The Undergrounders know of my love for low modulus fly rods - namely bamboo and fiberglass.
Of the two, fiberglass is far more accessible; it's light, affordable, tough, and requires about as much maintenance as your average doorstop.
That's why news in the fiberglass fly rod industry piques our interest (nay it excites us).
First, the Juicy RumorAn Alert Anonymous Undergrounder tells us Cortland *will* return selected Diamondglass rods to production, courtesy not their overseas plants, but a USA-based builder.
Regulars will know of my love for the 8.5' Diamondglass 4wt - a rod I told everyone to buy when they could, because - like many discontinued-but-classic fly rods - they'd miss it when it was gone.
Today, I see used Diamondglass 8.5' rods selling for full retail, and should they once again become available, I predict solid sales of both rods and blanks (you can never have too much fly rod goodness).
More as this glass news happens.
Glass Goodness From the Left CoastLarry Kenney - longtime industry stalwart and former Scott rod biggie - announced he'd completed development of his own fiberglass fly rods, and was commencing production.
The
Fiberglass Manifesto site ran Kenney's announcement - including a list of rods (the 8'3" 4/5 sounds tasty, as does the 7'9" 3wt) and prices ($580-$595).
Unfortunately, he's (so far) limiting himself to 25 rods per year, but hey - they're still hundreds less than high-end graphite.
And because your fly rod happiness is all that really matters to me, I'll speak freely of things heard on the downlow.
One extremely well-versed fly rod tester test-cast Kenney's prototypes some time ago, and was impressed. And when
he's impressed, I'm impressed.
See you at the fly rod rack, Tom Chandler