Split Bamboo Rods

Just keeps getting better!!!!! Thanks everyone. Great information and not one smart as# remark in the entire thread. Hopefully, I'll have something to contribute soon.
 
englishprof and/or littlelehigh,

If you want to try a cane rod I have rods you can try to see if there is something you like.

I get it. You want to try a cane rod to see what the buzz is about, but you don't want to spend $1000 on a rod you don't want to sleep with.

So you are looking at cheap rods. The cheap rods are cheap because supply of old southbend 9' 6/7 weights is far greater than demand.

The demand is low because no one wants to fish with those rods. A 9' cane rod is heavy. I have a 8' 6 weight and that is heavy. But at least it is a Paul Young Para 15 taper semi-parabolic where the weight of the rod helps you cast. Cheap production rods not so much.
 
I would have to agree with Short on this one... Although there is a place for 9' 6/7 wt rods in my opinion it is not on most PA trout streams. If you grab a long heavy inexpensive bamboo rod in my eyes you may not really know what bamboo can really do. The most important thing to do is cast as many rods as you can. Being a natural material generally made by an individual craftsman no two rods will ever be exactly the same.
I would also volunteer to let forum members cast a few rods if you like. I spend probably to much time on the Yellow Breeches often at Allenberry which has lots of room to cast rods.. PM me if someone wants to play with some Bamboo....

Bill A
 
i would like to let those wanting to try bamboo know,at the jams we often have little informal casting sessions wherein we pass around rods and try them.

very often they are real rods,but people use graphite too. :)

 
littlelehigh wrote:
I was checking out different South Bend rods last nite because they seem the most common and priced less than 1 dirty. 2 tips is a must for me but most item descriptions are so vague I have no idea what weight I am looking at. 9' rods for about $70 seems the most common including shipping. How can I tell what I'm looking at?
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LL, what you might need is a book to help you identify different manufacturers and different models. I can't remember the one book that I found useful, but it was like a yellow binder. It was more about restoring old rods, but had a lot of history in it as well.

Then what you need to do is ask questions from the seller. Sometimes the rod is labeled, or has a partial label, or even just a shadow of a label. If not, all is not lost.

Ask the seller for closeup shots of ferrules, reel seats, grips, whatever might help identify the rod.

South Bend is mentioned quite a bit. I am not a fan of their ferrules. I've broken rods at the ferrule. It could be just me, but I've had bad luck. Poor design IMO. That includes Shakespeare made by South Bend.
 
englishprof wrote:
Just keeps getting better!!!!! Thanks everyone. Great information and not one smart as# remark in the entire thread.
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I'm waiting for the right moment.;-)
 
pafisherman wrote:
I would have to agree with Short on this one... Although there is a place for 9' 6/7 wt rods in my opinion it is not on most PA trout streams. If you grab a long heavy inexpensive bamboo rod in my eyes you may not really know what bamboo can really do. The most important thing to do is cast as many rods as you can. Being a natural material generally made by an individual craftsman no two rods will ever be exactly the same.
I would also volunteer to let forum members cast a few rods if you like. I spend probably to much time on the Yellow Breeches often at Allenberry which has lots of room to cast rods.. PM me if someone wants to play with some Bamboo....

Bill A
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I'm gonna agree with him too and you as well for the most part. But there were some pretty decent production rods as well if you know what to look for. They will however cost more than the 9 foot South Bend unless you get extremely lucky.

H-I Tonka Queen comes to mind. Damn nice dry fly rod without paying the price for a Leonard. Still quite a bit more than your run of the mill generic 9 footer. Unfortunately I only have the butt section. Some day I will make two tip sections for it. Not hard to find the tapers.

Also, don't forget that many of those famous rod makers got their start at the big rod companies.
 
Craigslist is a good place to check too, although you have to be patient and search all major cities, try crazedlist.org to do this, it's a great tool to use. I was able to find a decent condition (fishable) South Bend 290 with two tips for a price of $125 shipped from California. Some day I'll get around to rewrapping, refinishing it....
 
The classified section of the classicflyrod forum posted above might also be a good place to haunt for a cane rod. I watched for quite a while and bought my first this past December. I had been toying with the idea for many years and finally dove in (way over my head). I'm going to be spending a month mid Sept to mid Oct in our RV parked near Bellefonte. Looking forward to both discovering/fishing PA water and fishing the new (used) rod. I have always enjoyed a slow rod. Ended up with a Mike Clark South Creek 8 1/2ft 5wt. Not a bit of buyers remorse.
 
I got a 6' windstream bamboo off eBay for $60! It is a great rod a d is brand new. It took a lot of lookin to find one with the right action but I love it!
 
that is fantastic.what weight line?
 
It's a medium action it is a 4 wt rod but I am using 5 wt on it I have been using some bigger nymphs so I like to use a little heavier line,but that's just personal preference
 
Bumpin this.

I was gifted a old lookin bamboo rod this winter from a friend. It's pretty beat and needs some major TLC but I'm hoping to get it back to at least a fishable state.

A. Can anyone point me toward a good website to order some supplies for refurbishing?? Thread, eyelets, urethane or whatever they clear coat them with???

B. If I snapped a pic and dropped it here could some of you guys maybe aid in trying to determine manufacturer?? I doubt it's anything special(fairly certain actually) as it has no markings whatsoever.
 
Insert bikerfish post here:
 
mudhole.

reel seat, hardware, and thread (plus any signature wraps) might help someone id it. or try clark's classic tackle forum.
 
krayfish wrote:
Insert bikerfish post here:
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sorry, wasn't paying attention! I'll try to be back in the morning with some info.
 
Thanks Gfen. A little nervous about searching mudhole on google, but that's exactly what I was looking for. This was a winter project that has turned into a summer project thanks to a seasonal second job at a ski slope.

I'll try and get a pic or two up next week sometime. I'd guess it at maybe 8 or 9 feet. Extra rod tip. It even came in a bamboo holder that appears to be a bamboo shoot quartered and turned around to make four grooves, 1 for holding each rod piece.
 
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