7'6" 4 wt. and an 8' 5 wt. all three rods are 3 piece. I fell in love with the 8' 5 wt. and today finally pick one up. Now I remember why I enjoyed fishing glass rods so much in those years. I went to the park down the street and to cast this rod with a Rio Gold WF 5 F. This rod and line worked really well together, it was amazing. After I got the timing down and slowed down my casting stroke I was blown away how nice it felt again to feel a rod be so light and airy and load down to the grip and still have plenty of power to shoot over 50 ft of line with a nice tight loop. This rod is so light weighing in at 2 3/4 oz. It has the nicest cork grip I have ever seen on a factory rod. The overall workmanship on the rod is great. This rod does have the sloppy, whippy action with a bouncey tip like allot of the older glass rods. I tried the Redington 8' 5 wt. which cast very well. It is slower than the Orvis as it flexes through the grip and down into the reel seat, where the Orvis flexes down to the grip. At $250.00 the Redington glass rods are a great way to get into fiberglass fly rods. The new Orvis glass rods are $395.00 and are well worth every penny.

Any way I am really glad I bought this rod. I picked up a Redington Drift 5/6 reel which has a click drag which balances wonderfully with the rod. It cast the Rio Gold line really well but I am probably going to get a Cortland Peach 444 line for it. Those lines were made for slow to moderate action rods. If you ever wondered about glass rods now it a great time to check this material out. To me this is the Golden Age of fiberglass fly rods. If you have an interest in learning more about the history and use both past a presant of glass fly rods these web sites are devoted to everything fiberglass fly rods. www. the fiberglassManifesto.com & Fiberglass Flyrodders.com. Finally, a fish caught on glass rod is so much fun. It is a really different feeling than graphite and can only be matched or topped by catching fish on a bamboo rod.

Thank you for reading this, Lanny

[fly addict]

I also enjoy fishing glass rods; my first rod was an old Philipson glass 7’ 6” 5 wt I purchased from Dale’s Hackle and Tackle. I have fished the new Lamiglas, Hardy’s, Redington’s and Orvis glass rods. They all are fun rods to fish, and are a welcome change from the ultra-fast action graphite rods that most companies build now. I have found that the Wulff Triangle Taper is also a good choice for glass rods.

Mark

[WanderingBlues]

I picked up the Echo Glass 3 wt and it's been getting a workout up here in Mammoth the last few days. Love it!

[BrownBear]

...a Rio Gold WF 5 F....

That's the telling detail for me.

I used a lot of high class glass back in the 60's and early 70's, and almost none of it was really at its best with WF. Some of Russ's rods were built for WF and did well, but they were the exception for me.

If the new Orvis tosses a WF well, I'm sold.

[Gila Trout]

BrownBear,
Hello. I was very suprised that the Orvis glass worked so well with a Rio Gold WF line. You are correct most of the vintage glass rods work much better with a DT line. The 8' 5 wt. configuration has always been my favorite in glass fly rods. I had a Dennis Franke/ Glass Tech 8' 5 wt. that worked really well with a WF line. I always regreted parting with that rod. I also had a Mark Steffen 8'6" 5 wt. glass rod that cast very well with a WF line. I can honestly say that this Orvis rod is as good as any 8' 5 wt. glass I have ever cast. I had one of the newer green glass T&T 8' 5 wts. which for me was a big disappointment. Finally, when Winston offered those reddish brown glass rods with the with the white ferrules about 10 years ago or more years ago agin I bought the 8' 5 wt. It was pretty good but not as good as this new Orvis rod.

Lanny

[BrownBear]

I'm thinking when I get my hands on one, Vision's Vibe 85 or perhaps even their Vibe 65 will be the first lines I'll try. Incredible "weight forward" lines once the head is out, but the smoothest "double taper" lines I've ever used for closer work. Vision lines aren't well known here in the US, but they're actually a bigger company than Rio and the leader by miles in the rest of the world.