Anyone have experience with T.L. Johnson blanks? I'm thinking about building a 3 or 4 wt fly rod.

Steve

I recently built a TLJ glass blank. Nice blank. Slow glass action. Very nice color.

Not to be a pain but what makes these blanks so good ?

Bill - willierods.com

I'm interested because I found a site selling blems fairly cheap.

Considering the blemish is a slight color difference on the blank located where the grip goes and that most modern US made glass blanks cost anywhere from $145 - $295. I'd say that what is being offered is a good deal.

That's were I saw them too. They seem to be about 25% of the finished rod price. Just don't know anything about them.

Steve

Lane

Glass blanks ?? You can not be serious. You can get a glass - no blem - for cheap What about Graphite

Don't know where you are getting your glass from ??

Bill - willierods.com

Bill, go look at Steffen Bros, McFarland, Tom Morgan, Kabutorods, Wojiniki, and see if I'm serious. Glass is making a comeback for certain situations. Even Scott has some high dollar glass rods.

I purchased 2 of the 7' 4wt blanks a couple of months ago. They are slower than graphite, but faster than most glass blanks. I haven't CCS'd them yet, but I will try to do that tonight when I get home from work.
The finish is beautiful and the blanks are very light. They will make very nice fishing fly rods.

BTW, the ones I got are his original Olive green blanks, not the "lemon-drop" colored blanks. The green blanks have been discontinued, so if the blanks your are purchasing are the green ones, they may NOT be blems.

Walt Natzke
Ripon, CA

I have been in contact with Mr. Kabuto with the intent of purchasing one of his exquisite fiberglass blanks.

Until I stumbled upon his work I had no idea such fine blanks are being produced in glass.

Tom Morgan's work and the others named above by Lane are also worthy of close examination.

The white Kabuto blanks caught my eye and the actions will surely be closer to my favored bamboo rods.

I planning to start with a 7'6" - wt- 3 PC.

I have no doubt that if his blanks were available at the upcoming ICRBE they would be very popular.

Dave Gilberg

I traded e-mails with Tom Morgan last week and he has just received his first shipment of his new fiberglass blanks.
If you are familiar with Winston's Stalker series (designed by Tom Morgan when he owned Winston) you know that these were some of the best fiberglass fly rods ever created. These are reported to be better than those.

They are designed by Morgan and rolled by Kerry Burkheimer, so the "pedigree" on these blanks is second to none.

Walt Natzke
Ripon, CA

I'm building on vintage Scott right now the the customer found and had sent to me.
To each their own.

Mike

Mikes Custom Fly Rods

You can get a St Croix for there blem prices And graphite

Bill - willierods.com

How is that relevant? You can buy a lot of blanks from a lot of different companies for that price. Only problem is we are talking about modern glass fly blanks not graphite. You keep bringing up graphite, and that's fine just as bamboo is fine, but again that's not what we are talking about. There are quite a few customers out there that are more than willing to pay for the most up to date modern glass fly rod designs. Why because they want them, they like the action, they don't like the maintenance or cost of bamboo, or whatever reason. Try and talk one of these guys into buying a SCII St. Croix and that will be the last time you will speak to them.

What about weight

Bill - willierods.com

What about it? We all know that glass is heavier than graphite just as bamboo is heavier than glass. The customers know that too. It doesn't matter. There are trade-offs in all things. I have guys in my local club who hate graphite rods for their action but love the light weight. Love glass for the slow action but aren't fans of the additional weight. They still fish glass or bamboo. Keep in mind these newer glass rods aren't that much heavier than graphite. We aren't talking about some Eagle Claw with metal ferrules and other heavy components.

It might help to have a bit of a clarification. Action is independent of material. The fastest action rod I ever owned was a Shakespeare President glass fly rod. Action is where the rod initially flexes. Glass rods can be very fast, and graphite rods very slow. Action is a function of diameter and taper, not material.

When Lane talks "action" I suspect he's talking about "speed." Glass reacts slower than graphite. That might help clear up any confusion as to why some folks still like glass (or bamboo).

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No I'm talking about the flex. Although people do like the slower reaction speed too. Deep loading and slow speed. Very relaxed casting stroke.

I don't understand that. How deeply something flexes has to do with its power and the amount of load placed upon it. Glass can be stiff or soft, fast or slow action. Power and action are independent of the material used to make the rod.

Deep loading is achieved by putting more load on the rod, or having a rod that is less stiff.

If you have a glass and a graphite rod that have identical ERN and AA numbers, they'll load to the same depth for the same given input. But the glass model will react and recover more slowly.

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Getting off the original subject but oh well. I agree with you Tom but generally speaking glass rods aren't as fast as graphite. Same length same ERN the glass blank usually will have a much lower AA. To get the lower AA the blank must flex deeper to make the curve less steep. When I say flex deeper I dont mean more. There are exceptions for instance CTS Vintage graphite fly blanks have a very slow action and the glass blank you refer too is very fast.