July 1st update - Great news! The last color samples provided one that was just what I have been looking for after being rolled into a blank. It's taken much longer than I anticipated but my patience has been rewarded. The fiberglass fabric will be delivered next week and coated with the colored resin shortly thereafter. Kerry will have the fabric around the middle of the month and start rolling blanks shortly thereafter. I should have finished blanks around the end of July.

I want to thank everyone for their patience awaiting these blanks. I'm confident they will become one of your favorite rods and provide you as much enjoyment fishing them as it has me designing them.

Thank you,
Tom Morgan

The first question that would come to mind for me if I were reading about a new line of fiberglass blanks and rods would be why in the world are you offering these when your graphite rods are so outstanding? I think the answer makes an interesting and compelling story.

Before buying Winston in 1973, I had enjoyed fishing light line #3 and #4 bamboo rods. I thought that similar fiberglass rods would be popular, so I designed the Winston fiberglass Stalker Rods to add to Winston's already great line of fiberglass rods that were custom-made by the J. K. Fisher Co. The Stalker rods became very popular and continue to be sought after even today with the most popular sizes bringing around $1000 on E-Bay.

Shortly after I bought Winston, graphite rods were introduced by the Fenwick Rod Company. As graphite rods became more popular, they began to replace fiberglass rods, just as fiberglass had replaced bamboo after World War II. Since then, the Madison Avenue marketing machine has convinced most anglers that graphite rods are better and of higher value than fiberglass. As a result, fiberglass has been looked upon in the marketplace for many years as the ugly stepchild of fly fishing without much intrinsic value. At Winston, we stopped making fiber glass rods in the middle 1980s because J. K. Fisher Co. quit supplying the blanks, despite the fact we were still selling quite a few directly to customers.

In recent years, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in fiberglass rods, primarily in lighter line sizes, for two reasons: anglers have discovered that typical graphite fly rods are so stiff that they aren't effective fishing rods and many fiberglass rods have the traditional action of great fly rods from past eras. A number of knowledgeable anglers have discovered anew that fiberglass can make wonderful fishing rods covering many situations extremely well.

Because of the delicate touch and "feel" they provide along with their fish playing attributes, I've always been a fan of fiberglass rods for fishing in the short to medium distances where most trout are caught. For a long time, I've thought that I could design fiberglass rods with even more effective attributes and sweeter actions than my originals.

When I bought Winston, Russ Peak was the premier fiberglass rodmaker in the world. I purchased one of his rods as a model of great quality to serve as a reference to improve the quality of Winston's rods. As it turns out, Kerry Burkheimer, who is rolling and finishing my fiberglass blanks, was a student of Russ Peak from whom he learned rodmaking. He now owns one of the premier rod companies in the world. Kerry possesses Russ Peak's attention to detail and desire to make the highest quality rods. I feel fortunate that I can work with Kerry on this project.

Kerry works with E-glass, the original fiberglass material I used, and he has a big variety of mandrels with different tapers, so I can develop the proper balance of taper and cloth patterns. I design the blanks and he rolls them. Then I have several locals, who I think represent a cross section of anglers, cast and/or fish them. These blanks will have a white solid fiberglass spigot ferrule like the original Winston fiberglass rods. The blanks will be a dark red similar to our graphite blanks.

Another extremely important aspect of designing sweet feeling rods in the lighter line sizes is using light weight guides and tip tops. My recommended guide sizes are typically smaller than many anglers use, but from my experience they are far superior in preserving the proper design characteristics. I also think smaller guides allow the line to track through the guides better. We use the lighter guides and tip-tops on our rods, and we provide the recommended guides and spacing on our blanks to insure that anglers don't put on heavy guides and thereby dramatically change the action along with the rod "feel".

Fiberglass blanks have bigger diameter butts than graphite rods; therefore, many of the current wooden reel seats won't fit over the blanks. Because of this size difference, a plug needs to be fitted into the butt in order to install a reel seat. With each blank, we provide an appropriate tapered wooden dowel that fits inside the butt with a straight section outside the rod where a seat can be installed. The blanks will also come with a nickel silver tip check to reinforce the bottom of the tip where the ferrule joins it with the butt. A complete set of instructions will also be included.

There is a property of fiberglass material that I think warrants discussion in regard to rod design. Fiberglass is unique in that it accepts a load quite uniformly up to a certain point; then it will continue to bend, but the resistance to bending drops off dramatically. This behavior can be easily demonstrated with fiberglass rods in distance casting. With a rod designed for short to medium distance, you can easily reach those distances. As you try to cast farther, however, the rod stops accepting the increased load, and it becomes more difficult to cast longer distances.

Naturally, this material characteristic has to be taken into account when designing rod fishing distance. My preference for trout rods has always been a progressive action which these rods have, taking into account this fiberglass material characteristic. The tip can be supple enough to allow the rod to work well in close while providing good stiffness in the mid- and butt-sections to support medium-length casts. This design allows a rod to have great versatility, but there is not one rod that will satisfy every possible situation. Incidentally, these rods have been designed with true weight double taper lines and not with some of the heavier lines designed for graphite rods.

My life in the rod business over a thirty-year period has always been about designing great fishing rods based on my fishing experiences and those of customers who share their ideas with me. It's also been about trying to build the best quality so my customers won't be disappointed when they receive the rod or blank. And, most importantly, when they take it out on the stream they think it's one of the greatest rods they have ever fished. Looking back over the years, the customers who have praised my designs in fiberglass, bamboo, and graphite overwhelmingly confirm my design philosophy. From the feedback I have received on these rods, that tradition will continue. I am looking forward to providing anglers with fiberglass rods that will provide them with another choice for their fishing.

3-Weight.
This weight is the lightest light-line rod most anglers usually fish. These rods have supple, sensitive tips for fishing small flies and light tippets along with moderate mid- and butt-stiffness. The standard rods are designed to fish best in the 15 to 40-foot range with enough power to reach out some when called upon, but they aren't designed to be distance rods. These blanks and rods will be available in 7', 7 1/2', and 8' lengths.

In addition to the standard blanks and rods, I am going to add two 3-weights in 6' 9" and 7' 3" lengths with a slightly lighter action designed especially for Japanese anglers who generally fish shorter distances than American anglers. These rods are designed to fish in the 12 to 35-foot range. However, this is not to say that my normal 3-weight rods are stiff because they are not. Other anglers may also prefer these rods under special conditions.

4-Weight.
This is the standard light line rod for many anglers. Here again these rods have correct tip stiffness to handle light tackle fishing while having appropriate mid- and butt-strength for close to medium fishing distances. They are designed to have their sweet fishing range in the 15 to 45-foot distances. They work well under a wider range of fishing conditions than the 3-weight, providing greater versatility. They permit very delicate presentations, yet they will cast small wet flies or nymphs and medium sized dries. These are light, lively rods that are fun to fish and will be available in 7', 7 1/2', and 8' lengths.

5-Weight.
This is a versatile line size for fishing a variety of flies in small to medium-sized waters. The tips are still supple for excellent fish striking and playing capabilities while the mid- and butt-stiffnesses are enough for average fishing distances. These rods work well in the 20 to 50/55-foot range. This rod has become a standard Eastern United States line weight. A great rod that is fun and easy to fish, these blanks and rods will be available in 7 1/2' and 8' lengths.

Special Fiberglass Rods.

This project has been a great deal of fun for me because my passion for many years has been designing fishing rods and these are some of the sweetest ever. During the testing process my good friend, Per Brandin, was here helping with the casting evaluation. In my opinion, Per is one of the great modern rod designers and casters. He has lots of experience casting rods in all three materials and has a great "feel" for rod action. Every time he visits, he wants to cast what he considers to be one of the greatest rod ever built in any material. I also think that it's one of the smoothest and best casting rod I've ever felt.

Let me tell you about this rod and its history. I have loved streamer fishing for many years fishing light-weight flies such as girdle bugs, gray ghosts, and muddlers right at the surface using a floating line. I developed a special technique where the fly is moved in small, rhythmic movements. A full description of the technique is on our web site at: http://www.troutrods.com/morgantwitch.html

In order to fish this method properly, I needed a special rod with a tip with just the right stiffness to manipulate the fly without moving it too much. The rod also needs enough power in the butt to pick up the line and cast the fly right back without a false cast. When I owned Winston, I made up a special fiberglass 8'3" #6-weight rod just for myself because I thought fiberglass was the best material to create the perfect action for this unique fishing style. It's one of a kind and unquestionably a fabulous rod.

Now comes the interesting part. Per, and my wife, Gerri, want me to make duplicates of this rod and offer them for sale, so I am following their recommendation, even though the market may not be very big. Because it's such a great casting and fishing rod, they are convinced many anglers would enjoy using one not only for streamer fishing but also for dries and small poppers.

Because I'm duplicating my favorite streamer rod, I decided to duplicate another fiberglass rod that I have always loved that I call "The Unity with the Universe Rod" because it's so smooth and sweet. It, too, is one of the best rods I have ever cast. It's an 8 1/2' #7-weight and is great for big dries and streamers, so it should be excellent for warm water fishing too.

Since I'm duplicating existing rods they will be in 2-piece configuration as are the originals. I am only going to duplicate these two models and not make any other #6- or #7-weight rods.

Blank Specifications.
The blanks are two-piece with one tip, a dark red color, and have a white fiberglass spigot ferrule. They come with a nickel silver tip check, an internal wooden reel seat plug, and instructions.

Rod Specifications.
The rods are two-piece, a dark red color, one tip, with an agate stripping guide, hard chrome plated snake guides, nickel silver slide band or up-lock reel seat and a wood spacer of your choice. The handle is available as cigar, half-wells, or custom cork grip. The rods are provided with our special cloth bag, our distinctive aluminum case, and a protective tube bag.

Fiberglass Sales Goal.
Our intention is to sell primarily blanks with only an occasional finished rod. In addition to selling the blanks ourselves we encourage custom rodmakers to contact us to purchase blanks to make custom rods for their customers.