Affordable Bamboo

[Lonewolve]

GreenWeenie,
I wholeheartedly agree about the Paul Young "Perfectionist" Reproduction by Art Weiler will be next Bamboo, i have casted this rod and it suits my casting style,the other rod i have casted and if i had the money i'd get would be a Gary Hawes 4/5 it also suits my style.
I use a Walton Powell "Hexagraph" 7'6" for 4/5 as my main trout rod ,except for a few different 10' ers and my Trout Spey 13'4" as well as a Greys 11' 4wt.
The Hexagraph has become my favorite be it for brookie streams or on mid size streams like The Bushkill Creek {Northampton County}, Little Lehigh Creek {Lehigh County} and The Broadhead{Monroe County}.just a lot of fun fishing with it.
Although the Hexagraph is made of graphite and foam its built like a bamboo and durable as all get out.I bought it at Cold Spring Anglers when it was still in business .One of the best rods i ever bought too.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

 

[tomitrout]

Does anyone use bamboo on a regular basis?
What can I expect to spend to get a decent 3 or 4wt bamboo rod? Essentially I want to know if I get a different feel without having to spend 600+.
I currently fish either a Orvis Clearwater II 3wt or Loomis 6wt. Will a lower priced bamboo rod give me a drastically different feel.
Finally can anyone recommend a good builder?

Lots of good advice in here already, hope this doesn't muddy things further for you...

I fish cane rods pretty much exclusively, not counting the salt. Why? I like the way they cast, I like the feel, the tradition. And figuring that casting is a big part of the game, may as well enjoy it, right?

I've been expanding my quiver lately, so I'm pretty in tune with the current market....

Cost for a decent 3-4wt? Expect to lay out that $600 budget you've set. Just accept it and know that worst case, if you buy a quality rod, you can turn it over, usually absorbing a modest 'rental' fee. You'll probably take a hit, but not much, depending on who/how you bought it; dealer's have their margins, eBay has the passion of the moment...they each add maybe 10%ish that you might not recoup if you try to resell.

You can pick up good quality rods from contemporary builders on the eBay if you keep your eyes open, keep an eye open for Lew Parks or Dennis Stone. I have two of Dennis's rods, one 7'3", the other 8', both for a 4wt, both were in your price range. The fit & finish of these aren't top shelf, there are some blems that you wouldn't want to see in a $1200 rod....but the blanks are solid, the tapers refined and they are great fishin' poles. Lew's rods are also highly spoken of for the price you pay. And all of the names previously mentioned are also good bets, Art Weiler makes a quality rod, but might be a bit out of your price range, he's up in the upper 9's I think...

Regarding 'vintage' rods..there are a lot of good Grangers, Heddons, Montagues out there, but it takes a bit of research and knowledge to not get burned on them. Plenty of lemons out there that you can steer clear of if you know what you're looking at, could be a big if. And most of these lighter line models have bit of collectable mystique that might drive their price out of your budget...but if you're looking to get your feet wet with an 8'6" 6wt.


Regarding the feel of the rod vs what you have now? They'll be slower, so don't rush the cast. Let the rod load and do it's job, listen to it and you'll figure it out.


Another resource you should consider is swinging into the Feathered Hook in Coburn. Jonas has a full rack of bamboo rods, all shapes, styles and flavors. There's a lot of nuance when describing a cane rod's action and figuring out what you prefer. Take a morning, throw some line in the side yard to figure it out. Then go fish Penn's/Elk/nearby brookie stream with your new toy...oh, when I was there last summer, the shop at Slate Run had a few cane rods in the rack and there were couple of nice sticks at the Spruce Creek shop also. If you're fishin' close by any of those, you could probably try out some bamboo pretty easily.

 

[wetfly1]

Don't buy anything without visiting Jonas at the Feathered Hook! L.J. Downes has his own Bamboo rod shop behind the store, and he will let you in and cast everything he has. He builds absolutely fabulous rods!

Budget wise... find a cheap one on e-bay if yyou're not convinced you want one yet. Otherwise go cast some of Jim Downes' rods at the feathered hook and you might find yourself being convinced and your purse strings loosening up a bit! Most of Jim's rods will hit you for around $1500 and they are beautiful, though Jonas MAY have some for less. Codella's has some really nice sub~$900 rods listed, and he really stands by the builders that he lists, so there won't be any 'donkeys' in there.!

There is a difference... a vast difference, but it might not be for you.
~wetfly

 

[pafisherman]

Burgh
What many have said here is very true. I fish bamboo almost all the time. I have a pretty small collection of 6 rods at this time. 3 are 4wts. They are completly differnt in feel and purpose but I enjoy fishing each one at different times. You must cast, cast ,cast a new Bamboo Rod to find what you like... If you are in the Harrisburg area to fish send me a message and I'll let you try a few.
Bill A

 

[pcray1231]

I have a Dreamcatcher, made by Wyatt Dietrich out of Chambersburg. I like it very much, and Wyatt is excellent to work with. It was a gift, but I'm pretty sure it ran around $1000 for 2 tips.

I don't have any other boo rods, so I'm not the best at comparisons with other makers. I did cast a bunch of Wyatt's rods when I bought it, and I've casted other rods as well, mostly when fishing with boo guys and everyone trades rods for a while. The one thing I can say that struck me in my limited dealings in the bamboo world is how DIFFERENT each rod feels. Yeah, with graphite, you cast one, and then another model, and can feel a difference. But compared to boo, those differences are minor. The differences between tapers in bamboo are huge, even in different models made by the same guy. And thus I think it's disengenuous for anyone to try to describe a "stereotypical" bamboo action. You gotta get out there and cast them and see what you like.

Frankly, I see them as specialist rods. I love my bamboo, but it does some things exceptionally well, and other things, well, it sucks at those. As most of the rods seem to dictate how they want to be cast, I think thats going to be true for most boo rods. Whereas a good graphite stick, it does what I want it to do.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Ray,

I really won't disagree with anything you said except for your last paragraph. It's not the rod that "sucks" at something, it's the user.

With proper technique you can do anything with bamboo that you do with graphite and I do mean anything. 75 years ago if you went fishing you used bamboo, or perhaps steel or solid wood, for those were your choices.

Back then bamboo was the prefered material for all types of fishing, from mountain runs to the open ocean. Flies were cast and fish were landed. Records from those days still stand.

Since that time so long ago I am unaware of newly discovered species of fish? So the reality is that nothing has changed, except perhaps the perception of the users?

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[Burgh]

Just wanted to drop a quick line of thanks to all that replied to this thread. I am happy to say that after consideration and a few test casts I did end up getting a bamboo rod. I have yet to hit a stream with it but have done some casting in the yard. It certainly is different and will take some more getting used to but looking forward to adding the new Allen reel when it arrives and giving it a full workout.
I ended up getting it on the secondary market for much less than I thought I would have to spend...so yes it fit into my definition of affordable. 8ft 4wt

 

[tomitrout]

nice, what make of rod did you settle on? be careful if you fall under it's spell.. ;-)

shot you a long winded pm reply earlier, not sure if you ever got it or if it vanished into the ether...

 

[Burgh]

The rod is made by a guy by the name of Wes Peterson. He builds under the name Big Sky Rod Company. Here is a link to his site.
http://bigskyrodcompany.com/Bamboo.html

The rods that I test cast were much more expensive than I wanted to spend especially for a first bamboo rod. It did however spark enough interest that I wanted to at least give it a shot with my own rod. With this option I did not have to commit a crazy amount of money and can figure out just how much I like the difference.