Arnold Gingrich made the assertion that
on the day that Jascha Heifitz played a plastic violin in
the New York Philharmonic he would consider using a rod made
of synthetic materials. From the advent of the first fiberglass
fly rod to the present day, the controversy between users of
bamboo fly rods and rods made of synthetic materials continues.
A number of years ago, Eric Pettine asked me to do a seminar
on bamboo rods at the Federation of Flyfishers Conclave.
He assigned me a theme, "The Mystique of the Bamboo Rod."
I was a bit upset at being thus constrained
until I looked up the definition of mystique in my dictionary:
a body of attitudes, opinions or ideas that become associated with a
person, thing, institution, (etc.) and give it a superhuman or mythical
status.
It seemed then and still does now that the
definition of the word was particularly meaningful in terms of
bamboo fly rods. There has developed around bamboo rods a body
of attitudes that do give it a mythical status.
When one looks at this idea objectively,
an apparent dichotomy leaps out. How and why can a utilitarian
object, a tool if you will, instill in its users the powerful
emotional appeal that bamboo seems to evoke? I use a lot of
tools in my making of bamboo rods, yet none of them are more
to me than just tools. I do not venerate them, they inspire
no awe, there is not the least semblance of a mythical status.
Indeed there are those who make very pointed objections to
the mystique of bamboo.
Paul Schullery, a former director of the
Museum of American Fishing denigrates the whole idea with the
pungent commentary "Sticks." "... (a flyrod) no matter how
much attention and ornamentation we may lavish upon it, is
after all just a stick."
He further says that as a wood (grass,
if you must) bamboo is singularly lacking is visual appeal.
"It was boring." , and he categorizes the first bamboo rod
he saw with the comment, "why it is almost ugly."
My first reaction to Paul's comments was
most violent. Blasphemy, of the first order! Then I remembered
a few other friends who in kinder terms had said much the same.
I began to realize that each of us is entitled to his own opinion
(no matter now misguided he may be).
Even today with the myriad of new technologies
for making fly rods, we hear that some graphite rod has the feel
of bamboo. So what is it that distinguishes bamboo fly rods from
all other types of fly rods? I can't presume to speak for others,
but there are a number of factors that I think might be considered.
The first of these is aesthetics. Despite
Schullery's comment that bamboo rods are almost ugly, I must maintain
that they can be beautiful works of art solely in and of themselves.
One of the real thrills I get in building a bamboo rod comes when
I scrape the enamel from the rod section and watch the lovely grain
and vibrant color emerge.
While the grain may be uniform, its very straightness
is a thing of beauty. The color may range from pale lemon yellow hues
through wheat, tan, and rich browns. Each has its own appearance
which is intensified by the mirror perfect coating the craftsman
applies to the rod. Jewel-like colors of silk winding thread,
the luster of subdued nickel silver ferrules,rich exotic woods
in the reel seat, and the velvety smoothness of the cork all
combine and blend into an elegance of true artistry.
