Milbro Glass Rod

[Robbie]

Does anyone have an old Milbro glass rod they would be willing to part with?

I may be suffering from a special kind of madness, but I have never cast one of these rods and having recentley tried some modern glass rods for the first time (beware strange men bearing shiny new toys  :worried) I am interested in how the milbro rods compare. I am aware the milbro rods were fairly dire but I think there is some merit in first hand experience.

[Wildfisher]

I have two Robbie. Don't want to part with them as I have had them since I was a lad, but you are welcome to try them out.

They are about as fast as an overcooked strand of spaghetti. Most definitely not al dente.    :lol:

Funny thing is though we just fished with them back then and never really got ourselves in knots about tackle tartery.

[Highlander]

Milbro rods Are only "dire" in comparison to todays modern rods, in my youth other than split cane it is all we had.
It was not until the late 70s early 80s that carbon fibre appeared on the scene.

Going back to Milbro (Now Daiwa) still producing rods in Wishaw their "best" rod was in my opinion was the Milbro Trufly, unfortunately mine has long gone but served me well all those years ago. Think Fred had at one time owned one. (whoops Fred just noticed your post)

Glass fibre was fine then & we could handle them  but by today's standards you will find them really heavy especially in the longer lengths (10ft). In the shorter lengths a 7/8ft rod even today would be nice thing to have for stream work. I put up the Hardy Jet & the Edgar Sealey  Glane as the best out there, all three do crop up on E Bay now & again.
I do still have a 11ft Milbro Verre which is double hander a Sea Trout/Grilse rod & I do take it out on occasion for a swish. Again heavish but nice never the less. Maybe we were just made of sterner stuff all these years ago.

PS When I say heavy I really should say that in conjunction with leverage. After a good day out with glass who would notice you wrist & forearm "aching" just something that is was. you just put up with it.
PPS Just remembered I have 3/4 one piece rod blanks in my hut somewhere. I was thinking about making one of them up for a stream rod. This post might get me into the notion. Getting a spigot joint would be an issue so maybe not. The best blank was the Hardy Fibretube

[Bobfly]

I have a 3 piece at 9.5 feet and it is heavy and slow but with an old Dragonfly 395 reel for better balance it will roll away a line from a boat all day long and you can count the calories expended on every cast. It is actually a bit heavier than my split cane Scottie Impregnated Old Aberdeen at 10 feet and that was a sea trout rod generally speaking. One thing for the glass was the thickness and you would not worry too much if it was clattered about in the boat. That was also where a Diawa Whisker scored, they were strong.

[Highlander]

That was also where a Diawa Whisker scored, they were strong

Vaughan I still use them now and again . WF98 & an Osprey you are dead right . Sorry Robbie these are not glass

[Wildfisher]

I dug out my 7 foot #6 Milbro Truefly "dry fly special"  some years ago for old time's sake. I used it once.  :lol:

Robbie - last time I was out with you I'm sure you were using an Orvis Helios. You are going to take some bad using a heavy glass rod after that.

Glass  rods were good because they self-loaded,  a bit like split cane, for pish casters / beginners they are a good choice for sure. They also don't break randomly like some carbon rods. However before lashing out on a modern glass rod I'd like to fish a few days with one first and not just try it at the park. You have to laugh at the tackle industry, there is always some new must have to tempt  the seeker of silver bullets. Scott Rods were selling  a new glass rod a few years back that was ludicrously priced. Perhaps the  Lone Ranger bought one for his sidekick Tonto in lieu of a sliver bullet.  :lol:

Put it another way. When we were in NZ earlier this year we were on the Mataura in a downstream wind. Alex caught several fish and I did not. This had nothing to do with the rods we were using and EVERYTHING to do with Alex trying much harder (i.e. me not giving a fuck) and being a better all round fly fisher than I am - not to mention a VASTLY  better caster.

New rods will not catch you more fish, The best you can hope for is a rod that makes your fishing day a pleasure.

[corsican dave]

the tackle industry has been very poor at differentiating between older e-glass and the modern s-glass, which are very different materials. but i suspect some of this obfuscation might be intentional

a lot of the advertising has targeted the 'retro' market and, as Fred says, there have been some ridiculously priced e-glass rods recently which, (other than being new) confer no benefits over a rod you might find in grand-dad's attic

s-glass is a highly advanced, modern material which has a number of characteristics that are great for making fishing rods. it's WAY lighter and stiffer than the older e-glass. it's not cheap; but it's nowhere near as expensive as a top-end graphite rod. when folks first started experimenting with it for fly rods, it was still a bit bulky and floppy once you got to around 9'. but the more recent S2 and now S3 material is stiffer and lighter still. i've used them a lot over the last two years and probably the only major down-side is that they're harder to set the hook at long range. graphite is still king for that. you need a pronounced strip-strike. but the inherent give means that hook-pulls and snap-offs from big, hard-hitting fish are far less likely. and they make handling such fish a joy.

sure, it's no magic bullet; they don't exist. they won't make you a better caster or catch you more fish. but they're a pleasure to fish with & that might just help. and even if it doesn't, it's still a pleasure
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[Bobfly]

I have used from time to time this summer two split canes and one old glass rod. I found the slight strike delay on dries was a help. Strangely these more springy rods also seemed to tire the fish very well because the rod was the draw rather than pulling line from the reel more on a stiffer rod. I was fishing dry flies from a boat for rainbows and it was right good fun !  :worried The casting was heavy but the rods were great casters.

[corsican dave]

I have used from time to time this summer two split canes and one old glass rod. I found the slight strike delay on dries was a help. Strangely these more springy rods also seemed to tire the fish very well because the rod was the draw rather than pulling line from the reel more on a stiffer rod. I was fishing dry flies from a boat for rainbows and it was right good fun !  :worried The casting was heavy but the rods were great casters.

i've got a tiny little vision cults (e-glass) at around 5'6 or thereabouts. takes a #3-4wt. absolute joy to cast and hilarious if you actually hook anything. no control whatsoever, but there's no way that fish is ever going to get off. you can understand why a classic poaching tactic was a static line attached to a willow branch shoved into the bank

[Wildfisher]

they're a pleasure to fish with & that might just help. and even if it doesn't, it's still a pleasure

That's how I feel about my Sage ZXL. I'd rather use it than any other rod I have tried because it is a delight to fish with. What more do you need from your gear?