FLYMPH FORUM

Thank you, Eric, I appreciate your comments and insight into the Chinese rods. After Christmas I will be buying 2 new St. Croix Imperial 4pc rods for my trip to NFLD. They will complete my rod transition from 2pc to 4pc which will make it easier to always have my rods with me. While I would like to try a bamboo rod it will have to wait and as much as I would like to have a new one, I can't justify the cost (even to myself..lol). Buying a used one with my lack of knowledge would be like playing russian roulette with all the chambers loaded...lol.
Thank you again for your comments, I appreciate the help.

I went through that 2-pc to 4-pc metamorphosis with my graphite rods several years ago when I moved away from trout country and had to rely on air transport to go fishing. Eventually many of the 2-pc rods made their way to my son's closets. I can still find rods from 3-weight to 9-weight in the 4-pc configs, and now all I use is bamboo. My wife's favorite rod is a 3-pc Hardy 4 weight graphite. It used to be mine . . . which is how I came to acquire the Burkheimer mentioned earlier.

BTW, should you decide to explore the mystifying world of bamboo resales at some point, this is the only place I personally would look. The folks are generally reputable and reliable, and the inventory that flows through is large and diverse and usually very fairly priced. http://classicflyrodforum.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=97 And they generally haven't much good to say about ebay except for those with A LOT of buying and selling experience.

Eric

Thanks again, Eric, for the insight and the url.

Tim, in regard to the new Chinese rods, I can offer no more than to follow Eric's sage advice. The thing with mass produced and from afar is not only no comeback, but also no control over the build. Local American builders will choose the very best material stock they can for the blanks and the best tooling/methods they can employ. After all, they are only as good as their last bad build...... that is the one everyone talks about, remembers and judges them on. So they never want to build that one bad rod and send it out. They live off of their reputation, word of mouth is their best advertising..... but it can also cut them down if they do not deliver quality.
Mass factory builders in off shore countries will not play by the same rules. With them it is numbers being sold to make it an economic proposition rather than quality so much. There will be good individual rods now and then, but a few average ones in between the good and maybe even some pretty poor ones to boot.

Now, back in the days when cane ruled the rod building world, quality materials were easier to come across and time was a little cheaper. Plus the rods were made locally, so you get back to the whole word of mouth thing and people following a quality product in their price range.
There are a LOT of blue collar older cane rods that still make fine fishing poles, but will not break the mortgage payment. You might even want to check out some of the auction sites in the UK for viable options. A "classic" split cane fly rod does not have to be a Leonard or Hardy to be "good". Think of names like Montague, Horrocks & Ibbotson, Winchester, South Bend- honest trade rods, they may tend to be more of a #6-7 weight than a #4-5 weight rod, but they will get you into the bamboo world for a reasonable price.

Besides the Chinese rods, stay away from those late 1940's early 1950's Japanese boxed combination fly/spin rods. As a rule they are low quality cane, low quality build and were punched out in large numbers to sell to unsuspecting GI's after WW2.

Thank you, MM, for the suggestions. I do have a bamboo fly rod that was given to me by a friend many years ago. It is a salmon rod with 3 pieces, 2 tips and approximately 9' long. It was sold by LL Bean and based on a conversation I had with my friend it would have been in the 1950's. It is a big rod with a fighting butt, however, it needs the windings re-wrapped and a bent guide replaced.
If it was a trout rod I would have had it brought back to like new and be using it but I will simply keep it as a gift from a friend. Perhaps one day I will have it re-done to its former glory and simply appreciate it for what it is, a lovely piece of working art. Thanks again MM for your suggestions.

I haven't read every post Wayne, but let me make a suggestion. You may have already started so in that case ignore my input but I recently cast a PHY Martha Maree. I know there are several versions and I cast two of them and both are really fine tapers for what I imagine you may have in mind.

You can find them on hexrod or in the "Lovely Reed".

Good luck.

Boris & Wayne, Howdy;

Even if he has started he now has one to grow on awaiting in the wings...
Can one have to many???

hank

Probably not Hank....

Beware of bamboo.

Last summer, I traded a friend for a 6'6 3wt Schliske. It was my first bamboo rod, and I wasn't looking for cane as much as I was looking to trade a rod I won in a raffle (an Orvis fiberglass rod that I found to be too fast for my liking). It was a helluva deal, but I thought the Schliske might be a little small for what I wanted it for (local small streams), and bamboo would be somewhat of a hassle. Boy was I wrong.

As the dealers say, the first one is free.

I absoluely adore that rod now. I'm not much of a caster, but I can make that rod do things I couldn't imagine with my graphite or 'glass. I found myself picking spots to fish so I could use that rod. I spend time surfing various bamboo rod fora and maker sites, trying to learn the differences between hex and pent and quad, the wonders of the various tapers, historic and modern. I have read Kustich, and have Gierach's book on the way.

I dream of ways I can finagle the rather considerable cost. I just got a playmate for the Schliske -- an absolutely pristine 8'6 Horrock-Ibbotson Cascade that I paid $30 for. It's not in the same class, but it'll have to do for some time. Until then, I can dream

Beware of your first bamboo rod. It's a gateway drug.

cassady wrote:Beware of bamboo.

Last summer, I traded a friend for a 6'6 3wt Schliske. It was my first bamboo rod, and I wasn't looking for cane as much as I was looking to trade a rod I won in a raffle (an Orvis fiberglass rod that I found to be too fast for my liking). It was a helluva deal, but I thought the Schliske might be a little small for what I wanted it for (local small streams), and bamboo would be somewhat of a hassle. Boy was I wrong.

As the dealers say, the first one is free.

I absoluely adore that rod now. I'm not much of a caster, but I can make that rod do things I couldn't imagine with my graphite or 'glass. I found myself picking spots to fish so I could use that rod. I spend time surfing various bamboo rod fora and maker sites, trying to learn the differences between hex and pent and quad, the wonders of the various tapers, historic and modern. I have read Kustich, and have Gierach's book on the way.

I dream of ways I can finagle the rather considerable cost. I just got a playmate for the Schliske -- an absolutely pristine 8'6 Horrock-Ibbotson Cascade that I paid $30 for. It's not in the same class, but it'll have to do for some time. Until then, I can dream

Beware of your first bamboo rod. It's a gateway drug.

Now step up to the plate and use silk line...