Vintage Garcia Conolon rods....

[Flounder Boy 3]

I notice on Fleabay that some are marked 3 Star, 4 Star, etc.

What kind of reputation did these rods have back in their day? Were they considered top shelf or run of the mill?

[humboldtdan]

I don't think they were considered top shelf, but decent low to mid grade rod.  I used to love mine when I lived in Michigan and used it for just about everything matched with the venerable mitchell 300.  Steelhead, bass, pike, brown trout and salmon wre all caught with this set-up.

[Swami805]

I have a few Conolons from before they were bought by Garcia. Conolon was one of the first to manufacture fiberglass fishing rods. I believe there was a drop-off in quality of workmanship when they sold to Garcia as is what usually happens when things become mass produced. Materials for the blanks and components did improve over time from the original Conolon but they were mid range rods. Nothing wrong with them and there's still a lot of them around, take them fishing and see what you think. I have no idea what the stars mean.
I have one 8' Conolon that I've used recently, it's no fish killing machine but it's fun to fish with. Nick named it the bend-o-matic. A 2lb mackerel looks like you're fighting a tuna, it puts the sport back in sport fishing. 

[philaroman]

methinks # of stars denotes quality of workmanship & components w/ little dif. in blank quality, if any, based on # of stars, alone -- i.e., a 5* is better-made than a 3* from the same period/era.  basically, 4* & 5* are more suitable to fish as is, while lower stuff is more likely to be stripped & rebuilt...  that's not personal experience, but a vague, general idea that I got from:

http://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=33&sid=89713fb6a09de453806d52161f9660bc

AND

http://mitchellreelmuseum.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=90&sid=3f91aea7b03b202f574a759ee4367883

either of those Forums has plenty of experts that can tell you anything you could possibly want to know about glass Conolons