Voyageur Pursuits On Fishing Glass

One of the neatest things for me in writing T.F.M. is to come across anglers who may or may not have had any experience fishing fiberglass fly rods and then hear how the experience has made fly fishing that much more enjoyable.

Tom Hazelton of Voyageur Pursuits has one of those stories and I asked if he'd mind sharing a few of his thoughts along with a couple images that he uploaded into Instagram which really captured what it's all about.

Tom wrote...  "I've kind of made it a personal tradition to fish a vintage Fenwick on the local warmwater rivers. Just like Grandpa surely did in the 1960s and 70s, I really enjoy the feel of a big smallie bending the blank into the grip. Besides, the casts on these rivers are rarely over 30-40 feet and the big, open loops of a glass rod plop down a deer-hair Tapply bug or a small Hangtime Optic in a very satisfying way that I can't get with graphite.  

It's great having these rivers just minutes from home. There's none of the make-every-moment-count pressure I feel on more famous trout water up north. There's no harm in sitting on the bank, cracking open a beer, and watching the bass line up like trout to eat bugs.  The entire experience is a bit slower-paced than any other fishing I do. 

The other night a heavy crop of Isonychia bicolors was making an early appearance, and one big fish in particular was toilet-bowling out in the middle of a wide boulder flat 70 feet away. Such a cast is a lot to ask of my ability, not to mention the glass rod in my hand. But a couple hauls later, my streamer is dropping a a few feet upstream of him and few inches past his feeding lane --  I strip it once and the fish rolls on it without hesitation. The barred gold side and white belly flash. He is a big one. Twenty inches? I rear back, feel and see him roll again and then the leader pops. Curly-que broken end. Knot failure. Nice. 

I managed to get a couple nice bass that night, but that particular one sticks in my head. He was big, he ate, and I blew it.  But again I find that if I work with the rod instead of trying to overpower it, it will do everything I want, and with style.  If flyfishing is a blend of art and science, then I like to think that casting a glass rod is closer to the art side of the spectrum than casting a high-tech graphite stick."

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