Posted on October 04 2008
Last week I fished in North Carolina for the day and I was pretty excited to spend the day on the water. I hadn't been fly fishing since Wyoming...and I needed a trout fix.
In preparation for day trip I had to decide what fly rods I'd carry up the road and the rod that almost always tops the list for fishing those shrouded North Carolina waters is a Heddon Pal Pro Weight #8381 in brown fiberglass. This vintage fly rod has a few guides that are a little loose in their wraps and everything might not fit like it once did a couple of decades ago but it still holds some magic within the weave of it's fiber.
In preparation for day trip I had to decide what fly rods I'd carry up the road and the rod that almost always tops the list for fishing those shrouded North Carolina waters is a Heddon Pal Pro Weight #8381 in brown fiberglass. This vintage fly rod has a few guides that are a little loose in their wraps and everything might not fit like it once did a couple of decades ago but it still holds some magic within the weave of it's fiber.
I wonder sometimes if I am chasing nostalgia in fishing fly gear that is twice my age. I've now been exclusively fishing fiberglass fly rods, both vintage and contemporary, for the past three years and the reason for this transition was that fiberglass fly rods just have an undeniable energy that can be felt all the way into the cork grip as a ink spotted brown trout head shakes as the old clicker reel sings on the run downstream.
Yes...there is magic in these old fiberglass sticks.
