Michael, i get eerything your saying about the cheaper carbon blanks but they still don,t have the really slow response of e-glass..carbon is light, that,s it,s nature..it can,t act like glass and fight fish like glass especially e-glass..i know i sound crazy but when i found that i could get all the sensitivity i need from just using a braidd line i was hooked on glass again..lol.

In the practical sense, for bass in particular, I tend to go to fiberglass to solve angling issues on moving baits. If you find an angler losing fish at the boat on trebles (not keeping the rod loaded), or setting the hook too early on chatterbaits or swimbaits and then blaming the fish for "short striking" then I tend to go to fiberglass with the same properties in their favorite graphite rod they are using in that application. If they are using the right rod.

I know this will make some people cringe but, sensitivity isn't always the best thing for every application. Fishing a chatterbait on braided line with a graphite rod can sometimes make anglers with a good reaction time set hook too early. This leads to the "short striking." While short striking is a real thing, it does not happen as often as most anglers believe. If you get short strikes and slow the retrieve, then still get short strikes, it is not the retrieve it is your reaction time and too fast of a hook set. To combat this I use S-glass builds with a slightly more moderate action but just the same "backbone" as the graphite rod. Yes you will lose sensitivity. But in a moving bait like cranks, chatterbaits, and swim baits you don't really need the sensitivity for most common uses of those lures. Squarebills not included.

What a thread , didn't expect the the newest and greatest S-2 9 micron fast light and sensitive Zentron blanks to be tossed aside in favor of the much older and less advanced E glass blanks but here we are . To each their own as they say . Ben mentioned he likes the 'Bow and Arrow" aspect of fiberglass but I feel it's only right to remind him that carbon is even better for bow and arrow making if he felt a strong urge to scrap fishing and go hunting instead.

Love ya Ben.

that,s funny Chris, my hunting urges were destroyed by one of my younger brothers when we we were growing up..we would go rabbit hunting and he used my old single shot 410..i used a three shot 20 gauge..we would take turns on rabbits..i can,t recall him ever missing with that single shot but i often unloadeed three shots and just scared the rabbits into the next state..in his house he,s got deer and antelope heads watching your every movement..lol..i got one lonely 8 3/4# bass all cracked and faded out..lol..

Ben, I don't argue with your logic or your preference. If you like what you're doing and getting with glass then there is no reason for change. I was meaning to point out that one can come very close to glass with the right selection of graphite blanks, components, and line, and most likely have a lighter rod. Which to me is always an advantage.

I may have a preference for graphite because the last glass rods I had broke in my hands on the cast. I don't know what kind of glass they were, and yes, they were cheap. Bought before I got back into building rods. I've never had that happen with graphite. And I do have a couple graphite light power baitcasting "crankbait" rods that are moderate actions and surely do feel slow in reacting to me. One is a Loomis and the other with almost the same CCS values is an AmTak Bushido.

no Michael, no problem..i know how popular graphite is..that,s all i built and used for a ling time..i mainly wanted topoint out to those that may still have some fondness for glass how it can be made to work again..i originaly started using carbon for it,s sensitvity but i never really cared for it,s fish fighting quaity but the super lines changed that and i just wanted to point that out..sensitivity doesn,t just come from just the rod and that the line plays a bigger part in my mind and i think i got good proof of that because braid turned my glass rods into feeing like graphite except for the weight but i tried to show if you used a shorter rod you can work around that too.

"I can't recall him ever missing with that single shot but I often unloaded three shots and just scared the rabbits into the next state"



Ha ha ha , I bet my father was a worse shot than you , my father (Bless his soul) after 20+ years of hunting ducks managed to nail one flying overhead ( A golden eye) duck but when he went to pick the duck up at the taxidermist the taxidermist told my father it was the first duck in all his years in taxidermy that he couldn't locate a single hole anywhere and he did a very thorough examination . He actually told my father that the only thing he could think of was the duck must have died from a heart attack in midflight due to the sound of the shotgun , no joke .

He said to me don't tell your mother that it died of a heart attack lol.

what really hurts is when i was in basic training i hit 16 out of 20 pop up targets to qualify as a sharpshooter on the m14..but those targets were not runing..lol.

I use and build glass rods quite a bit. For me, it’s all about feel. Playing a fish on a glass rod feels better than graphite or even bamboo. I have 6 and 7 weight glass fly rods that I use on bluegills with no apologies. Some modern glass fly blanks are so stiff that they seem like graphite in disguise. I have some graphite fly rods that feel great as well, but they are the exception, not the rule.

Rob, i agree about modern glass but i,m going have to try the S2..i think it might make a fun bass bugging fly rod..about the weight of graphite but the softer touch of glass..but your right, they do get stiffer as they get lighter and as they get stiffer they get fast like grahite..without the weight they can,t act like glass..



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2022 08:12PM by ben belote.