Fiberglass fly rods, E-Glass, S-Glass and why not all fiberglass fly rods are created equal.

Simple, Epic Fiberglass Fly Rods have no equal. 
Our glass rods are lighter and have a crisper response than any other glass-fiber fly rod produced.  Our cork, components and build quality are unbeaten by any production fly rod, be it glass or carbon fiber.  

Fiberglass is the perfect material to build fly rods that are extremely tough, durable and fuller flexing than Carbon fibre. Our FastGlass fiberglass fly rods are perfectly designed for long lazy casting strokes, presenting dry flies like thistledown and slinging serious weight out on the flats.

Due to their fuller flexing nature glass rods are not only kinder on light tippets and the fish connected to them, they are kinder and easier on fly casters. Fiberglass also has a much higher resistance to damage than carbon fiber - an important benefit on our book.
Fiberglass is a very warm, tactile material. Epic glass rods are fun to cast, there's no other way to describe it. Glass rods just have more soul. 

Epic fiberglass fly rods are unique in that they are they are the only production rod in the world to be constructed using a fully unidirectional S-2 Glass fibre material.  Even today, most fiberglass fly rods are constructed using older  E-Glass material - And of course that old school glass feeling is a very real part of the affection many anglers have for 'glass'

The common E-Glass found in most inexpensive flyrods was originally developed as an electrical insulator in the 1930's (hence the "e") it features cross woven or even chopped strand fibers. Due to its strength, high damage tolerance, low cost and mouldable nature E-Glass rapidly found favour with boat & surfboard builders. 

While a cross woven material might be great for building boats, kayaks and surfboards the very nature of the weave make it less than perfect for building fly rods.  To build a great fly rod we ideally need the majority of fibers to run longitudinally up the bank, and a smaller number of fibers running cross wise to hold the bundle together and contribute hoop strength. (Generally hoop strength is achieved by utilising a fibreglass scrim anyway) However, all those additional cross fibres in conventional E-Glass do nothing but add weight and resin load to the material. This is why most fiberglass fly rods tend to be comparatively heavy and quite slow. Think of the fiberglass fly rods of old.  Overall E-Glass is cheap to produce and relatively heavy.

S-2 glass was first developed for military missle applications, and later, armour plating on military vehicles. It is a higher quality product than standard E-glass and is about 30% stronger and 15% stiffer. S-2 Glass is used in applications that require greater strength and less weight than common E-Glass.  A very small number of manufacturers claim to use S-Glass in their fly rods, one manufacturer claims to use a "largely unidirectional" material in their glass rod construction. E-Glass and S-Glass are fine materials for fly rod construction, but for our Glass fly rods we chose the most modern most advanced material available. 

Unidirectional S-2 Glass is a modern composite material that exhibits high damage tolerance, high tensile strength, high flexural strength and is extremely well suited to advanced fly rod construction.
Modern unidirectional S-2 Glass is primarily used in the construction of wind turbine blades, helicopter rotor blades and militarily aircraft.  The  Sikorsky Helicopter Corporation even have a patent on it's use. We use it in our fly rods for the very same reasons.

With the majority of fibres running longitudinally - where they are needed most - we can produce fly rods that are not only very strong but are very light and have faster recovery speeds than conventional E-Glass or even standard S-2 Glass

In short, because our FastGlass is so strong we can use less material, this gives us a very strong blank that is light and extremely responsive.

Epic FastGlass fly rods still exhibit the full flexing feel,  strength and casting goodness of fibrerglass, but without the associated weight and that 'Noodle' feeling we all know. 

FastGlass® is a Trademark of the Swift Fly Fishing Company.

Our fly rods are produced using superior materials from top to toe. Our fly rod blanks, many with a translucent finish, are difficult to produce (our technology partner constantly reminds us), many blanks are rejected, and only the very best quality blanks from each batch go on to carry the Epic name.

We use superior cork & components and each fly rod is made one at a time, as the customer orders it, right here in our small studio workshop in Wanaka, New Zealand. We proudly state that our product is not mass produced using cheap components or cheap Asian labour. 

We take great pride in our originally of design and workmanship - even our natural glass rod tube is unique.

While its true that you can really only make fly rods by hand, all production rods tend to be mass produced, shipped out and marketed in the hope that each will find an owner. This is a fairly conventional "PUSH" based commercial model. 

However, a new Epic fly rod comes into existence only after it is ordered by one of our customers . Each Epic fly rod is then commissioned and hand crafted with tender loving care, right here in our small studio workshop in the gorgeous alpine resort town of Wanaka, New Zealand.  We know the name of the owner of each rod and where its home will be throughout every step of the process. At the end of the build, we have the distinct and very real pleasure of uniting each rod with its new owner.
And that is about the biggest thrill we get.

We are so very confident that every fly rod we make is of the highest quality possible, we guarantee your complete and absolute satisfaction or your money back. Read more about our Epic promise