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I have finally completed My bamboo and rod case.
- Thread starter tomfly
- Start date
tomfly
The only thing left should be foot prints.
I have a lot of hours in the rod. Most of the hours were because of mistakes and learning how to accomplish what I was trying to do. I had to build a lath from scratch to turn the handle. I made the thread wrapper. Both took time to do. It was a lot of work. When I started I did not know how to do anything on tasks that needed to be done. I took no lessons on rod building or wood turning. It would have gone smother if I did. But I am stubborn and believed I could do it. It is not perfect, I think I made a nice rod for my first one.
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flyI4
Fishizzle, I use worms but I'm looking to upgrade!
Tomfly whats your opinion regarding bamboo and bigger water, is it not practical for long casting on bigger rivers, or can it be done without much of a set back in terms of distance? MY dad fishes his bamboo on the lehigh spring creeks every now and then and when I've tried it I find it difficult to get my timing down ,but once I do its enjoyable, not to mention fighting a fish on a bamboo rod has a unique and exciting feel to it. I'd like to get into a little bamboo fishing up in the catskills, just dont want to shell out the money for a rod unless I know it can hold up to the wind, more demanding casting distances up there.
tomfly
The only thing left should be foot prints.
I was casting it yesterday in my yard. I could through half the line into the wind with little effort with a 6 weight line. I will let you know how it works on the big water when I go to the St. Regis next month. I am probably only going to use the rod once in a while. I still am fond of my Orvis Graphite rods.
Here's my take on bamboo and big water. Back in the day everybody used bamboo rods and there were the equivalent of 6 and 7 wt (weight rating system started in the 1960's) outfits in the 9 ft to 10 ft length range for bigger waters/streamers. There are cane rods for bigger waters and wind. For example, FE Thomas made some great streamer rods for the windy Maine lakes. However, graphite really has a weight advantage for a longer, heavier, faster rod. Some people go to hollow built bamboo, others stick to traditional rods and work out - but most big water people tend towards graphite. For shorter lengths and lighter weights the extra weight of bamboo doesn't hurt you and most bamboo rods used today are 8 ft and shorter and 4 (maybe 5) wt or lighter. That means boo ends up more commonly on mid size or smaller streams. That doesn't mean there aren't traditionalists lugging around 13 ft long cane spey rods or that the cutting edge cane builders don't do some amazing things with boo, but most people today use lighter cane rods where the weight of the rod doesn't matter so much. Need to get a much tighter casting stroke and use your body more with a large cane rod. You can get away with a more open style with graphite, but your wrists will fall off if you use the same style with cane. Even though cane is slower, you can cast pretty far. You just have to wait, wait, wait for the rod to load up (you feel the rod load better with cane), and then launch it forward with a nice smooth stroke. It's a smooth, pleasant way to cast if you go with the flow, but if you try to force it you get a pile of line at your feet.
BTW, since longer, heavier cane rods are out of favor you can find them used at reasonable prices. The used shorter, lighter ones are the big bucks ones now (especially since the lighter ones weren't so common - the old standard was a 9' 6 wt).
BTW, since longer, heavier cane rods are out of favor you can find them used at reasonable prices. The used shorter, lighter ones are the big bucks ones now (especially since the lighter ones weren't so common - the old standard was a 9' 6 wt).
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