A few months back I won an old Fenwick FF806 fiberglass fly rod off of ebay. Among glass enthusiasts it is known to be a very versatile rod and a great caster. I tried lawn casting just after it arrived in the mail but it did not feel all that great and I was a little unsure of my purchase. I was pretty constricted though and was hitting a tree
during my back cast half the time. Well luckily over Spring Break I had several opportunities to meet up with Dave (FishnDave) at his local crappie pond. I was able to open the rod up a little more out on the pond and it really shined. I paired it up with an vintage Pflueger Sal Trout click pawl reel and some sort of double taper fly line that came on the reel. I could roll cast this rod just as far as my modern Sage graphite rod! Needless to say I was highly impressed and thoroughly satisfied in taking my first step into vintage glass rods. The rod definitely made me slow down my casting stroke but it is fun that even small fish put a nice bend in glass. I'll be fishing this vintage combo a lot more often this year! The fishing was pretty good overall during the break despite some questionable fishing weather and many crappie and green sunfish were landed. Flies fished by Dave and me included Myakka minnows, microjigs, boa yarn leeches, craft fur clousers, orange legged mohair bodied nymph (something I threw together that caught a few fish with) and some others with and without thingamabobber indicators.
Dave braving the elements
Micro green sunfish caught on a microjig
