Glass Rods

[Branuss04]

I was looking at rods and was wondering what the pro's and con's are to Glass Rods.  Thanks.  

P.S. I was looking at Powell Rods

[roadwarrior]

Part of it is old vs. new technology. The old glass rods were thick and heavy or thin and VERY limp. Treaditionally, for bass fishing these were used for deep crankbaits or in some cases, because a lot of rods were cheap and almost indestructable. "Old glass" is still around.

New glass and glass hybrids are another story: Basically the same size as a graphite rod and comparable weight. I fish a Lamiglas SR705R designed by Skeet Reese. Although specifically developed as a crankin' stick, I use it for all big treble hook lures (LC Pointer 128, full size Spooks, Sammy and DD22). I consider this rod and other glass rods technique specific, but if these are the type of lures you throw a lot, it's great to have the perfect equipment for them.

[cart7t]

The basic line of thought the pro's always use is fiberglass giving more on the hookset and that, coupled with a stretchier monofilament line, meant for better hookups because you weren't ripping the crankbait out of the fishes mouth.  Most pro's agree that bass often don't have the bait positioned ideally in their mouth when they strike a crankbait and a snappier hookset will pull the lure right out of their mouth.

Of course, with all that rod giving and line stretching going on you'd better have premo hooks on those crankbaits or you'll never get any sort of penetration.  

[Branuss04]

Thanks for the the info you guys!!

[jwo1124]

Your best bet is to read a few rod articles from the bass resource archives.

In a nutshell, you want to use a fiberglass rod when fishing with treble hook lures, and a fast action graphite when fishing single hook lures like spinnerbaits and jigs.

I like the cabela's whuppin stick for my glass rod right now. Its suprisingly light and sensitive for a glass rod, plus since its not a big name rod its cheaper since cabela's doesn;t spend multi millions in advertising and sponsering pro anglers. You'd be suprised how many Bass Pro and Cabela's rods that are 20-60 bucks are just as goos as 70-100 rods by other companies. I would say no comparison to higher end rods though, just an opinion as I never fished with a Kistler or G Loomis or a like rod.

[Bankbeater]

You can't beat them for spinner baits or crankbaits. I wouldn't use one for a jig or plastics though. IMO I don't think they are sensitive enough.