What to make a fishing pole out of?

When the hungry cavemen first stared into the quiet pools of water and noticed fish swimming around he was not able to go into the garage and get his handy fishing pole and tackle box to go after his next meal.

I am sure things started simple. He tried to grab the fish with his hands, the first noddler, after which he probably graduated up to a sapling twig with woolly mammoth hair as string. This seemed to be the standard for the next millennia – then along came modern chemistry and new fishing tackle.

Growing up my grandpa taught me the art of fishing using poles of many different types and configurations. Long bamboo poles worked good to reach out beyond the moss along the edges of the pond out behind the house. Sitting along the small creek that ran through the section grandpa had me use a solid steel octagon rod that had originated in the 1940’s.

Today’s fishermen have a wealth of products to use to catch fish.  We have fishing poles available to us made from an abundance of different materials. Fiberglass, graphite and carbon fiber are some of the newest additions to materials being used to manufacture fishing poles today.

The advantage to using graphite and carbon fiber to make fishing poles with is that poles can be manufactured to higher strength limits and still be very light weight. The down side is the cost to use graphite and carbon makes the poles higher cost to build.

Fiberglass has been around for quite some time and has proven to be a reliable and cost effective material to build fishing poles out of. Many glass fibers make up very strong and relatively lightweight fiber-reinforced polymer composite material called glass-reinforced plastic, which is commonly known as fiberglass.

One of the first kinds of fiberglass to be used to make fishing poles was E-glass. E-glass was first manufactured for use in the electronics field; the “E” was for this initial application. Later the need for higher strength material lead to the development of S-glass. The “S” was for strength or was even referred to as Super Fiberglass. S-glass was first designed to be used in the aircraft industry.

E-glass is the material of choice for many manufacturers to build their blanks on, as does MondoCat. E-glass can withstand rough use, like being banged around a boat or the bank of the river without being damaged like a graphite or carbon fishing pole can.

E-Glass with not rot, mildew or deteriorate. It will not stretch or shrink.  E-glass has an excellent strength to weight ratio. The low cost of E-glass makes is a superb material to build fishing poles with.

Try out a fiberglass pole today – I am sure you will be happy with the results.

 

Fish Big or Go Home

Bryan Mellage