Glass

[Hewhospeaksmuchbull]

Do any manufacturers have a purely fiberglass line of rods, appropriate for all techniques?

 

I understand that glass is less sensitive and is something I'm willing to give up.

[Deleted account]

16 minutes ago, Hewhospeaksmuchbull said:

Do any manufacturers have a purely fiberglass line of rods, appropriate for all techniques?

No Marty McFly, they don't. There are a few rods being made, and there are  glass blanks available that you could build any way you want, but a graphite or composite blank is a better choice for most LMB applications. 

[JediAmoeba]

I don't see a glass rod being appropriate for all techniques anyway.  It's not just giving away sensitivity, you are giving up on a lot of control and quality hook sets.

[rangerjockey]

People seem to equate the old glass rods with today's crankbait rods.

 Those old Fenwick lunker Stiks were absolute boards if you got them in a higher power and  perfectly capable of setting the hook.

Rather than try to find something new I would look for an old Fenwick lunker Stik or the old gold colored glass blanks something around 665 or 664.

[Deleted account]

13 hours ago, JediAmoeba said:

you are giving up on a lot of control and quality hook sets.

No.

[JediAmoeba]

9 hours ago, BassWhole! said:

No.

So you can set a hook with a 5/0 wide gap texas rigged hook just as well with a glass rod as a graphite?  I don't think so.

[Yumeya]

I use glass for crankbaits, but you can use them for spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and topwater if you like...

 

I use a St-Croix Legend Tournament Glass rod and its very light and sensitive for being glass, no its not as light 

or as sensitive as graphite but its got that butter smooth bend when using cranks that I love

[Deleted account]

4 hours ago, JediAmoeba said:

So you can set a hook with a 5/0 wide gap texas rigged hook just as well with a glass rod as a graphite?  I don't think so.

Sure, if you are comparing apples to apples. a glass rod can have the same power and action as a graphite rod. The difference is going to be in the weight and the recoil (recovery) speed. We routinely set 7/0-13/0 hooks with glass rods and mono no issues.

[fvogel67]

On 8/22/2019 at 6:23 PM, BassWhole! said:

No Marty McFly, they don't. There are a few rods being made, and there are  glass blanks available that you could build any way you want, but a graphite or composite blank is a better choice for most LMB applications. 

Wow you are a big Basshole,The OP is just asking a question.

[FishTank]

IMHO, I don't think you will find a glass rod that will do everything.  I think they are, to me, more technique specific.  Like others have stated, I would use it for crank baits and topwater>  Something you want a slow hook set on.  

 

I think you might want to look for a compromise.  My suggestion is a St. Croix Avid 7' M Moderate.  The Avid series tends to be a heavier and stiffer when it comes the Fast and X-fast rods but the Moderate may be a good go between.   It will be a quality rod with a softer tip and a heavier feel at the grip.  St. Croix has this rod on sale for $157.50.  Another one to look at maybe the Shimano Zodias Glass rods.  I don't know that much about them but I always read good things about the Zodias line of rods.   

[ClackerBuzz]

I used to be a glass guy but finally switched to composite.  There are some extremely experienced guys in this forum so I respect their opinions.  Many of them have made the switch to composite so I was willing to experiment and I'm glad I did.  If I had to narrow it down to one reason:  composite rods allow you to work a crankbait through timber.  Glass isn't sensitive enough so the rod loads far more and fouls a crankbait in wood.  Composite is slightly stiffer so CB deflect over timber. You also feel the bump sooner so you can give the rod/line back allowing the CB to float up/over the timber before you continue ur retrieve.

 

Composite with fluoro is the best of all worlds.  If it's too sensitive for you just spool up some monofilament and you'll be very close to a glass setup.  I still have an old backup glass rod which I spooled braid with mono leader to overcome its lack of sensitivity.  It's reaction time is still too slow to walk CB thru timber.  It works okay for buzzbaits, chatterbaits, small swimbaits etc.