The Fiberglass Manifesto: ANOTHER SPIN ON GLASS - The Hitokiri Stream Master Rod

The other day, Marc Beissler of MB Custom Rods and Soulmate Rods posted a new Bait Finesse System (BFS) rod build on social media and I asked if I could share his work on The Fiberglass Manifesto. What I didn't anticipate was the great story and amount of background that Marc would send along with his stellar photographs.

Scroll down to check out this stunning build and read through what Marc shared on BFS rods.

Now I want one.

Marc wrote... "Not so long ago I became aware of some Japanese small stream fishermen who easily skipped their lures over the small streams and under branches to catch some nice yamame trout. Besides that, the casting itself looked so easy and the presentation was excellent the behavior of the rod with fish on it was outstanding. So I dug a bit deeper and found out they were using solid or hollow E-Glass blanks for their short rods.

Being fixed now I needed to try this by my own and experimented building with sections of my fly rods blanks. This was a long try and error process and I felt that the tapers used for fly rods doesn’t fit the need of a BFS (Bait Finesse System) casting rod at all, so I decided to design a taper by my own and send it to my Soulmate Rods blank manufacturer in Korea to prototype it for me.

In mid 2021, I wrapped the first guides to the prototypes and got some testing going. In the meantime, I discussed materials and taper with a fellow Italian rod builder who already used fiberglass blanks for his small stream and bass casting rods he built.

After some time of testing and refining, I decided to join forces with the fellow Italian builder and we ordered the production of a small batch small stream BFS casting and spinning blanks we could build on. The models ranged from a very short 4 foot rod to a longer 6'6" foot rod which were all two piece blanks.

Looking for a name to christen the new blanks with their Japanese origin, I came across a ghost samurai master in one of my son’s manga comics who was called a HITOKIRI. So here we are with the Hitokiri stream master rod.

For me a rod with a total length between 4'6" and 5'3" works the best to load small baits over the blank easily. Longer BFS glass rods tend to have less tension to load for a small spoon or hard bait, but on larger waters the extra length can be also fine if no underhand casting is required.

Here are some specs for the rod shown in the pictures that I built for a BFS enthusiast in Colorado.

Blank - 5' Hitokiri S-Glass - 2-Piece

Lure Weight - 1-6 Grams
Grip and Seat Insert - Koa wood that was shopmade

Grip Hardware - Korean rod building supplier –

Wraps - Japanese Kimono Silk in Teriyaki Color

Guide - Fuji Torzite Titanium Guides

The reel in these photographs is a Shimano CC 51 model 2021 which the rod new owner also intended to use beside a very nice Isuzu TRY Angle SSS in brown colored reel.

Overall I really recommend everyone to try a short fiberglass BFS rod to step up and experience new styles in his BFS stream game.

Thanks, Cameron for giving another spin (or cast) on glass room in your website!