Bamboo rods for flymphs

[tie2fish]

I had a chance today to watch a feature film entitled "Trout Grass", which chronicles the entire process of building bamboo rods starting with the selection of Tonkin poles in China and culminating with the actual construction and fishing of top grade rods in Montana. It was moving for me to see the amount of loving labor involved, and I'm not even a devotee (yet). Highly recommended for those who get the opportunity to see it ...

[Ruard]

I did see the film and liked it very much.


Greeting

[Kelly L.]

I just stumbled across this thread. Wayne, did you get that rod made yet? I am with Vicki on the length of fly rod. I believe my favorite size is 8-8 1/2 ft long. Although I have only tested 5 different ones, so I don't have much experience in that dept.

[overmywaders]

I acquired a new (old) rod about a month ago that has become my new favorite. It is a pre-1922 Leonard 9'6" 3/1. It casts a 4wt like a dream. When you start the forward cast you really only need to push with the thumb and tighten your grip -- no arm movement necessary. The snakes are diminutive English twist; the agate tip top is just large enough for the plastic 4wt line. It will cast 6' of line or a measured 60' (without hauling).

The 5" cork handle seems too tiny, but I have small hands so it is just fine. As you can tell, I love this rod. Of course, it is heavy by modern standards, but a nice heavy reel will counterbalance the rod's 5.9 oz. I paid less than $80.00 for the rod. Some of the varnish needs polishing and a snake needs to be replaced, but the intermediates are all there.

Here is a shot of the grip:


Regards,
Reed

[Kelly L.]

That is a beauty of a rod, and you got a good deal on it. My rod was just under fifty bucks. I am still working on it. Post pics when you are through!!

[raven4ns]

Hello,
I have often thought about getting a bamboo fly rod but I can't pull the trigger. While most have 2 tips these days, I would cry if I ever broke one of the tips and that keeps me from owning one. Because I use mostly 3wgt and 4wgt rods in the 7' to 7'6" for my trout fishing, fishing with a bamboo rod in this category has always appealed to me for some reason.
While many of the rivers I fish are not really large they do have some big fish in them. The brown trout can run up to 8lbs+ and salmon to 35lbs+ and it would be just my luck to hit one of those monsters and snap a tip...lol. One day maybe I will get a bamboo rod just to use on small streams where the trout only run to 14-16" and most of them are in the 8-12" range. At least they wouldn't break my rod and I wouldn't feel the need to show off my use of 4 letter words...lol.

Tim

[hankaye]

raven4ns, Howdy;

Good to see you cruising the older posts and adding input.
Perhaps you might be able to throw some light into some corners
and answer a question that has remained unanswered.

hank

[letumgo]

Tim - Earlier this year I started fishing with a bamboo rod and I have been impressed by how strong they are.


This is a 19" smallmouth bass which I landed on my bamboo rod.


Hopefully some other members will chime in, regarding the durability of bamboo rods. Tim Didas (tjd) catches large trout and steelhead with his bamboo rods all the time.

[Jerry G]

Tim I have read of other's with the same concern about breaking a tip on a cane rod. As a cane rod builder I know is quick to answer about that concern. Those tips can be replaced. That's not always the case should you have a favorite graphite that suffers the same breakage. I would suggest though should you decided to give a cane rod a try. Before buying, try a number of different rods so as to be sure what you are buying is a rod you are going to be happy with.

Regards, Jerry

[redietz]

Cane rods are probably less fragile than graphite. I regularly fish rods that are almost 80 years old and don't worry about them at all.

I just picked up a new (to me) rod last week that had one tip that been run over by a car. It scuffed the varnish a bit, and bent some of guides, but the previous owner fished that tip for two years without incident. He still sold it to me as a one tip rod, just in case. (I caught 5 healthy sized rainbows last Sunday on that tip.)

Of course a car door or ceiling fan can break cane as easily as it can any other material, but at least they're reparable or replaceable.

And if you're willing to go with a used production rod, cane doesn't even need to be expensive. Something like a South Bend 290 -- a great little dry fly rod, just not collectable -- will run you somewhere between $100 and $200.