Split Bamboo Fly Rods Too Slow, Too Soft, Too Fragile. Don’t
You Believe It!
by: Ron
Barch
As I travel around the country the stories I hear are as varied as the
anglers that tell them. The
stories, the tall tales, the campfire fodder are all about big fish and the
methods and rods used to catch them. As
a maker and collector of cane rods the stories that catch my attention are about
bamboo. Bamboo, as in a split
bamboo fly rod. The kind of rod
your grandfather used to catch impressive brown trout from Michigan’s Ausable
or Per Marquette rivers, monster Rangeley Lake brook trout
or silver sided screamers called rainbows in the American West. For
almost a hundred years from Samuel Phillipe’s day in 19th century
Pennsylvania up until the end of World War II, if a man went fishing, if he was
serious about his sport, he carried and cast a split bamboo fly rod.
So if these rods were good enough for granddad and his pals why aren’t
they good enough for modern day anglers? Well,
maybe they are.
The first time I witnessed a large fish hooked, played and landed on a
split cane rod was more than 25 years ago.
The location was Michigan’s Pere Marquette River in early April, the
fish, a fresh run steelhead and the angler was noted Midwest rod maker, Leon
Hanson. I, like almost everyone
else on the river that day, was toting a new graphite rod, the latest in modern
space age technology. As I waded
around a bend and witnessed Mr. Hanson casting a cane rod to a pod of steelhead
I thought to myself, “What the hell is this guy up to?”
A few casts later I got my answer! Mr.
Hanson, classic split bamboo fly rod in hand, was catching fish, big, leaping,
chrome colored fish. Later that
evening when I ran into Leon celebrating over dinner and drinks his steelhead
score was more than mine. Hmmm? I
had the new graphite rod and Leon stuck with a traditional cane rod.
He caught more fish than me. Was
I missing something?
That afternoon on the PM haunted me for years and years and in June of
2004 I decided to travel to the Big Fish capital of the Midwest, the rapids of
the Saint Mary’s River to fish a cane rod for Atlantic salmon.
The Saint Mary’s River defines the border between the United States and
Canada in Michigan’s Eastern Upper Peninsula and is well known for monster
trout and salmon. It’s a poor
man’s Atlantic salmon River and John Giuliani is the areas best known guide.
At dawn when Carl Hueter, a cane rod collector (better known as a caniac)
from Ann Arbor, Michigan and I met our guide John G. I had expected to catch
some flack for planning to fish a split bamboo rod in the treacherous Saint
Mary’s rapids. On the contrary,
Mr. Giuliani was of the opinion that guys who carried bamboo fly rods, in his
experience, usually did just fine. The
edge, he thought, may be attributed to experience or the cane rod, he wasn’t
sure and wouldn’t commit.
Anyway, both Carl and I used vintage 9’, 8wt. cane rods that morning
and hooked fish, big fish! The rods
were from another era and other rivers and as I sent cast after cast into the
rapids I felt like I had stepped out of a Roderick Haig-Brown or Ernest
Scweibert story. I wish this tale
had a happy ending, for me at least, but that’s not the case.
Although a 15 pound plus (Guide’s estimate) Atlantic salmon grabbed my
tandem streamer, after the usual 1000 casts, I was unable to land the fish.
Did the rod fail? Did I do something wrong?
Were the fish gods against me? Nope,
after a long tug of war the hooks just pulled out!
On a happier note my partner, Carl, hooked and landed some very
respectable 20 inch plus resident rainbows and a very powerful late run
steelhead, a fish by the way that dwarfed the resident rainbows.
Since that morning I’ve contemplated the loss of the big salmon and the
1000 casts it took to hook up. I’ll
remember the power of the fish but also the cadence of the cast and heft of a
well balanced split bamboo rod. I’ll
be back on the St, Mary’s next year and I’ll bring a cane rod.
Big fish and fly rods can and do lead to disasters but when tragedy
strikes, in most cases, a split bamboo rod can be repaired to fight another day.
Take for example the story of a fellow I know, a well known angler and
guide with a reputation bordering on celebrity, who went under gunned one autumn
day. The guy (who knew better) made
the mistake of tangling with a full grown Chinook salmon armed with an 8ft. 6wt.
classic Hardy C.C. deFrance. When
the rod ended up in my shop for repairs, I knew right up front who had won the
battle, the fish! Like so many of
us mistakenly do, the angler, to slow the powerful surge of a runaway King
salmon, had placed his left hand on the butt of the rod, halfway between grip
and stripping guide. As the fish ran the rod blank exploded much like an
obstructed shotgun barrel banana peels. I’ve
witnessed similar situations with synthetic rods, only they snap clean and end
up in the trash. Not so with a
bamboo rod.
With pins and razor blades, silk and glue, patience, lots of patience, I
was able to repair the rod. Not as
good as new, but it takes an experienced eye to find the mend.
A classic brought back to life. The
moral of the story, big fish break rods, split bamboo can be repaired to fight
another day.
This past summer I spent a week in Montana, home of big mountains, rivers
and winds! For the pocket water of
gin clear mountain streams I chose a 7’6” 3 pc 4wt cane rod, fresh from my
shop. Its quick tip can shoot and
pick up line before waterfalls and currents create a tangled mess.
To protect the fine tippets needed to present small flies to fussy trout
the rod was designed with a delicate tip, a design that filled the bill and my
catch and release net.
Later in the week when we made it to the Madison, famous for big water
and western wind, out came a vintage 1950’s Orvis Wes Jordan.
Its 8ft length and ability to accurately cast a 7wt line allowed me to
use sink tip lines and large streamers or when bugs started emerging turn over a
12 foot 5X leader. During my stay
on the Madison I used both large wets and small dry flies, depending on the time
of day, and the old Wes Jordan’s versatility enabled me to go armed with just
a single rod.
My week in Montana was a mixed bag filled with a variety of trout taken
in a variety of water. Whenever
I’m out and about I’m always amused at the reactions I get when the
fishermen I meet see I’m carrying a bamboo fly rod.
The rod is either held in awe or deemed a quaint throw back to an earlier
era, never really taken serious. That opinion changes once I start hooking and
landing fish, especially big fish. In
5 days on the river I met dozens of anglers and only one other guy fished cane,
but he sure smiled a lot.
So now that you’ve read my stories about adventures with a cane fly
rod, what’s my point? Simply this, there are a lot of misconceptions about
bamboo fly rods. Misconceptions
like a split cane rod is really too fragile to be taken seriously or that bamboo
is a material which produces slow, soft rods, incapable of meeting the needs of
modern anglers. Well, after a
lifetime of fly fishing, and 15 years of experience making and using cane rods,
I believe there is another side to the story.
And if you will allow me a few more paragraphs I’ll tell why.
Bamboo
rods are too slow. Early split
or rent cane rods were made of Calcutta cane.
This material was indeed slow and not as well suited to rod construction
as the later choice of Tonkin cane. Fortunately
one has to search pretty hard to find a Calcutta rod today as the Tonkin (Arundinaria
amabilis) bamboo is the standard material used in making a bamboo fly rod.
Tonkin cane, through selection and tempering, can be fashioned into rod sections
which are as fast and varied as other rod construction materials. Add to this the use of modern adhesives which lend stiffness
and speed to the blank and a lot of things change.
But in my book, stiff rods and lightning fast casts, just snap off flys!
A competent rod maker can design and create a fast tip rod or any other
taper the angler prefers, that’s the beauty of cane, the material can be hand
planed or machined to amazing tolerances and specifications.
Bamboo rods are too soft:
The term soft is kind of misleading as degrees of soft or hardness is
subjective rather than objective. Bamboo
rod blanks are admittedly not as stiff as graphite but when properly designed
certainly more so than fiberglass. But
why modern tackle makers have chosen to manufacture synthetic rods as stiff as
pokers is beyond me. Stiff rods
wear me out! They aren’t much fun
to cast. By the end of the day my arm hurts and their unforgiving tips break off
good fish. Quote me on that one.
Just a week ago I hooked and landed a fresh run Michigan steelhead on a
50 year old Leonard Duracane rod. The
rod measured 8’6” and matched well with a WF #7 line. Its soft tip and
progressive action did an admirable job of protecting my 3X tippet while
bringing the fish to hand. Rod
action whether soft or stiff, is often controlled by the marketplace and not
good angling sense. As for me,
I’ll stick with the traditional feel of a well designed split bamboo rod.
Bamboo rods are too fragile.
Here’s a true story. The
night was humid and dark but the big flies were hatching.
Our angler cast to the sound of a bowling ball being tossed into the
river and the fish took. Long minutes later 28 inches of brown trout lay in the
net. The angler’s rod was a 7
foot, split bamboo, Dickerson 4wt. taper.
Too fragile, I don’t think so.
Fly rods break out of carelessness.
With the exception of steel, it doesn’t matter what they are made of.
Screen doors and car doors have ruined more rods than big fish.
I have broken a few rods in my day, both synthetic and bamboo, and in
every situation my own stupidity was to blame.
The difference between synthetic rods and bamboo is that cane rods can
most often, not always, be repaired or new sections replaced.
Besides that they sure are nice to look at, fragile or not.
Bamboo rods are too expensive:
I’d like to wrap this up by taking a minute to discuss costs.
Are bamboo rods too expensive? Well
maybe, depending on one’s budget. But
a single tipped, field grade, bamboo rod, made by a reputable craftsman will
often be about the same price as the high end graphite rods on sale today.
Keep in mind cane rods like fine furniture and wooden stringed
instruments often appreciate in value while cars and plastic rods depreciate.
So are split bamboo
rods too slow, soft and fragile? You be the judge.
I hope I’ve changed some minds and destroyed some myths.
In conclusion let me share what renowned Michigan rod maker,
Paul Young, had to say along time ago. “Landing
4 lb. trout on a 1 ¾ ounce rod and size 20 dry fly understandably sounds like a
paradox. Actually, when using these
small hooks and their requisite 5 or 6x tippets your chances of landing fish of
this size are better on an extra light rod such as the Midge than a heavier one.
It will absorb more of the shock and consequently put less tension on the
tippet and the small area of hook contact.” This
was true back then due to the qualities of split bamboo and it remains true
today. See ya on the river.
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