**## Care of the Bamboo Rod
Excerpt from:
The Lovely Reed
By Jack Howell
Published by Pruett Publishing Co., Boulder, CO**
November 30th, 1998
"The most common and implacable enemy of
the bamboo rod is the door. I would go so far as to
say that 98 percent of rod breakage occures because
of the carelessness or abuse, and the remaining 2 percent
is the result of faulty materials or workmanship. Although
it is a commonly held belief that bamboo is fragile and
requires special care, this is only true in the sense that is
is somewhat less tolerant of abuse than graphite and
requires some care, as opposed to graphite, which
requires practically none. A few simple rules should
suffice to keep a bamboo rod intact and useful for
many years. Most of the same rules apply to graphite
rods, by the way. They are just as vulnerable to doors,
fall, and hook digs as bamboo; the main difference is that
if you tick a graphite rod’s tip with a streamer and then it
“mysteriously” breaks on your next big fish (or snag), you
can ship the graphite rod off to a factory where they will
just shove on a replacement tip.
-
When a rod goes through a door, it’s broken down and
in its tube. This means any door, beginning with
car doors and on up to and including commercial aircraft
hanger doors. If this rule were followed religiously, 90
percent of all broken rods could be avoided. -
When walking through brush or trees, break the rod down
and carry it with the tip pointing behind you. Too much
trouble? Don’t expect loads of sympathy when you run the
tip into a tree and snap it off. -
Be especially careful when casting large streamers, beadheads,
weighted nymphs, or split shot. These rigs travel lower than dry
flies, and it’s easy to slam one into the rod (or your scalp) if you
aren’t paying attention. If a hook dig into the power fibers occurs,
reinforce it with a wrap of white thread and coat the thread with a
penetrating spar varnish. If you don’t fix the dig, the next long
cast or heavy fish could snap the tip at the gouge. This happens
all the time with graphite rods, but the owners simply blame the
manufacturer and ship it off. Someone at the factory sighs, and grabs
a replacement tip out of a barrel. -
When playing a fish, don’t “give the fish the butt”
and bend the rod tip into a sharp J. This may not
immediately break the rod, but it will encourage it to
take a set, will shorten its life, and is arguably the
least effective way to apply pressure to and tire out
a fish. -
Buy a chamois and use it. Never put a rod in its
tube wet. Never, never, ever. -
Never store a rod in a damp place. If extended
storage is required, hang the rod up in its bag in a
warm, dry place. -
If your fly or line becomes snagged, don’t try to
free it by jerking with the rod. Duh. There’s a great
story about Pinky Gillum recounted in Martin Keane’s
book, Classic Rods and Rodmakers.
It seems Gillum was fishing one day when
he saw one of his rods a short distance upstream. As
Gillum moved closer, the man got snagged on the
bottom and began yanking sharply with the rod. Gillum
waded out, took the rod, snapped the leader, removed
the reel and handed it to the man along with his money,
turned, and waded away without a word. Apocryphal,
perhaps, but if anyone can beat that story, I’d like to
hear from you. -
Cast maximum distances with the rod when you need
to, but not regularly just for the hell of it. A bamboo rod
has a long life only when used sensibly. -
Rotate tips. Evening out use and fatigue is the best reason
for having two tips. I suppose you could argue that the rod
will last just as long if you use one tip until it’s a noodle and then
switch to the second one, but making the rod last for at least
your lifetime with a consistent action is the idea. -
When you disassemble the rod, place one hand on each
side of the ferrule and pull straight away from yourself . . .
Do not twist. If you can’t get the ferrule off that way, get
a friend to face you and take the same grip. I’ve never seen
a stuck ferrule that this two-person pull wouldn’t unstick. Or
place the rod behind your knees and use pressure from your
legs against your hands . . . ~JH
Originally published November 30th, 1998 on Fly Anglers Online by Jack Howell.