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Fly fishing is a holistically experience that puts you in the environment.  It’s mountains in the background and the smell of an afternoon thunderstorm.  It’s shooting stars overhanging a clear stream, and brook trout rising to mayflies.  It’s seeing,  once in a lifetime, an osprey take a cutthroat from the surface of an alpine lake.  It’s experiencing a life cycle, and you are a predator.  You hunt the fish.  You pick the spot and place your fly with delicate grace causing it to drift like an insect.  Occasionally the fish takes, you hook it, and you land it.  In all this, it is easy to say thanks and watch the fish swim from your hand — a satisfying experience.

Our 54 Chevy was first purchased in Sidney Nebraska. It’s second and third owners lived in Brush Colorado, 80 miles. Loveland CO is 82 miles from Brush. The truck hasn’t gotten far in its life. We know it to have been in barns for the last thirty years. It is original except for the 1957 238 V8 installed early in its life and the paint job. We will maintain its originality, while upgrading it into a reliable driver that can tow our smaller Airstream.

Many years ago Wright-McGill stopped building fiberglass fly rods and sold their remaining inventory of rod blanks. I acquired several of the full-length blanks and built my first glass rod (9 weight) last year. Now I’m building a second and lighter weight (hoping for a # 5) and using tip over butt spigot ferrules. This blog is about building the second rod.

Fiberglass fly rods result from the technology developed during WWII and took over the market because of their economics compared to bamboo. All of the manufacturing technology used to build today’s carbon fiber rods was developed in the era of fiberglass. Still today some of the most pleasant casting rods are fiberglass, and their popularity is growing.