do you fish bamboo?

[Mike Simcik]

I fish Bamboo only, a 6.8 ft. 4/5 weight, a 7.4 ft. 3 weight, an 8.0 ft. 6 weight, and a 10 ft. 8/9 weight. All rods with 2 slightly different action tips for each rod. I have a balanced reel with extra spool matched lines for each rod. Now here comes the good part, it's a mentality that is difficult to overcome for most people because we are first never happy with anything and secondly we tend to do what manufactures tell us to do.
It's very strange that people convince themselves that they can't afford a $600 Bamboo Rod but they will allow themselves to buy a $600 Graphite Rod knowing they are paying up front for 6 Carbon tips they haven't broken yet.
In the beginning we just wanted to catch a fish now we feel the need to be trendy and stylish as well. Kind of ironic that so many fly fishers feel the need to have Bamboo, Fiberglass, Boron, and Carbon Fiber rods in their arsenal for the weekend warrior games.
When Makers began the transition from Bamboo to fiberglass they made them to look like bamboo, then Steel rods made to look like Bamboo, now to Graphite known as Hexograph made to look like Bamboo, do you see a pattern forming here. Today we have more Bamboo rod makers in the history of America smak in the middle of a Carbon Fiber Fly Rod Boom and it looks like Bamboo will be around for a while longer. On my favorite fishing shirt says on the front "I'm not Afraid to Fly" on the back it just says "BAMBOOM"
Pass this on to as many people as you like, tight lines = Mike
PS; I'm pretty sure people caught a lot of Trout & Salmon before Graphite!

[Kathy Scott]

I do. I use cane rods that either I or my husband made, and have a range from 3 wt to 8 wt. Trout (East or West), blue gills, bass, even pike. I love the look, the feel, the amazing variety of actions possible, the link to the past, the idea of fishing with a reconstructed blade of grass. But that's just me - grin.

You're right... there are passions at work here, though maybe not more so than someone who loves his/her Winston or Sage, I don't know. I like just sitting on a bank with my cane in the sunlight, and I love its amazing durability (I only took a single rod and with only one tip to Labrador this summer, I trust it so much). I love it when we teach a class, and a new rodmaker slowly falls in love with a rod he or she is making...

I could go on and on, but I won't - bigger grin.

Back to the taper question - maybe if you consider that modern makers are planing to a tolerance of .001 each of (usually) six strips of bamboo, and that modern makers have software assisted taper graphing capabilities, there really are a lot of potential tapers out there. But I always consider that the classic makers tried so many, that the likelihood of anyone really inventing a "new taper" is possible but not probable, and how amazing and wonderful a craft / art where someone who first popularized a taper is still given a nod today.

my 2 cents,
Kat

[Fly Goddess]

I do. I use cane rods that either I or my husband made, and have a range from 3 wt to 8 wt. Trout (East or West), blue gills, bass, even pike. I love the look, the feel, the amazing variety of actions possible, the link to the past, the idea of fishing with a reconstructed blade of grass. But that's just me - grin.

You're right... there are passions at work here, though maybe not more so than someone who loves his/her Winston or Sage, I don't know. I like just sitting on a bank with my cane in the sunlight, and I love its amazing durability (I only took a single rod and with only one tip to Labrador this summer, I trust it so much). I love it when we teach a class, and a new rodmaker slowly falls in love with a rod he or she is making...

I could go on and on, but I won't - bigger grin.

Back to the taper question - maybe if you consider that modern makers are planing to a tolerance of .001 each of (usually) six strips of bamboo, and that modern makers have software assisted taper graphing capabilities, there really are a lot of potential tapers out there. But I always consider that the classic makers tried so many, that the likelihood of anyone really inventing a "new taper" is possible but not probable, and how amazing and wonderful a craft / art where someone who first popularized a taper is still given a nod today.

my 2 cents,
Kat

OMG! I was going to say the exact same thing..... Just kidding, very well put Kat. you are the CLASS act that fishes the Classics...right on.

[shorthaul]

I agree with PAFISHERMAN. If you can cast some do it. When choosing my custom 5 wt. I visited a good friend that has several. I wanted to know what taper Payne suited me. I decided on the 100, but there are many different tapers to choose from. Enough that I would not choose blindly. You might like a Payne taper but hate the Dickerson, etc. Bamboo is about the TAPER.

I just started making my own (3) and as Joni said its all about the taper---I have a delicate Sharp's Scottie from the 70's that works good in small freestone streams in Pa but is not a favorite on bigger Michigan streams but the Dickerson taper that I made last year is nice for that water and a 5 or 6dt---it both suited my casting style and the water. Its a joy to use.

and as Kathy said ....."and a new rodmaker slowly falls in love with a rod he or she is making..."

I find that true!

[October Woods]

OK, I gotta ask. I've been fly fishing for about 40 years and really never cared about the "technics" . But I'm curious as to juts what is "taper" ( Powell taper etc.)?. Are we talking the progressively diminishing value of the crosscut circumference/diameter of a rod blank from butt to tip?. Can that/those values be manually adjusted to vary SOOOO much as to require being named as the personal design of whomever? Is there not a finite variation (oxymoron) in the taper of an 8' stick designed to be a 5 wt. fishing pole?. Just how much can a taper vary in THAT length? Please DO NOT look for sarcasm in my query . I would really like to know.


Mark

I originally wrote this for Fly Fisherman Magazine online in 2004 but it still holds true.

Once again, welcome to the Bamboo Rod Forum or Cracker Barrel as it's been named. Last time we were given a very well thought out laymen's explanation of tapers and how they work. Streamer also explained the lever and spring component of a fly rod and only one of you disagreed with this and qualified it as their opinion, which is fine. This week I'd like to take what Streamer has presented and using the link he provided I will give several makers models that are similar and have you look at the graphical and stress representations of each. Someone stated there is no substitute for casting a rod and I'm in total agreement but the stress and graphical curves are excellent tools to assist you on how a taper you are interested in will act. All of this is next to useless if you've had no experience handling bamboo since they make no parallels to either glass or graphite rods and to be honest I don't know if they could. I personally never owned much in the way of glass rods and the few I did were at a time when I wasn't well versed enough to make any kind of distinction between them and any other rod I had cast. I have owned a few graphite rods, and still have them, and will be able to make some observations comparing them to the cane rods I own or have owned. Well the old potbelly stove is glowing today, since I cleaned out the ash pan, and the rich aroma of Hawaiian Kona wafts the senses so while I throttle down the stove, and pour myself a tall cup, let's get on with the Cracker Barrel.

Let's take a quick look at pre bamboo rods. Generally these rods were made with spliced joints which were tied, or lashed, together with lacing made of tanned hide and were 12', 13', 15' and longer in length. Most were made by the fisher out of different types of woods and had little relationship to rods that followed as they held very small reels, if any, and were mainly dapped and the longer your rod the more water you could cover. When the first rods of bamboo surfaced, you will probably remember from our earlier Cracker Barrel, they were made from Calcutta cane and had many different configurations but most of 4-sided construction. Some of these early cane rods were spliced and some had ferrules and it wasn't until Hiram L. Leonard came forth with the 6-sided rod that ferrules were the common connection. The earliest rods were also very slow and long (an 8' rod was considered very short) and since the fishing method of the day was nymphs and wet fly imitations there was no need for much more than what they had and fact of the matter is most fly fisherman of the time used a 3 fly rig.

When competitions like the Casting Tournaments began and Casting Clubs formed it was an opportunity for makers, many were Tournament Casters themselves, like E.C. Powell, Reuben Leonard and Hiram Hawes to name a few, to show off some of the latest R&D and debut some rods plus the record books made good press within the confines of the tournaments. When dry fly fishing became all the rage the necessity for faster actioned rods to dry the fly tournament rod tapers were altered to provide this and the industry R&D really went to work. Understandably there is a finite set of practical tapers one could derive in the making of a fly rod but as Streamer noted last week the variety of compound taper application and the end result in the rods action is where the genius of the maker was applied. It's this variable that gives us a variety of tapers that are delightful, proprietary and in some cases abysmal.


It is said that Theodore Gordon once traded 3 dozen of his flies for an Ed Payne built rod, that very rod today would have a certain intrinsic value as a Payne and more so having been owned by Gordon but the better end of the deal is in owning 36 original Gordon flies which bring upwards of 2K apiece! So let's look at some tapers that are similar and you will be asked, if your interest is piqued that is, to take a field trip over to the link I'll provide where you can see the graphs that show what I am talking about.

For the sake of brevity I will be working only with rods that have been thoroughly critiqued in the past and have stood the test of time in their likenesses and much of this comes from writings I have in my reference library and I would be happy to pass any other information you'd like and you may post or email as you wish.

It will become rather obvious as to why these rods have similarities since they were designed to perform the same function for a specific weight line and these being some of the best makers of their time it stands to reason they'd naturally come to similar conclusions in their actions and tapers. The makers I will look at are H.L. Leonard Rod Co., E.F. Payne Rod Co. (Jim Payne built ERA), F.E. Thomas Rod Co. (both Fred and Leon ERA), Gillum Rod Co., E.C. Powell Rod Co., Paul young Rod Co. and L.L. Dickerson Rod Co. to mention a few. I will break these down by rod length, model # within the length and 2 pc and 3 pc construction as well, and, of course, similar line WTs.


7' Rods 2 pc construction

H.L. Leonard Model 38's came in 38L, 38 and 38H classified as a medium fast DF rod and is considered a crisp taper which all other 7' DF rods are compared with, a cherished taper.

E.F. Payne Models 97 and 98 medium fast DF rod as elegant as the Leonard offering.

L.L. Dickerson Models 7011 and 7012 medium and medium fast DF rods, while the 7011 is a more delicate rod the 7012 is equal to both the Leonard and Payne Models.

F.E. Thomas Models Special and Browntone medium to medium fast, not many exist and there is a variability of action in those that do exist as some are more aptly named Fairy Wands for their light lines and extremely delicate presentation and those lucky enough to own them would have it no other way.

7'6" Rods 2 pc construction

E.F. Payne Models 100 and 101 fast action DF rods, considered 2 of the top 4 7'6" 2 pc rods ever offered.

L.L. Dickerson Models 7612 and 7613 fast action DF rods, the other 2 of the 4 7'6" 2 pc rods offered and the action on the 4 rods mentioned are considered so well executed by the industry the actions have been replicated using modern techniques i.e. lots of Graphite rods had/have these tapers.

7'6" Rods 3 pc construction

H.L. Leonard 49 DF and 38 1/2 and other 40 series Catskill and Baby Catskill rods, ranged from medium to fast, some were truly Fairy Wands much like the Thomas 7' rods I mentioned earlier but this was specialized for Catskill waters although they have many practical water uses today it is understandable that since the majority of the makers were in the NY New England region they would focus on the waters of their region.

E.F. Payne Models 197 and 198, the 197 was a light medium and the 198 a medium-fast rod, again, as much as a delight as the Leonard rods.

Dickerson 761510 was as good as the Payne 197 and better than the 198 and like the Leonard offerings cherished by their owners.


8' Rods 2 pc construction

E.F. Payne Models 102 and 103 medium to fast DF rods well suited for all kinds of DF fishing anywhere.

L.L. Dickerson Models 8012,8013,8014,8014 Guide, 8015, 8015 Guide Special and 8016! No other maker offered such a staggering array of 8' 2 pc rods than Dickerson. The 8012 was the mellow soft medium, the 8013 and 8014 an all around DF medium, the 8015 a fast DF, the 8014 Guide and the stronger 8015 Guide Special are very fast and pin point accurate rods which required no false casting and were specialty tapers designed to be used by guides in the long boats that were used in many of Michigan's blue ribbon waters. There has not been much written about the 8016 so if Dickerson followed the logic he did it would be a fast heavy DF rod.

[October Woods]

Paul Young Rod Co. Parabolic 15 (K T Keller Model) and the Boat Rod, aka the Encampment Special. In direct response to the accolades Dickerson's Guide Series received Paul Young responded with 2 different approaches to solve angling needs.
The Para 15 was a Parabolic that required minor change in your casting style to receive a phenomenally accurate presentation be it with the dry fly or wet fly tip (customer could order it with both) and the Encampment was the Young equivalent to the Guide and a cannon in its own right. Modern and faster versions of the Para 15 rod are made by R. W. Summers as the Model 856 and Bob worked for Paul Young Rod Co. for 16 years before starting his own company.

8' Rods 3 pc construction

H. L. Leonard Model 50 DF (including the Tournament, Hunt and Hunt-Tournament) this venerable model was technically the rod that wrote the book on DF fishing beginning with the DF. This series of rods ranged from slow-medium to fast for all kinds of DF situations and definitely a fine taper.

E. F. Payne Models 200, 201 and 202, the 200 was a light DF rod, the 201 a medium DF and the 202 a fast DF and powerful taper.

L. L. Dickerson Models 801510 and 801611 were similar to the Payne 200 and 201 tapers.


8'6" Rods 2 pc construction

The rods built by E.C. Powell and R. L. Winston of hollow or rather semi-hollow construction have no equals in my opinion and are some of the finest tapers for DF work ever made.

8'6" Rods 3 pc construction

I could write about all of the makers who offered rods in this format and it would take pages of text but suffice it to say that E. F. Payne rod Co. i.e. Jim Payne, without a doubt made the best 8'6" 3 pc format than any other maker to plane a culm and the Model #'s are 204 and 205 which could be had as an L or H series which stood for Light and Heavy.

When you reach the 9' mark again there were so many makers with so many variations it would take pages of text to make any headway so in this format I'd look for rods made by Dickerson (9015 and 9016), Payne (208 and 209), E.C. Powell, R. L. Winston and Gillum although Gillums as a rule were mostly custom built and not a standardized taper as such.

Classic Rod tapers by maker may be found at:

http://www.uwm.edu/~stetz...pers/hexrod-archive.html


You may analyze or compare tapers from classic makers and tapers you may see in print here by plugging in the #'s:

http://www.uwm.edu/~stetzer/hexrod.html

Probably the most variation of a taper occurred in the 8' and 8'6" models as makers redesigned their existing tapers to come up to the standards of DF requirements and until they nailed a taper they felt they could offer as a standard variations will be found.

Well the old coffee is empty, as Bob Corsetti always says, and the end of another Cracker Barrel. I may be away next weekend but definitely will be the following weekend and week as I travel for work so we'll resume when I return unless one of the BoB's jumps in for Week 13, until then tight lines all.



I still fish with bamboo...........