There are a few people that I follow and trust their opinions and thoughts on fly rods and Tom Anderson, a.k.a. "Duff", is certainly one of them. Tom recently penned a few notes on the Fiberglass Flyrodders forum when his C. Barclay Glass 7'2" three weight arrived and gave me permission to post here as well.
I recently received a demo of this fly rod to be added soon to the T.F.M. Fly Rod Loan Program and can't agree enough with Tom's thoughts. Chris Barclay really outdid himself with this first offering in the Barclay Glass series and I am looking forward to seeing what the four and five weights end up as in the coming months.
Tom wrote...
I picked up my new Barclay Glass 7'2" three weight at the post office this afternoon and to say that I am impressed is an understatement - a sweet little rod in all respects.
Some observations:
1. I cannot imagine a nicer grip on a rod this size - it just feels and looks right and is the perfect diameter for my taste. Although I usually prefer a cigar grip, I am leaning in this direction.
2. This rod is a true three weight. I tried it today with a Cortland DT3 Sylk and a Scientific Angler Supra DT3. I prefered it with the Supra which is a touch heavier line and slows the rod down slightly, but it cast the lighter (I think) DT3 Sylk very well too and did not feel the least bit underlined.
3. The Barclay Glass seemed to be nicely progressive with an extremely fine and delicate tip. It casts close-in easily yet has enough butt power to handle as long a cast as one would want in a rod of this length and line weight. For what it's worth, I compared Chris' new rod with the Ijuin Yomogi 7' three weight and the two rods felt to me to be completely different animals. The Barclay Glass is medium-fast and perfectly progressive. The Yomogi feels to be a slow-medium parabolic to semi-parabolic. Both fine tapers but decidedly different. I was curious as to how two seemingly very similar rods could be so different, so I weighed the mids and tips of both rods. Although the Yomogi was 2" shorter, the mid weighed 17g as opposed to 12g for the Barclay Glass. Both tips weighed in at 6g. Obviously there's more to it than weight to account for the taper differences, but kind of interesting none the less.
4. The tube, tube label, and bag are of extremely high quality and frankly unexpected at this price point. The bag has a large red hanger and a unique elastic tensioner about 6" down from the top.
5. I am a fan of translucent rods and the Barclay Glass doesn't disappoint.
6. Reel fit always seems to be a problem but I was happy that the reel seat accommodated my Kineya Reels and English Hardy fly reels equally well. Surprisingly, with the pocketed butt cap it even fits the new Hardy foot although the sliding band does not slide up very far on the foot.
7. Everything about this rod exudes quality and careful craftsmanship. Chris Barclay has a clear winner here.
Check out the C. Barclay Fly Rod Co. website for more information and follow along with the latest shop news on the Facebook page as well.
I recently received a demo of this fly rod to be added soon to the T.F.M. Fly Rod Loan Program and can't agree enough with Tom's thoughts. Chris Barclay really outdid himself with this first offering in the Barclay Glass series and I am looking forward to seeing what the four and five weights end up as in the coming months.
Tom wrote...
I picked up my new Barclay Glass 7'2" three weight at the post office this afternoon and to say that I am impressed is an understatement - a sweet little rod in all respects.
Some observations:
1. I cannot imagine a nicer grip on a rod this size - it just feels and looks right and is the perfect diameter for my taste. Although I usually prefer a cigar grip, I am leaning in this direction.
2. This rod is a true three weight. I tried it today with a Cortland DT3 Sylk and a Scientific Angler Supra DT3. I prefered it with the Supra which is a touch heavier line and slows the rod down slightly, but it cast the lighter (I think) DT3 Sylk very well too and did not feel the least bit underlined.
3. The Barclay Glass seemed to be nicely progressive with an extremely fine and delicate tip. It casts close-in easily yet has enough butt power to handle as long a cast as one would want in a rod of this length and line weight. For what it's worth, I compared Chris' new rod with the Ijuin Yomogi 7' three weight and the two rods felt to me to be completely different animals. The Barclay Glass is medium-fast and perfectly progressive. The Yomogi feels to be a slow-medium parabolic to semi-parabolic. Both fine tapers but decidedly different. I was curious as to how two seemingly very similar rods could be so different, so I weighed the mids and tips of both rods. Although the Yomogi was 2" shorter, the mid weighed 17g as opposed to 12g for the Barclay Glass. Both tips weighed in at 6g. Obviously there's more to it than weight to account for the taper differences, but kind of interesting none the less.
4. The tube, tube label, and bag are of extremely high quality and frankly unexpected at this price point. The bag has a large red hanger and a unique elastic tensioner about 6" down from the top.
5. I am a fan of translucent rods and the Barclay Glass doesn't disappoint.
6. Reel fit always seems to be a problem but I was happy that the reel seat accommodated my Kineya Reels and English Hardy fly reels equally well. Surprisingly, with the pocketed butt cap it even fits the new Hardy foot although the sliding band does not slide up very far on the foot.
7. Everything about this rod exudes quality and careful craftsmanship. Chris Barclay has a clear winner here.
Check out the C. Barclay Fly Rod Co. website for more information and follow along with the latest shop news on the Facebook page as well.
1 comment:
Looks like a fun rod!
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