Glass in the Attic?

[Nicepix 5,650]

Who remembers the 70’s? Jump suits, hot pants, flares and double denim everywhere. The launch of the Austin Allegro and a hit parade full of oddities including Jasper Carrott’s Funky Moped and Magic Roundabout plus Billy Connolly’s D.I.V.O.R.C.E   amongst the surprising hits. We had the long dead still on the Trail of the Lonesome Pine whilst in Alnwick, Northumberland another Hardy, the tackle manufacturers, were playing catch-up in belatedly manufacturing fibre glass rods. Across the North Sea ABBA while were meeting their Waterloo whilst the other Swedish super group ABU introduced their short lived Cardinal 44 Express reel with improved gearing and a 6:1 retrieve ratio. My own fishing tackle back then included an ABU Ferralite 13 foot match rod in fetching brown fibreglass livery teamed up with a 506 closed face reel from the same manufacturer. The other rod, I only had two back then, was an equally fashionable yellow fibreglass Ernie Stamford swing-tip rod with Mitchell 300 reel. I still use both reels, but the rods are long gone.

There is a growing resurgence in the collecting and use of these forgotten vintage classics. Built cane has always been fashionable, but the humble fibreglass rods were hastily discarded once graphite rods became available. When you think that cane rods had almost a century of superiority and carbon is still growing strong after forty years, fibreglass rods only had a short period when they offered anglers cheaper and lighter rods and quickly grew in popularity. Their early years saw some scepticism amongst traditional manufacturers with Hardy suffering sabotage from within their own ranks on the fibreglass production lines and Pezon et Michel in Paris declining to participate in the fibreglass revolution until it was too late to save the company. When Pezon et Michel finally relented to allow glass rods into their catalogues they were being made in Alnwick using Hardy’s own blanks. The Hardy Jet and Pezon et Michel Telebolic rods are one and the same apart from different guides and cosmetics. Hardy along with other companies also engaged a practice of using the same blanks for carp rods and spinning rods, as they and others including JS Sharpe had with some early cane carp rods.  A fibreglass Hardy Richard Walker Carp rod is identical in dimensions to a 10 foot Salmon Spinning Rod of the same material. Other companies including Bruce & Walker saw fibreglass as a way of manufacturing rods to a universal standard quickly and cheaper than cane rods that could never be identical. Small companies sprung up around the world and some of them became very big companies due to their success. Daiwa were amongst the more successful manufacturers adding glass rods to their range of fishing reels from soon after the conception of fibreglass rods. Conolon inveted the process of making fibreglass rods by wrapping fibreglass strands that had been coated in resin onto tapered steel mandrel that can be removed once the material has been heat treated. In their heyday Conolon claimed that 96% of all fishing rods made worldwide were fibreglass. So where are they now?

The 70’s saw the carp boom gaining momentum and due to the demise of the quality of Mitchell reels under their new ownership ABU prospered in this market with their Cardinal 55 fixed spool reels being the preferred choice of many top carp fishermen including  Tim Paisley and Kevin Maddocks. They also dominated the multiplier and beach casting scene with their reliable and super smooth Ambassadeur reels and Atlantic rods before they too suffered from the bean counters shaving costs at the expense of quality.

Today there is a growing interest in collecting and using rods and reels from this era and prices are rising accordingly. My own ABU 506 reel was purchased new for over £30. Now, a shabby used example will bring half as much again and a Cardinal 44 from that period is worth double. The ABU Ferralite rod cost me £35 new. Today it or a similar model such as a Hardy Matchmaker or rods from Milbro, Edgar Sealey and Bruce & Walker are going for £100 to over £200.

A similar story exists with other items of tackle, especially bite alarms. Even the Newark Needle Floats have become collectible and nobody I know ever used them back then despite being given away free with angling magazines. There are drawbacks to fishing a la 70’s though. For one thing it is a bugger getting wellies on over your flares!

So, what are fibreglass rods like to fish with? Once you  get over the thickness of the blank that is evident especially on longer rods, they aren't bad at all. As I said earlier in the day I had an ABU Ferralite 13 foot match rod that I bought from my paper round and Saturday job money around 1972. On one match I used that rod to catch 29 dace using nothing but a maggot and a hook. I was 15 at the time so if a weedy teenager can wield one of those like a fly rod you should have no problem pulling bream out of the cut!

I now have a very similar rod, a Hardy Matchmaker 13 foot match rod and a 10 foot  Richard Walker Avon from the same company. Both are paired up with reels from the period and both outfits will catch fish. I have used the match rod trotting for  roach, dace and rudd. Last winter I used the Avon rod and ABU reel for chub fishing adopting a roving approach with a float / ledger rig and cheese paste bait. You don't need the latest tackle to catch fish and there will be bargains to be had on car boot sales and free ad sites that will still do the job they were intended for.

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by Nicepix

[ands 492]

You like your fishing then! lol My favorite rod by far was a telescopic fly rod, always handy in the back of the car.

[tomburras 2,721]

I used to have a few old glass rods but over the years I broke them. My glass fly rod casted really nice. Also like the old look of glass rods I never liked using the one cane rod I had it felt very fragile.

[tomburras 2,721]

32 minutes ago, ands said:

You like your fishing then! lol My favorite rod by far was a telescopic fly rod, always handy in the back of the car.

Have you seen the little 4wt maxcatch rod and reel outfit that takes down into a small case. I have one it's amazing little travel rod light as a feather and casts a dream with the cheap maxcatch gold line.

[Nicepix 5,650]

My first fly rod was made from a Hardy Jet blank. I think that fibreglass fly rods had a smoother action than some of my later carbon rods and were better suited to nymph fishing. It is the same with Avon type rods. For me carbon is too unforgiving and I prefer cane or glass rods for species like barbel and chub. Also for mullet too. 

[tomburras 2,721]

5 hours ago, Nicepix said:

My first fly rod was made from a Hardy Jet blank. I think that fibreglass fly rods had a smoother action than some of my later carbon rods and were better suited to nymph fishing. It is the same with Avon type rods. For me carbon is too unforgiving and I prefer cane or glass rods for species like barbel and chub. Also for mullet too. 

I took my dad out with the glass fly rod I mentioned earlyer, it was badged kendall and Watson of leeds. He said he used to go there as a kid. Vicker road I think he mentioned. Do you know about this shop? I know your from the Yorkshire area

 

[Nicepix 5,650]

No, sorry. I lived in and near Leeds for two short spells when I was young, but don't really know the city and haven't heard of that company.