I'd like to share some good tiding with you. It's not really breaking
news, because this is a story that has been developing for fifty-two
years - which is how long Ron Kusse of Washingtonville, New York,
has been crafting some of the finest split-bamboo flyrods ever made.
A youthful 66, Ron is as good a rodmaker as anyone who has ever
put plane to cane - past, present or into the foreseeable future.
That's bold testimony to be sure, but I feel somewhat qualified to
make such a statement since I have examined, cast and fished a
goodly number of cane rods by recognized master craftsmen.
They came from men who were magicians in the art of splitting
a Tonkin bamboo stalk from faraway China and fashioning it into
an angling treasure. Ron Kusse is one of them.
More good news. Remember those old bamboo baitcasting rods
that your grandfather used, with their delightful flowing actions? If
you've never fished with one, you've missed something truly special.
In fact, casting a bass plug with a bamboo rod on a lazy summer
afternoon is a pursuit that will surely lower your blood pressure.
A thing of the past, I thought, until Ron told me that he also makes
split-cane casting rods. I tried one this past summer in Canada on
a pike-fishing trip. A six foot rod for up to ten-pound line, it had a
delicate tip, yet was powerful, ultra-smooth and incredibly accurate.
It handled pike up to ten pounds with ease.
Here's another, even bolder, statement. It is, by far, the most enjoyable
baitcasting rod I've ever held in my hands, and that includes graphite,
fiberglass, kevlar, boron or whatever. It's not as rocket fast as the latest
high-modulus graphite super-sticks, but that unique bamboo feel and the
efficiency of the material itself make it comfortable to cast all day long.
The rod seems to do all the work - propelling the lure with an effortless
grace.
Like most of Ron's flyrods, the baitcaster is hexagonal with six opposing
bamboo strips (he also makes four-sided, quaddrate flyrods), features
a classic, swelled-butt construction, and can be ordered in blond, natural
cane color or open-flamed to a deep brown with amber nodes (rings on
the bamboo that are filed down). All parts of the rods are handcrafted,
including the guides and ferrules, and the varnish is flawlessly applied.
Ron makes four casting rods: one 5½- footer and the others at 6 feet.
They can be ordered either as one -or two-piece with a nickel silver ferrule,
which has Ron's "Kusse" logo stamped in a tiny oval. The rod grip can either
be offset like those found on modern synthetic rods or a classic, nickel-plated
brass straight grip with a trigger-style finger loop (my favorite).
Ron is a traditionalist, but he's very progressive when it comes to rod design.
"You shouldn't make old-fashioned (slow-action) rods," he asserts. "I
spend a considerable amount of time on tapers and make a lot of fast,
quick rods that cast as well or even better than graphite."
Even though he also produces his own line of graphite flyrods, Ron has
strong feelings about rod materials. "Graphite is good for casting long,
but not so good at casting short," he says. "I like rods that will cast well
at eight feet, but will carry thirty-five feet of line in the air and then, with
a double haul, will shoot it another seventy feet. It's a good rod when
you can do that."
Ron currently makes twenty-one different cane flyrods from six to eight
feet in length for one - to six-weight line in one -, two- and three-piece models.
In addition, he also produces a few rods on special order for salmon,
bass and saltwater in eight - to nine-foot lengths for seven - to nine-weight
lines. All have two tips that are mirrored - with node placement exactly
the same in each tip. Of special note is his Baby Catskill, a one-weight
six-footer modeled after a famous rod from the Leonard shop. That
delicate little wand makes a ten-inch trout feel like a tuna.
If you have ever caught a bass on a wooden lure, you know they
sometimes work better than plastic. I have always thought they make
a sexier splash when they hit the water, especially topwater models.
Ron currently handcrafts about a dozen different lures with names
lake Bass Baby, Bass King, Surface Sputterer and K Tango from
birch, maple and basswood (topwater). I'm sure walleyes and pike
love them, too. He shapes the lures on a lathe, then soaks them
in a vat of impregnation fluid for four days. After five days of drying at
100 degrees F., the lures are airbrushed with five to seven coats of
mirror finish. Collectible and imminently fishable, these lures are
real beauties.
Ron began his five-decade love affair with bamboo rods in 1947 when
his father took him to dinner in honor of famed fishing writer A.J.
McClane. The teenager was already a fly-tier and enjoyed refinishing
cane rods. When Mc Clane learned of the boy's pastime, he suggested
that Ron make some rods from scratch and proceeded to draw plans for
planing forms on the back of a dinner menu. Ron's dad had a machinist
friend make the forms, and for the next twenty years the young man used
them to build rods as a hobby.
During that time, Ron frequently drove down from his home in Rochester
to pick the brains of famous Catskill rodmakers Pinky Gillum and Jim
Payne. He also became acquainted with other respected bamboo artisans,
such as Wes Jordan and Everett Garrison.
In 1972 Ron became vice president of the well-known H.L. Leonard Rod
Company, where over the years he worked with Hap Mills, Ted Simroe,
Marc Aroner and Tom Maxwell (co-founder of Thomas and Thomas
Rodmakers). He stayed with the firm until 1982 when he began to
produce rods under his own name.
Following the lead of the revered rodmakers that came before him, Ron
Kusse has always tried to produce the very best product he can. "I never
rush them. They will stand the test of time," he says proudly.
Contact Ron at 914-496-7187 or at
www.ronkusse.com ~ Art Carter
© 2000 Sporting Classics Magazine, we thank them for sharing this
article on Ron Kusse with us!
If you would like to comment on this or any other article please feel free to
post your views on the FAOL Bulletin Board!
|
