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If I recall correctly (which I may not be) Garrison's primary issue with 5-siders was related to longevity; specifically how the stresses were distributed throughout the rod and how they affected the cane. I believe he also conceded that a pentagon of the same cross sectional area as a hexagon was stiffer in "one direction" (the backbone or spine theory of the 5 siders).

From a purely theoretical/engineering standpoint Garrison was most likely correct (I have not run through the calculations to verify them, because frankly I have all my engineering textbooks in the attic, don't feel like getting them down, but from what slowly bubbles up from the depths of stored knowledge, the reasoning and calculations in the book look plausible). In the real world, especially the modern one, careful adjustment of the taper and use of the appropriate glue will probably mitigate that aspect.

I liken pentas to quads: a correctly designed taper, built correctly, in either configuration will probably be a fine fishing and casting instrument. However, it will feel different than fishing and casting a hex (I offer paxlev's post above as one bit of evidence); this difference is inherently neither good nor bad: it just is. Some may like it, some may not. Quads as an example tend to be very straight tracking, as if the four sides work to constrain the plane of motion to just two: front to back and side to side. Hexes need a bit more attention from the caster with respect to casting plane (easy to wander off course). Maybe it's the rule of "number of sides divided by two"; if so, then the 5 sides give you 2.5 casting planes which may explain the torque paxlev says he feels and doesn't like.

I don't know if there are any real answers, but I guarantee that you will get a lot of opinions. Mine are above, based solely on my reading a lot of different references, my understanding of that data based on my own personal experience which limited to hexes and quads, but extrapolated to pentas. For the record, I find quads more tiresome to cast, maybe it's just my casting mechanics, but hexes feel more natural to me. While I would not be averse to trying a penta, I don't believe that I would actually purchase one for my own use.