It was Terry Pratchett who
said “Sometimes glass glitters more than diamonds because it has more to
prove.” I can only imagine that Terry wears his trademark large, black hat to
protect his noggin from the errant cast of a fly rod. Imagining that Mr. Pratchett is both an accomplished fly caster and a brilliant author is
more than my mind can handle, so I envision him trying hard not to toss a
tailing loop. Of course it’s possible that Pratchett doesn’t fish at all, but
being bright, successful and witty I have to assume he has at least one
shortcoming. Fly fishing must be it. Further, I also imagine that he would
grab first for a Diamondback
Diamondglass rod, both because the educated trout of England’s
chalk streams demand such refined tackle and because Diamondglass has proven
itself. In the 21st Century fiberglass had better prove itself - it
has more to prove.
The
Diamondglass GLR-663 was destined to be mine. Only fate could have made a
purchase happen so easily. The phone rang. I answered it. Tim Wise of the
Stillwater Bass Club
was on the other end. He’d called to invite me to speak at a SBC event to be
held at the local Gander Mountain sporting goods store later in the month. I
agreed without hesitation (you don’t say no to Tim if you want to know the
current hotspots on the Stillwater). That’s where fate played its hand.
Gander Mountain sells the
Diamondback line of rods, and had several Diamondglass models in stock and
marked down. After a successful presentation, the manager of the fishing
department took a few moments to say hello and exchange pleasantries, which
included pressing a 6’6” 3-weight gem of a fly rod in my hand for a waggle. My
heart skipped a beat. He smiled and mentioned something about the rod selling
for $100 below list. My heart skipped another beat. A few minutes calculation,
a quick mental inventory – "I don’t own a 6’6” 3-weight, so I need this" was how
it went – and I committed. Of course one can’t buy a new fly rod and not get a
reel and line for it. I’d recently spied a classic Pflueger 1492 complete with
sculpted pillars and round line guard at the local shop. The shop was on my way
home.
Well,
I stopped at the Rusty Drake on the way home and purchased the reel. I
mentioned to Tom that I had the new rod and that the reel would look perfect on
it. “You’ll need a new line – the Sylk line is a great match. I think I have a
DT3 in stock.” He did, and I was well primed to say “yes.” “YES.” “Hell
YES.” I got the line, too. I didn’t even blink when he held up the furled
leader that would bring the package together in one shining moment of
piscatorial perfection.
It only took four days for
me to sneak the rod, reel and line into the house. My wife has eyes in the back
of her head. And she doesn’t trust me when I come home from a presentation at a
sporting good shop empty handed. If I was thinking things through I would at
least have brought in the bag with the leader. Another week went by before I had
the time to set up the rod.
The Diamondglass GLR-663 is a two piece S-glass rod.
The Diamondback company says "Diamondglass rods are magnificently finished in
black gloss with highly polished rosewood reel seats and stainless chrome guides
with a hialoy insert in the stripping guides" and for once the advertising copy
is dead-on. The rod is beautiful. The cork grip is perfectly sized for a
small rod without being uncomfortable for an average hand (I wear size 'L'
gloves) and the quality of the cork is inspiring. Like a fine European
sports sedan, this little rod is perfectly proportioned and functionally
elegant.
The very first time I cast
the rod-reel-line set-up I knew I was onto something special. In the early
spring the water is cold and the air is cool, but the anticipation is always
hot. I wasn’t able to fish, so I found half an hour to stop by a small duck
pond in the local park. Casting without water is like barbeque without beer, I
can only handle it for so long. Strung up and wet I found the mustard yellow
double taper capable of magic tricks in my barely competent hands. Roll casts
to 25 feet were accurate and easy. A roll cast pickup brought the fly straight
up and out of the water as though it were launched from a miniature submarine
missile silo. Overhead the little rod showed the guts to handle a double-haul
cast. I even held some 40 feet of fly line in the air for repeated false casts.
Here was the shortest fly rod I had ever cast and it was behaving like an old
friend. I couldn’t wait to feel it thrum with the vibrations of a fish! A week
is all I waited.
Rush
Run is a 38-acre impoundment in southwest Ohio that is managed by the
Ohio Department of Natural
Resources as quality panfish water. Twice a year they even stock
put-and-take trout. Loaded with standing wood and rich in deep water, Rush Run
is the ideal home for a canoe, kayak or float tube. It’s far too small and
obstructed for anyone to even consider dropping a big motor and until last year
it was rated for electric trolling motors only. Now, gasoline motors to 10hp
are allowed. Way to go, guys… I arrived on the water shortly after 8 and had
the canoe rigged and ready in minutes. With water temps in the lower 60’s I
knew the fish would be shallow, but not on the ceiling. I tied on a size 10
weighted Crackleback Wooly Worm.
Pre-spawn bluegills have a
unique take. There is seldom a tap. Or a stutter. Or a twitch. In my
experience the fly simply stops. On minute you’re twisting a slow, smooth
figure-eight and the next the line is tight. That’s how the first fish came.
And the second. And the third. The Diamondglass made every one of them feel
like a champ. The soft, full flexing design never had me worrying about the 2lb
test fluorocarbon tippet, while the light weight of the petite rod let me feel
every bulldogging tug.
All was not sunny and
delightful, though. Shortly after I’d started fishing I noticed that I seemed
to be working very hard to deliver the fly the requisite distance to the
shoreline. It seemed as though the rod couldn’t quite develop the speed to
propel the line with an air resistant fly attached. It was a while before I
realized that the problem was in the line, not the rod. A quick switch to an
Elite reel and WF3 Orvis Wonderline had me back in business with effortless
casts and more than adequate line speed. I determined to clean the Sylk line of
whatever I’d contaminated it with and return again the following week.
I cleaned my new Sylk line
with soapy warm water and rinsed it with clear water. Nothing seemed amiss and
nothing spotted the cleaning cloth to indicate contamination. I didn’t dress
the line with any floatant, after all it was brand new and nearly unfished. I
did reverse the line, though. A couple weeks later and I found myself on Rush
Run again. The results were the same. The Cortland Sylk line stuck to the
guides like lint to a sweater. It was supple. It floated well. It rolled a
path in the sky like I drew it there with a marker. But it wouldn’t shoot. I
wrote an email… to Cortland Customer Service. Two days later I got this
response;
“Dear Mr. Cornwall,
Thank you for your e-mail
requesting information. We were sorry to hear of the problems you had with this
line. We did have one batch of the 444 Sylk fly lines that did get slightly
sticky with use. However, this issue has been corrected and is something that we
monitor very closely. Please return the line to us for inspection and possible
replacement. Please return it to the address at the bottom of this e-mail.
Please let us know if you
have any questions.
Again, thank you for
contacting the Cortland Line Company, Inc.”
My first reaction was one of
skepticism about the "possible replacement" part. Send it to us and we'll decide
what to do about it isn't generally the customer service oriented answer I look
for. Plus I got to pay for the line and then to pay shipping and wait on
something that shouldn't have been broken to begin with. My hackles were
raised.
I
fished the Diamondglass with the Orvis line and Elite reel some more. They
worked well together as a casting system. When compared with my 2/3-weight
Performance rod, built on a graphite Pacific Bay 7½ -foot blank, the DG was
slower and softer in the tip. The DG bends into the lower half of the rod while
casting at normal distances, the Performance rod remains firm until the upper
third of the blank. The graphite rod also feels lighter in the hand, perhaps
startling so considering the fractions of an ounce in physical mass we’re
considering. But for all its material advantages, the carbon stick simply
couldn’t communicate “life” to the same intensity as the glass rod. The
Performance/Pac Bay felt quickly responsive and rapier-like; the Diamondglass
felt more in tune with the timing of my cast and more like an extension of my
casting arm.
Three weeks after I sent the
questionable line to Cortland I received a replacement in the mail. It was a
fresh Sylk line. There was no packing slip, no explanation. I honestly didn’t
expect one. I’d taken this problem through an unusual route; most purchasers
simply would have taken the line back to the fly shop. I’d gone direct as a
kind of experiment. A test. Cortland passed, marginally. While not exactly
setting the record for obsequious
rapid response, the company
did what I’d asked and replaced the line with a new, verified model of the same
design. I was quick to saddle it up, this time on a Pflueger 1492DA of slightly
newer vintage.
I’ve
since fished this combination for bluegills, rock bass, crappie and trout on
moving waters and still. I’ve fished hackled dry flies, traditional wet flies,
emergers, bead head nymphs, small cork poppers and soft-hackles. I’ve used
furled leaders and hand-tied monofilament leaders.
With flies up to a size 8
wet or a size 10 dry, I find the rod to be a more-than-capable performer out to
40 feet. I don’t like forcing the shorter rod to work at longer distances; line
handling and mending become especially challenging for me. Inside of 40 feet
the Diamondback fiberglass rod delivers the goods, though. Reach casts, curve
casts and stack casts are all easily executed and there was plenty of power to
control the process.
The Berkley Sylk line is
ever so slightly thinner and denser than the Orvis Wonderline. I didn’t take a
micrometer to them, so this is a subjective opinion only. To me, the Sylk line
feels like a sinking line feels during the cast. Only it floats. I won’t say
that I can cast better with a Sylk line than I can with a Wonderline – or any
quality line for that matter. But I will say that the Sylk line feels
different. You may like it. I do.
Together the delicate
Diamondglass rod and the supple Sylk fly line dance. This is a great
combination. Even my wife likes it. She eventually noticed it and I told her
it was a surprise. I told her the rod was a perfect fit for a a lovely lady and
that I was only thinking of her. I think she believed me.
Editor's Note: The Diamondglass series of fly
rods was discontinued by Cortland in 2006. Rods are occasionally available on
the used market and are well worth watching for.
