Tom Said It - Quotes

Andy Dear of Sexyloops once asked Tom Morgan if there were any crossover with materials in rod design. Below is an excerpt from Andy's interview with Tom:

Andy Dear: When you are manufacturing blanks, or having them manufactured for you out of different materials like graphite, cane, and glass, are you looking for different attributes from each material? In other words, do you say to yourself “This is the end result that I am looking for, so this probably needs to be made out of glass” I guess what I am asking is this; Is there quite a bit of crossover between materials and design ideas?

Tom Morgan: I would say there is quite a bit of crossover in that a good rod is a good rod is a good rod. What you are really looking at are attributes and characteristics. For example, if you took a category of Trout Rods, the weights of the different materials don't make a lot of difference. Even though Bamboo is heavier than Fiberglass, which is heavier than graphite, I have really strong convictions that you need to make a rod that is going to fish for Trout in the 20 or 25 foot to 50 or 55 foot range. If it doesn't really bend or flex in that area, then you have got the wrong rod. So with any one of the materials the characteristics of the rod in my opinion should still be the same. Now, the inherent weight of Bamboo is going is going to make it flex more when you shake it, than it will in fiberglass or graphite. Even with a graphite rod in my opinion I can shake one and tell you whether it is going to be a good rod or not. A lot of people feel that you can't do that with graphite. So when you get the line on them Andy, they all should flex about the same in my opinion.