Leading up to the Fly Fishing Show in Denver, Colorado, Ken Nakamine of Tiemco reached out with a early heads up that they were soon to release their latest generation of the Glass Master fly rods. The other part of this news was that they would debut this series at the show with Umpqua as they continue to work through the possibility of bringing these fly rods stateside.
Meeting Ken in Denver was a highlight of the weekend and we had several discussions about the Glass Master fly rods and a short casting session on one of the ponds where I was able to cast each one. These are a wonderful series of fly rods, ranging from a 5'11" 3-weight to a 7'6" 4-weight, with the 7' 3-weight narrowly nudging out the rest as as the favorite. The updated generation Oracle fly reel is the perfect match available in the three colorways of gold, silver, and black in three sizes.
We are several months since the show debut and these have yet to start showing up in fly shops stateside. I won't pretend to know all the reasons but if taking educated guesses...
- Umpqua selling fly rods is new to them and a glass fly rod is an "interesting" way to start.
- There needs to be a real plan to determine fly shops that will be the right fit.
- What will the final MSRP be in the U.S. market? I've heard a few different numbers.
- How will Umpqua and Tiemco handle broken fly rods and the warranty process?
- What we were excited about for early 2026 might take a bit to figure out.
The waiting game begins...
There was a two-sided information sheet on the Tiemco Glass Master series at the Umpqua booth which I scanned for the T.F.M. readership to see below. If you click on each image, it will enlarge.
So far, there isn't a lot on these fly rods on the Tiemco website but you can see some additional promotion on their Facebook and Instagram pages. More updates on T.F.M. as they are available...
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