The Fiberglass Manifesto: PELAGOS FLY RODS

Pelagos Fly Rods has been on my radar for a bit with stunning builds and positive reviews popping up on Instagram with folks who use the tag #glassisnotdead. I noticed that Peter Mulbjerg had recently completed what he was calling "The Jungle Rod" on the 8'1" Paopao Glass Blank, and I asked if he'd share some thoughts and photographs in this post.

Like Peter, I'm a pushover for short heavy line weight glass and his work in creating this fly rod is top notch. That Abel fly reel sets is all off.

Now I REALLY want one of these stellar looking, and it sounds like, casting 9/10-weight fly rods...

Peter wrote... "I have a soft spot for, well, many things, but very much for bonefish, fiberglass rods and shorter fly rods. I also have a soft spot (not to be misunderstood) for cool guys on Instagram fishing for bonefish in shallow waters. The latter led me towards a guy from Hawaii named Elias, a.k.a. @kurupt_hawaiian, who fishes a lot of bonefish but also often poses with a Golden Trevally (Trevally - another of my soft spots) or PaoPao in Hawaiian. In one of the pictures he posed with a funky looking rod and upon request he replied that it was a fiberglass rod from Pelagos Fly Rods, my interest was piqued.

A quick google search, and a fast decision later, the first Pelagos blank was on it’s way to Denmark. I needed a graphite 7-weight and I also have a soft spot for 8’8” fly rods, so it was an easy decision. Since this is supposed to be about glass rods - fast forward, the graphite is excellent - up there with the best, light, responsive and did I mention, 8’8”...

Even faster forward, the need for a couple of fiberglass blanks arose since the rod building bug had come back and Pelagos Fly Rods sprung to mind. Once again a quick look and a couple of glass blanks were in the mail.

One of these was the 8’1” Paopao 9/10-weight blank in the color Palm Frond Green. It was supposed to be a powerhouse of a fly rod and since I had an Abel Super 9/10N in Peacock pattern on the shelf, it was easy to choose the color and try to match wraps to the fly reel.

It came out as expected and casting the rod left me wanting nothing more. Powerful, relatively light and with some real backbone. An excellent tool.

Hopefully I can take it fishing for peacock bass in a jungle at some point, until then it will be going to the Maldives chasing everything but the biggest of Trevally.

If you're not familiar, Pelagos Fly Rods is a one man (and a dog, Mr. Cades) operation and the owner, only known as McLean, is very nice and easy to deal with. I urge you to visit his website and take a look at his offerings."