The Cane Rod

"rb608" wrote in message
news:Z14Pf.5661$Cc3.2663@trnddc08...
"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...
who has never fished with a bamboo rod but has seen a couple of beautiful
ones made by a rank beginner.

Yup. Saw those myself and was damned impressed. Damn near inspired to
try my hand at it; but fortunately (or unfortunately), opportunity and
inspiration never coincided.

A fitting epitaph for ......well, just about all of us.

As long as I can play the "been gone for a while" card, where/how the hell
*is* Zimbo?

He drops a line in here every few months. Been a while since the last one.

Wolfgang

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
. net...
Dave LaCourse wrote:
Ken Fortenberry wrote:
I would never sully a good piece of cane by using
it to cast anything other than dry flies although I suppose
it's not illegal in some states to fling a nymph with one

As a nympher, I have to agree. But/however, I have used cane with a
nymph or two. d;o)

I have two Kusse (3 and 5), a Zimmerman (4), another made by roff's
own Peter Collin (a 5 which I use the most), and a Gehrke *******.

DOH !! I forgot, I too have a garden stake from the
Gehrke bamboo experiment. It's crap.

I had one of those and, in spite of it's peculiar looks, it cast just
fine. I gave it to Snoop a couple of years ago because I have a half a dozen
other 7 1/2' bamboos and that one just wasn't getting much use (and it was
ugly).

"rw" wrote in message
nk.net...
Tim J. wrote:

I don't personally own a bamboo rod, but if I did purchase one, the main
reason would be for the feel and casting characteristics. If those aren't
there, it seems to me you could just use a willow branch, no?

You should consider the Orvis Classic Traditional Package.

It comes with a bamboo rod, a silk line, a gut leader, a tweed jacket, a
briar pipe, and a split willow creel.

It doesn't come with a gilley? Sheesh, you might as well be living in
Ethiopia.

Charlie Wilson wrote:
"rw" wrote in message
nk.net...

Tim J. wrote:

I don't personally own a bamboo rod, but if I did purchase one, the main
reason would be for the feel and casting characteristics. If those aren't
there, it seems to me you could just use a willow branch, no?

You should consider the Orvis Classic Traditional Package.

It comes with a bamboo rod, a silk line, a gut leader, a tweed jacket, a
briar pipe, and a split willow creel.


It doesn't come with a gilley? Sheesh, you might as well be living in
Ethiopia.

The gilley is extra. Way extra. I forgot one other item in the package:
a funny hat.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

I believe in the current issue of Fly Fissherman there is a news
release by the Pres. of the Winston Company. He says they plaan on
making great bamboo as always. We shall see.
Joel

Hello Tom,

Sorry, but I am tired of hearing people bash the Winston Rod Company. My
professional guess was that the cane shop was costing them money.
Wow....someone had the guts or insight to say that. These are not easy times
for the fly fishing industry so maybe people have to do things they don't
want to so the business can survive?

For a wake up call here, split cane rods are lovely but have not been any
measurable part of fly rod sale sense the end WWII. I know I will take some
flack for this but it's the facts boys.

Bill Kiene

Kiene's Fly Shop
107 Layport Street
Sebastian, FL 32958

Web site: www.kiene.com


"Tom Nakashima" wrote in message
...

I recently have been researching the traditional Bamboo (cane) rods. I'm
very much interested in the history, construction, casting techniques and
the craftsmanship of these rods. I noticed there are quite a few good
builders as well as newcomers to the art. I also read, and I'm sure it's
old news to most here that the Bamboo team of Glenn Brackett, Jeff Walker
and Jerry Kustich left R.L. Winston in October last year. I haven't heard
on the impact that would have on Winston, but I'm sure it didn't suit well
with the purist.

Any traditionalist out there fly-fishing with the cane rod?
-tom

"Tom Nakashima" schreef in bericht
...
I recently have been researching the traditional Bamboo (cane) rods. I'm
very much interested in the history, construction, casting techniques and
the craftsmanship of these rods. I noticed there are quite a few good
builders as well as newcomers to the art. I also read, and I'm sure it's
old news to most here that the Bamboo team of Glenn Brackett, Jeff Walker
and Jerry Kustich left R.L. Winston in October last year. I haven't heard
on the impact that would have on Winston, but I'm sure it didn't suit well
with the purist.

Any traditionalist out there fly-fishing with the cane rod?
-tom


I do. For my troutfishing I use a Walter Brunner "Cheri" (a very stiff 6
feet Austrian rod for a WF5-line build in 1982) and a "Wallop Brook" build
by Constable of Bromley in England (a very soft 6f9 for a #4 line).
The Brunner is my little darling: pricks my flies under whatever bushes
there are and is very precise. When my house would burn down I'll go back
into the flames to rescue it.
The Wallop Brook is a delicate soft rod. Allmost lazy when casting. Can
deliver a fly so very very sooooooftly that it feels like fishing in heaven.
Unlike others I have no intention to collect cane rods. These two are enough
to enjoy fishing in a supreme way.

Hans van der Stroom

Wayne Knight wrote:

Tom Nakashima wrote:


I intend to get Bill Harms to build a 7' 5wt this
summer and that will probably do me for the rest of my life.


hell...even i was amused by this one...unless you've only a day or two
to live. knight satiated...baloney. g

jeff

Tom Nakashima wrote:
I recently have been researching the traditional Bamboo (cane) rods. I'm
very much interested in the history, construction, casting techniques and
the craftsmanship of these rods. I noticed there are quite a few good
builders as well as newcomers to the art. I also read, and I'm sure it's
old news to most here that the Bamboo team of Glenn Brackett, Jeff Walker
and Jerry Kustich left R.L. Winston in October last year. I haven't heard
on the impact that would have on Winston, but I'm sure it didn't suit well
with the purist.

Any traditionalist out there fly-fishing with the cane rod?
-tom


To some people, fishing cane at all makes you a traditionalist.

I build bamboo rods and fish with them. I got into it by reading John
Geirach essays, and becoming curious, then fascinated. When I first
started, I did not have much money. If you want to get into cane,
having money would be a prerequisite, I have come to learn. I began by
buying the cheap ones I could afford. Cheap bamboo rods are useless.
they will not cast well, or will break while being fished with. So back
when $100 was a significant amount of coin to me, I was blowing that
much on pieces of junk.

I got into building them about 6 years ago. Got started with a friend
who had the space to build, but no money for the equipment. I had the
money for equipment, but not the space to work in. It was a nice
arrangement, because we learned together - debating how different things
should properly be done and sharing things we learned from experience
and chatter with others. Eventually I bought a house and now I build
them in my basement. My friend "went pro", building them
professionally. His rods are marvellous, but the truth is, it is hard,
hard work for very little pay. He burned out on it and now not only
does not build anymore, but doesn't fish, either.

I learned many things by building rods. The internet has made it easy
for rodbuilders to chat amongst themselves. They tend to be very
opinionated about how a rod is properly made. I had to decide that I
would listen to what my own brain and experience tells me to do.

Fishing with rod I built myself is really cool. I never outgrew show
and tell, so it gives me a conversation piece when meeting strangers on
the river. I like fighting fish on cane - it protects light tippets
better than graphite. Cane purists say that bamboo is better in every
way, but don't buy that. You can definitely get more distance with
graphite. And I do still fish graphite as well. My rod collection is
decent sized, and I try to fish each rod at least once a season.

I do not sell my rods commercially. I do, however, to barter them with
friends who want one. It's fun when my chums let me know about nice
fish they have gotten using my cane rods. If I were to sell a rod for
$1,000, the buyer would look the whole thing over with a microscope - as
would be his right. That would be too nerve wracking for me. My rods
are not perfect, and it would suck to put my heart and soul into a rod
and have the recipient be somehow displeased. Most of the time my
friends just beam when I hand the finished product to them for the first
time. I once gave my cousin a rod for his high school graduation,
without telling him I was going to do so. His reaction was priceless.
"This is the nicest thing anybody ever gave me!" he said.

As far as the history of rodmaking, I only breeze over the topic.
History was my worst subject in school, because I couldn't keep all the
names and the dates straight. Once you get into how Wright & McGill
took over Granger or Payne left Leonard I get lost. Just put me in
places where there are a whole bunch of different rods to try, and the
ones I like, I will copy. That's the essence of it for me!

Pete Collin

To all:

I have a Peter Collin rod. It is a work of art, beautifully
constructed and wonderful to cast. It has taken some very nice
brookies and land locked salmon from the Rapid, but I have to admit
that on some of those fish, I thought the rod might break. It didn't,
of course.

As an aside: Peter is a marvelous fisherman. He read the water at
the Rapid and caught fish immediately without help from me.

If only Fortenberry could do as well come June.