Fishing with a two-handed rod has advantages. In areas where you need to make a long cast with little room for a back cast, you should consider a two-hander. If having complete control of your flys swing speed is important, you should consider a two hander. When your fricken arm feels like it is going to fall off because you have been casting 8 hours a day for three days trying to catch a steelhead or Atlantic salmon, you should consider a two-hander. If you want to have more fun casting and fishing, you should own a two-hand fiberglass Spey rod.
When working on a new generation of two-hand rods for people to swing their favorite sections of the river, we thought it time to look in the rear-view mirror at materials from a previous era. Over the past ten years the evolution of lines, flies, and casting styles has stabilized allowing us to again consider using fiberglass to build a family of rods for anglers who think it is as important to feel the cast as it is to feel the fish. Because in recent years modern two hand line lengths and tapers have not changed much “settled down” we thought it the perfect time to bring a small family of two hand fiberglass rods to the market.
When using a more compact casting style, where both hands contribute to the cast, people benefit from a moderate to faster action two-hand rod. Slower actions rods, where the top hand often dominates the casting stroke, have given way to faster action rods where casts are made with the angler’s hands down and in front of their body allowing more biomechanical efficiency casts generating more line speed with less fatigue. Combine the modern two hand casting styles with shorter lines and you begin to understand why we wanted to design a new series of glass Spey rods with the modern two-hand angler in mind.
To take advantage of a shorter head and more condensed casting stroke ECHO Glass Spey rods have a modest action that might be described as medium fast. To achieve the feel and balance we wanted it was decided to use S2 glass fibers in the manufacture of our glass two-handers. To improve performance, we purposely increased the blank diameter to allow for thinner walls to lessen rod weight and improve rod recovery. The combination of materials and design gives each ECHO Glass Spey rod a crisp feel and surprising line speed all while being easier to load than a comparable rod made from graphite fibers. To help the rod keep up with the faster casting strokes of today’s anglers, we chose to keep the rods on the shorter side of the two-hand rod spectrum. A shorter rod is less strenuous to cast and can be more forgiving than a longer rod. While compact glass two-hand rods may not generate the same line speed as longer, stiffer carbon fiber rods, people fish them because they love the feel of a glass rod.
A side benefit of using S2 glass fibers is the natural elongation of glass fibers – vs – graphite fibers. Glass two-hand rods can allow a person to maintain maximum pressure on the fish without worrying about pulling the hook or breaking the tippet. Glass fibers form a more effective shock absorber and can help you land a fish quickly contributing to better fish health. Land the fish as quickly as possible and you give the fish a better chance of survival.
FIBERGLASS SPEY 3108. 10’8” #3 line.
They designed this rod to be an all-around trout Spey rod. It is a firm three weight rod with a modest action which balances with a 270 grain head plus or minus 25 grains. We created the rod with this 270 grain target knowing most people have never fished with a glass Spey rod and will likely use a faster and more aggressive stroke than needed, so the added power in the rod will improve loop shape and help avoid throwing a tailing loop.
When casting with a more aggressive stroke most people benefit from a lighter line or stiffer rod. Soooooooo by making a 3108 rod handle 270 grains, we felt the power in the rod would help those new to Spey casting while more experienced anglers will be able to “tweak” their grain weight to match their casting style. Use a lighter head if you are an aggressive caster and a heavier head if you are used to Skagit style rods (slower action) or have experience casting glass or bamboo two-hand rods. We had fun fishing the Glass Spey rod making overhand casts with both one or two-hands. If you want to overhand cast your 3108 we recommend you use a standard WF6 or WF7 line.
The four-piece rod is coated with translucent pale olive paint which will really pop when back lit by the sun. Dark olive thread bind the TICN coated guides to the blank. It comes with a low maintenance anodized all metal reel seat and a modified traditional full wells grip to allow the angler to move their hands around depending on their preferred grip and casting style. The fiberglass rod tube color matches the blank.
Check out the Echo Fiberglass Spey 10'8" 3wt Rod HERE!
FIBERGLASS SPEY 61110. 11’10” #6 line.
Welcome to your new favorite summer run two-hand rod. The goal for our six-weight glass rod was to make a fun casting rod that excels in casting floating heads with compact strokes. Add 30 grains to the head and slow your stroke down and you can use the 61110 as a light Skagit rod. It was designed to be a middle of the road / versatile six weight rod which balances with a 425 grain head plus or minus 25 grains. With the power to comfortably throw 425 grains, the 6 weight ECHO Fiberglass Spey rod will handle most fishing situations we come across when throwing modest to long distances using Scandi or Skagit heads.
The secret to making a rod that comfortably casts different head styles is to keep the action moderate, not too fast, or too slow. We made the 61110 to be as light all around steelhead rod but expect people will love it for any anadromous fish. The nature of glass fibers makes this rod feel like it will flex more than people expect and they might not believe the rod has enough juice to throw a longer cast. It can take a little time for some to adjust to efficiently casting a glass rod but once they “settle down” discover glass rods can be effective casting tools. Put a line on the rod and hit the water and begin to understand why the Glass 61110 rod will quickly become one of the most popular summer run / lighter two hand rods on the river.
Like all ECHO Fiberglass Spey rods, the 61110 is a four-piece rod coated with translucent pale olive paint which will really pop when back lit by the sun. Dark olive thread bind the TICN coated guides to the blank. It comes with a low maintenance anodized all metal reel seat and an extended modified traditional full wells grip to allow the angler to move their hands around depending on their preferred grip and casting style. The fiberglass rod tube color matches the blank.
FIBERGLASS SPEY 7120. 12’0” #7 line.
A seven weight is the most popular line size for two hand rods for a good reason. The reason they are our most popular selling two-hand rods is their ability to fish all four seasons effectively. The use of shorter heads and more condensed casting strokes has contributed to the popularity of rods with modest actions. Our 7120 Fiberglass Spey rod was designed to take advantage of modern two-hand anglers who demand a rod that responds to their more condensed / compact casting strokes. Decades of rod and line design experience helped mold the 7120 glass Spey into one of the most versatile seven weight rods we have ever made.
Knowing people will fish a seven weight in medium to larger rivers, we felt it important that any rod we make satisfy people’s need for higher line speed to help with longer distance using a standard casting stroke. We were tempted to stretch the length of the glass 7120 rod until it matches the 13’ full Spey rods that people like for larger rivers. It was our experience designing glass rods that convinced us to stick to a more compact length rod and settled on 12’0” as the best length for our 7 weight glass Spey rod. This length rod allows people to maintain the faster paced sweep and delivery they know from their carbon fiber rods. We designed the 7120 to balance with 500 grains plus or minus 30 grains. As with the other glass Spey rods if you are a more aggressive casting use a lighter line if you are a smoother caster and or if you are going to focus on Skagit heads uses a heavier line.
When first casting a 7120 glass rod it only take a few casts before it is evident that simply slowing down one’s stroke allows the glass fibers to load and contribute more to the cast. Unlike a graphite two-hand rod, the ECHO Glass 7120 will help everyone feel the rod load throughout the casting stroke helping timing and loop formation. We fish glass rods not because we are trying to win a casting contest, we use ECHO glass rods because they are fun to cast and lessen the stress on our arm after a full day on the water.
Like the other ECHO Fiberglass Spey rods the 7120 is a four-piece rod coated with translucent pale olive paint. The Dark olive thread complements the blank color and firmly holds the TICN coated guides to the blank. The rods come with a low maintenance anodized all metal reel seat and an extended modified traditional full wells grip to allow the angler to move their hand to take advantage of their preferred grip and casting style. The fiberglass rod tube color matches the blank.
When feeling the cast is as important as feeling the fish, you owe it to yourself to try a glass rod. ECHO GLASPEY is a series of two-handed Spey rods designed to put the fun back into swinging for steel. Designed as a bridge between today’s faster action rods and the full flex rods yesteryear, the action and power of ECHO Glass Two-handers is progressive enough to handle Skagit heads while still allowing an angler to throw a Scandi head using the tip of the rod. Available in trout and Steelhead sizes. Oh yeah, did we say glass is fun.
