Pointless gear reviews: Cabela's Custom Glass Rod 5'9" 3 weight. (insignificantly updated 9/18)

Hi there!

Well, I was pretty enticed by the other end of the the CGR line, the 5'9" 3wt. I didn't have a very practical use for it, but fuck it, I truly do expect them to be limited availability, so I pulled the trigger a couple weeks ago. Not that I had a chance to use it, nor do I know when I will, but sometimes I do dumb shit.

So, with that said, even though I've only taken it out for some lawn casting and about 15 minutes in a very limited test on the water, I've got opinions (fuck yeah, do I ever!) on the baby of the CGR line.

Have a cigar.

As should be obvious, its the polar opposite of the biggest member of the family. Its a tiny, willowy affair with no backbone at all. The blank is so thin that it belies a sense of frailty to it, indeed like its bigger brother its got a ferrule that's loose as a mom's vag, desite the other being tight. The difference is, reaching up during use to sink it down every so often leads to worrisome feeling as you watch the entire rod flex under the force. Its not a comfortable feeling at all, then again neither is watching the top third sail off across the stream.

The handle is a perfect cigar shape, and despite its diminutive size, fits terrifically into my unorthodox hold. The reel seat is also cork, and features fucking sliding bands, which I supposed to be expected on something this tiny. Moreso, the sliding rings they used suck ass. Suck mighty ass, indeed. They're just too fucking tiny and tight, and I swear to fuck they're on backwards.

Seriously, though. Sliding band reel seats. I do not care I can shave an extra modicum of a fucking ounce off, they suck. They suck hard. They fucking such fucking hard because they never fucking work right. Shit always falls off, either they're too fucking tight or not tight the fuck enough. Why can't we simply be given a light aluminum fucking downlocking seat? Seriously, I'll settle for one locking ring and an ugly fake-ass fucking carbon fiber insert, but for the love of fucking everything, no more fucking sliding band seats.

All I really wanted was to mount an old Pflueger Medalist 1492 to the rod, I've got a DA model that needs a rod to live on. I'd really planned on this being the rod (after a Hardy 7' Featherweight failed me), but it wasn't to be...'coz sliding bands still suck (see previous paragraph).  I don't know if its coz this seat sucks that spectacularly or if its because the DA model has the wider foot. I do know the current Cabela's combo is with the 1492, so I dunno. Alas, no bueno. The rod currently balances nicely with an Ocean City 35 I had laying around, a crappy reel with a timeless appearance. Whatever. The reel seat is finished with a nice little burled butt. Its a good look. You know what wasn't a good look? The black fucking smudges on the cork from the lining of the tube.

I hate sliding band seats. Fuck them and fuck their fans.

Yeah, that shit irked me. C'mon, how fucking cheap is the dye in your nylon or whatever that a mildly damp rod handle leached the shit out and turned it black. Look, its a nice tube. Its attractive, its got big and bold stitching and all that shit, fuck I sang its praises in the last post I did about this series, but I didn't fucking expect to have it stain my cork. That's not cool. Fuck you, Cabela's. Now it looks like I stick my rod up in funny places.

Speaking of good looks, they carry on through this rod just like the rest of the line. The rod features the same deep kelly green, variegated thread (I guess, WTF do I know?), and silver trim wraps. The labelling is a pale gold, and it again looks quite nice. You probably expect me to say something snarky here, but I won't. Its genuinely very nice.

Far less lime than the catalogue would lead you to see.

One of the bitch points I had about the 7/8wt is the tiny little stripping guide. Ironically, on this rod, its just right. The snakes are possibly even oversized, which I suppose some pedantic asshole out there believes is going to reduce casting distance or some shit. As noted, its a three piece with tip-over-butt spigot ferrules. Including a loose one. Seems to be a fucking curse of this line based on my two-for-two examples.

So, then, how's that strike you? More importantly, how's it feel?

Well, to be honest, jury is still out on that one. As I've made no secrets about it, my summer has been fucking horrible. Furthermore, not that I had much of a chance to use it all summer long, but when I finally gotten one it was one day before my beach vacation, not exactly the place for this. In turn that lead to the two weeks of downtime before performed the radical nephrectomy, and I won't lie, I was in no mood to fish. Ergo, it has had no fish caught to it.

Old meets new.

I have had it out for some yard casting, where I used a Cortland Sylk 3DT line. Its nice enough close it, but once you break about 30', it all falls apart. Then again, its fucking 5.75 feet long, so what else might you expect? I'd like to try another line with a less intense front taper, this might even be a situation where a DT line overloads the rod. Its hard to not try to be a fucking Jeff Rajeff when someone plops a rod in your hand, I suppose.

On the water, however, its a bit different. I'm still not sure I like the taper of the line, but it feels a little less ethereal, with a little more punch. Again, I need to put into practice, because the urge to bang out epic casts is hard to fight. I also need to tailor out a better leader for it, because the rod really doesn't have the power to hammer out epic casts, turn over mile long leader and land a fly.

Now, I'm hoping my shit heals up and the water levels recede enough for me to get out there and and try to catch a feesh or two with this thing. It would've been nice for goddamned trico fishing, if that's how you roll.  I'm hoping maybe to get a chance to catch an afternoon BWO hatch at my local stream this year. I can only imagine how nice this must feel with even a 6" brownie on the end of it. What I do know is that this won't become a long term favourite of mine, like the 7/8 weight has. Its definatly a niche rod that'll be fun to break out in specific circumstances, but unfortuantly it has to compete with two additional rods, a 6'6" LL Bean Quest 2 and a 7' Hardy Featherweight that I really, really want to like, but just can't. I suspect thoughts and feelings on all three are forthcoming as I try to milk my brain for everything I can while my body recuperates. Sucks for me, though, as I missed summer time low flow dry fly fishing, where these little rods excel.

Oh well, at least for the CGR, I got it now before its gone. I count that as an important tackle purchase lesson, I'm almost compelled to add the 7'6" 5wt, except its just too short for me to really desire. These are all quality rods, and at cheap prices. If you're willing to drop $100, its a hell of a way to try out a quality modern fiberglass rod.

"Big."

Update: Honestly, since having my kidney yanked, I've been sitting around the house bored out of my fucking skull. There's really not much I can do, and fishing is pretty much right out. Flows are up, I'm unsteady, and if i fall I'm gonna tear my shit up twisting about as I fall. So, what the fuck do I do?

Well, I'm sitting there thinking about this stupid shit when I realized I bought a tiny little 5'9" 3wt glass rod. You know what its perfect for/ Bluegills.

Sadly average.

Now, insomuch as I hate the bluegill aficiandos who run unchecked across the Internets, I ain't gonna lie, they are fun (the fish, not the jackhole). The problem is in Pennsylvania, we don't really get good ones, but sometimes, when you can only do so much, you take what you get, and at the same time get to at least test the rod out, eh?

Its actually a hoot, when the winds not kicking your ass, it'll send a size 12 fly a fair enough distance, and its a real blast when even 5" panfish takes the line and will put a moderate bend slightest curve into the rod.

Not that this stupid little exercise justifies $100 to me, but I guess if you're one of those bluegill people, this is pretty damned stellar. I was able to milk about an hour of fun out of doing this before my gut started to hurt and I felt it was time to head home.