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troutguy

Who prefers to fish bamboo?

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I fish a couple of older Orvis bamboos made in 1970 that I bought cheap in a gun shop. I built a few more rods from blanks I bought from the Angler's Roost. I love the feel of bamboo. I love the way they cast. My two favorites are 7 1/2 foot 4wt Payne copies. I fish a lot of days a year and in some tough terrain. The bamboo rods are workers. I broke one and had to learn how to repair it. I long ago ditched the silver cork reel rings on the Orvis Flea for a wood reel seat because my reel dropped off at the worst times.

 

I get looks from people and questions such as why would I fish a collectible when I fish. Fishing in Montana a few years ago, the guide asked me if I had a real rod. I thought my 8ft Battenkill was a real rod. We were doing a lot of pick off the water roll casts that day. He never saw a bamboo load for a roll cast. During the float, he asked and tried the rod. He was sold.

 

So how many of you fish bamboo and why?

 

The rod pictured is one of the Payne copies, a 101. A 7 1/2 ft 4wt.

 

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As a rod builder I've had the chance to build and fish/own a number of cane rods. While I like the look of them (they are beautiful if built right) and I like the slower flex characteristics of cane, but I don't care for the extra weight of cane compared to graphite. And since there are some slow/mod action graphite blanks on the market I actually sold all my cane years ago in favor of graphite. There's ways to lighten them such as hollow core cane blanks and such, but when you are use to the lightness of a graphite stick cane still just has a noticeable weight difference.

 

Everyone is different though, some people don't mind the weight, so just for me personally it was not something I wanted. There is nothing more beautiful than a nice cane rod next to a good trout though, makes for one gorgeous picture.

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I bought three Orvis for 400 and sold one for $135 Mikechell. I know who and when they were made because I called Orvis. I was worried they were hot. The first one I built was a kit. Everything for $135 from Angler's Roost. My friend took a 9 ft Montague ( a cheap older rod you can pick up at yard sales) and made a 6 foot stream rod out of the two small sections. Fishes great.

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This is something im currently looking into. Steve for his sins will be building me a rod and I'm almost 99% sure I'm going the glass route. Then I came across some bamboo blanks by a UK maker called Chapmans, he actually sends a lot of blanks to the US. Price is very keen and it appears the weight of the rod is one of its benefits in that the rod itself has weight to flex and isn't relying on fly line weight to cast, hence slower softer casting with very little line out and great on small waters.

 

Don't panic Steve, I don't think I'm going to post you a bamboo blank but maybe, just maybe.......

Or there are some gorgeous Japanese glass ones I've seen. Oh and the T&T heirloom blanks.... If only money was no object

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I use bamboo exclusively, when fishing for brook trout. The flexibility of the tips keeps me from launching 4 inch fish into the next county on hook set.

 

For most of my other trout fishing I use bamboo as well, just because I like the feel. 7' to 7' 6" is ideal for most trout streams. I only switch to graphite where I know I have a good chance of getting into larger fish, and I want to be able to land them quickly.

 

All my rods are modern builds. My favorite is a 3-piece Cattanach 7' 6" 4wt Sir D that I built a couple of years ago.

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Troutguy, the Payne style is without the swelled butt correct?? Have you fished any with the swelled butt? Did you find these had a generally stiffer action or only when your really bending the rod toward the handle. (phg free to answer too lol)

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Piker I have seen the swelled rods. I have never owned or fished one. I am not sure they sell them here, I never did look.

 

My wife got me this rod for Christmas one year and it started the bamboo building. These kits are different than wrapping a graphite blank. You have to spline the rod, straighten the blank and sand the ferrules to fit before you mount them. I had no idea what I was doing. The old gentleman that owns the company told my wife to have me call Mr. Mills from Raven Fork Rods and he would walk me through it. That kit rod is a really nice rod actually. I did not like the reel seat and have since replaced it. My friend liked the reel seat and I gave it to him. The next blank he sold me was a 6 1/2 foot for $50. That's how a drug dealer gets you. He said pay me when you me at the Winston Salem Show, I you don't like the taper send it back or give it to me at the show. OK I walked out of the show with two Payne blanks and a Leonard. He gave me a deal.

 

http://theanglersroost.com/products/bamboo-blanks/bamboo-rod-kits/7-ft-bamboo-blank-and-rod-kit/

 

 

 

I have one flamed Payne and the blonde natural in the photo above.

 

http://theanglersroost.com/products/bamboo-blanks/presidential-bamboo-blanks/payne-100-7-6-2-piece-4-wt-flamed/ (The price is really 150. The blonde color are 125.)

 

I have been told that all the blanks come from the same place. A good number of custom builders use already made blanks rather than plane their own. If you see a bamboo rod selling for under $1500 I'm told the builder did not cut split and plane his own bamboo.

 

As far as actions Piker more than graphite each rod has a personality and action of there own. I have found that the two tips vary. My Grandfather used to say one was the dry fly action and the other the wet fly tip. I do not know other than they come from a large grass plant (bamboo is a grass) and just like baseball bats all are different.

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If you see a bamboo rod selling for under $1500 I'm told the builder did not cut split and plane his own bamboo.

 

 

Not sure who told you that but that actually is not true at all. There's a good number of cane blank builders that hand split their own cane and sell high quality hand split cane blanks to builders for $250-$450 for the feruled two tip blank. I use to have Bob (former member OSD) make my blanks for me right here in Michigan. Fully built up price after I built it normally was around $750 range. Even Chris Carlin whom is probably one of the top cane blank makers in the entire country sells his 2pc 2 tip hand split blanks for $495. So fully built up by most builders that would sell for around $750-$800.

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Slow, heavy, expensive, with limited application, bamboo rods are for those who want to relive bygone days using historical techniques, not someone interested in the broad range of potential fly fishing venues and methods that exist today. They are more durable than a graphite rod, but that is pretty much their only advantage unless you are just obsessed with the aesthetics. Will get my own one of these days for certain waters/applications, but having cast other's grass rods, for the wide variety of fly fishing I do, a bamboo rod would be more of a handicap than a help. YMMV.

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I have two split canes, and I am presently working on restoring my third. I own two Horrick Ibbotsons both are from the early fifties ( label recognition) and I am working on a Vom Hoff a 15' five piece. Two tips, Two Mids, and a butt. ( from my reaseach, the VH is from the early 20s). I fish them and love their feel though they are old and considered to be antiques they do the job just fine. My plans for the Vom Hoff is to make two rods from it: a 7' and a 12'. for salmon. I think there's something that charges me extra when I land a fish on either.

 

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In '53 Dad had a three piece Bamboo rod, one with the intermediate wraps, of unknown make, a silk line and an auto reel. He passed it on to us kids, his game was golf. My brother and I were attempting to fish it and the ole man asked "mind if I try?". We spotted a catfish close to the shore bank and gave the fish location to Dad. It was amazing to watch the false casts back and forth and finally the dry fly right on target. The fish took and measured about 14 inches.


Basically my cane rods are now dust collecting in the fishing closet. I purchased my first rod in '65, a 6 1/2 ft Orvis Madison 4 wt..... it replaced an Eagle Claw fiberglass that was de-tipped by Mother in the Olds passenger door. Great little rod it still is !


Next was a 3 piece Battenkill 8 1/2 ft rated HDH. The rod is a dog and until I matched it with a 4wt line much later after owning it I could see some potential. Yes I said 4wt.


A 9 ft Phillipson Pacemaker rated for a "C" weight was a casting machine ! I used the rod post Graphite fishing big streamers but had to put it down because it was to heavy to fish solid for more that an hour or two so I had to carry two rods. All decked out with it's Medalist I think the outfit weighed pretty close to a pound. It could cast a full line without much of an effort.


I still own three of the rods but they only see day light when I uncap the tubes and take a whiff of ole times.


Sorry to say, today I am a Graphite rod fisherman having fished one since '74. They just out perform anything I have tried. You are all invited to my estate sale where I'm sure the ole lady will make you a hell of a deal on the cane rods :-))).

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And how far can a decent caster throw a graphite rod in the similar conditions? The answer is further. One anecdote does not invalidate the shortcomings of bamboo, sorry. There is nothing wrong with embracing an antiquated methodology for fishing. One could argue that sums up fly fishing in general. One just should not make it more than it is, in my not so humble opinion.

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I fished one this weekend and had a great time doing so. If you think a bamboo rod is too heavy, it's time to check your man card or get a shorter rod. I have on that was made in 1890 or so, is ten feet long, and weighs 6 1/2 ounces. Not something I'd want to fish all day but it casts a 6wt line and isn't horribly noodly, Old rods were basically 9 ft long because casting a silk line back in the early 20th Century wasn't nearly as important then as it is now. Don't ignore the power of asthetics. I know of no rod that looks nearly as good as a well-made bamboo rod.

 

My rod cost $150 new, will throw a 5 or a 6 wt line, is 7.5 feet long and weighs 4 1/2 oz. I can live with that. Sure, you can get a graphite rod at about half that weight, paying a lot of money for lightness, or a glass rod that's slightly less and either a great bargain or an expensive masterpiece. Each type has its fans, and I'm a fan of all three.

 

Used to be, bamboo rods were handcrafted with planing and scraping and took a LONG time to complete, and they were a lot more expensive than most others. Nowadays, the mistique of bamboo still lingers although all sorts of mechanically time saving devices make them once again affordable.

 

Why do I like them? I don't know, but suspect when I was growing up, I longed for one. And I like the way the rod bends way up the blank. Not all of them are slow, the dry fly rods are moderately fast compared to older bamboo. Why do I like fiberglass? They fish really well and can be translucently beautiful, somethign graphite can never do. And why do I like graphite? What's not to like. Two years ago at the end of the season, I bought 2 9' 7-8 graphite rods for $10 each and they cast fine, look cheap and are comparatively heavy. There's a lot to like on all three materials.

 

I won't apologize for my choices nor will I explain. No reason I should have to.

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