OK, here goes, what I want is opinions from folks who have had enough exp. in the cane world, like folks who can tell me the dif. from a low grade line of a fly rod to a st. croix, sage, wiston etc. I don’t won’t what you like anserws cause I don’t know… K here’s the resaon, I fished a very low grade fly rod for almost 4 years, when I would ask about the rod I would alwasy get responses like, if you like it, then it’s good for you, I never identified the rod and true I was happy with it. Then after reading a number of post here, I went out and got a St.Croix rod, WOW!!! why didn’t someone tell me b-4, the feel of the rod, the cast was alot longer, except I didn’t know cause I was happy with what I had. (JC,you casting with a broom stick did not help lol) So what I want to know is, I’v read alot about the Boo, and I know there can be alot of flash added, what I want to know is what’s the best Quality Boo rod I can get In a 5wt 7’6 rod that is $800.00 or less or am I just dreaming… All input welcome if you have knowledg of Boo, from a well source so to speak…Thank you all… Can I get the same rod with out the hey this is me or I’m pretty feauters???
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[This message has been edited by Grubb (edited 20 December 2004).]
Ps: I’v been advised to go to other bb’s for this
Q, I ain’t going to, I’m here, this is my home,and I will set on the front porch with you all, and,decide, it’s all here… Ps: the advice from the other board was very good, and welcomed, thank you sir, I just wanna stay home…
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[This message has been edited by Grubb (edited 20 December 2004).]
Hi Grubb,
A.J.Thramer builds top quality rods for a reasonable price. You can get one of his rods in the length, weight, and price that you are looking for. ajthramer@hotmail.com
Bob
Grubb,
That’s a tough call. I appreciate your candor and upfront honesty. I may not be giving you the info you want, but I’m willing to share my knowledge. (limited as it is)
First of all, if you want the very best cane rod you can own, get ahold of Ron Kusse. He’s a sponsor here, and may still be a moderator on the bamboo chat. He is quite simply the best. I am totally un-aware of his price ranges. You asked about a rod that would sell for around $800 or less. Denver Dave (Dave Collier sp) may be able to help. Google Denver Dave and I think it may take you to his site. You can invest in an inexpensive Japanese bamboo rod, but I fear they may still have a problem with glue. In which case your rod will come apart on you. Then there is Buddy Davis. He used to post here, and if you do a user search you may find him. He was known as 2-weight on the bulletin board. I have one of his rebuilt rods and absolutely love it.
Bamboo is not going to give you the fast paced rocket stroke of graphite. What it will give you is a connection with fly fishing that I think no other rod can duplicate. For some reason, I feel closer to the fish of my quest. I feel in touch with the current in the water I fish. When I fish with bamboo, I am fishing with something that was alive, and if caressed the way it should be, is still alive. When I fish with bamboo, I feel like I’m talking with the rod, asking questions of it and getting answers. When I fish with graphite, it’s more like I’m giving orders and not listening.
I fish both graphite and bamboo. I enjoy both, but if I were forced to pick between the two, I’d have to go with the living rod; bamboo.
I hope what I’ve said here helps you. If you can get a chance to fish with a loner rod of bamboo, by all means do it. That will tell you more than any literature.
Good luck in your quest, and have fun whatever you decide.
Jc, sir, could you be more spasifik, you know, more exact???
Boy my spelling well…
Bamboo, that’s the secound calling i’v had for what you have sejested…
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[This message has been edited by Grubb (edited 20 December 2004).]
I have a couple rods from John Channer that I have been very pleased with, I do belive he is in your price range. channer@frontier.net
I also have a nice stick from Buddy Davis, who also restores rods and has them for sale. cdavis4@nc.rr.com
There are also a few other rod makers I have heard good words about, AJ Thramer, Mike Brooks… I havent had the chance to try one of their rods yet.
Ron Kusse makes a wonderfull rod, one that you would be proud to hand down to your kids or grandkids. I know that when my grandkids get mine it will be well fished.
Bill Taylor has started making “quads”, I had the chance to cast a couple of his fine sticks, and as soon as possible I will be getting my name on his waiting list.
What I might suggest is that you go to any gathering you can find… be it a Fish In, a Flyfishing show… anything where a few flyfishers are. There will be cane there, and I havent met a person that flyfishes that wasent more then happy to let someone try a rod out. Heck, thats how I started getting in the wonderful reed…
Hope this helps…
And let me put in a word for our own Harry Boyd, at [url=http://www.canerods.com.:bcbb8]www.canerods.com.[/url:bcbb8] Darned fine rods, Harry makes. I think his entry rod is a 7’6" 5-wt at $725.
If you can spend $800, new cane is the way to go. Modern guides, refined tapers, etc. will suit you better than a “classic” rod.
I fish “classic” rods and love them, but there’s drawbacks to them as opposed to a modern maker you can go back to with problems, to make a tip, etc.
Hope this helps. As noted in something I scribbled once, “Once a man learn’s what it’s like to raise cane, he’ll never be the same.”
About fifteen years ago I had my hands on a Dickerson 7613 and a Summers 856 on the same afternoon during a wonderful Hendrickson hatch. The rods belonged to my best friend who years later lost both of them and many more in a forest fire and then died of cancer several years after that. I always wanted both of those rods, but came up with the Summers rod as a gift from my wife several years ago. I then came into possession of a Summers 735. I fish some fine graphite rods and also the Summers rods all the time. For a good many esoteric reasons I like the cane rods best…the heritage of them, the craftsmanship, the way they not only cast, but also the way they flex and liven up even more once the fish is hooked. Yours is a good question, and I urge you, like some of the others, to visit someone with a good many rods you can cast…preferably while on the water. After all, you don’t buy a car after dring it around the lot. Can you get a good bamboo rod for $800.00?. Absolutely…either one made by a new maker or perhaps an Orvis impregnated rod. Visit Clarks Bamboo Rod Forum and you’ll get plenty of good information about bamboo rods…there’s a good section with rods for sale there also. Good luck.
Mind telling us where you are? There’s a pretty good chance we’ll know someone in your neck of the woods with a closet full of cane for you to try out. I’d suggest first and foremost find what you want in a taper. Do you want a fast 7’6" #5 with a stiff tip, a slow 7’6" #5, or a fast 7’6" #5 with a nice soft tip? Or something medium to medium-fast? Finding someone with a buncha rods is a good way to educate yourself quickly.
Roger, thanks for the plug. And I’d second the recommendations on John Channer (I own one of his beautiful rods) and AJ Thramer (I’ve cast a bunch of his).
In addition to the maker and his/her attention to the craft, its certainly the taper you are after. With cane as with everything, “different strokes for different folks”. I’m with Harry… if we knew where you are (roughly) we could maybe direct you to some good hands-on opportunities. Here in Maine, we get together with cane for a morning in a gym in February to fight cabin fever and to share rods of all sorts. Some FAOL people came last year (Mer, hope to see you again!).
I’d also recommend trying different lines if you can. I love my rod with a 5wt, David (husband) likes it with a 4-wt.
There are excellent rods around for $800. There is also a good chance you’ll have to wait for rods from some makers. Its worth it to invest a little more time, like you are, investigating rods first.
If we knew the waters you like to fish, we might be able to suggest some tapers… at any rate, your rod maker will be able to give you ideas.
Bamboo is like any other rod making material. You could pick up one of the finest rods ever made and not like it depending on the tapers.
October Woods has a thing he does called a “shooot out.” He has you cast three rods by top flight makers using the same reel and line and choose which you like best. (I’m talking Dickerson, Payne, Garrison level rods.) It’s interesting how, depending on your style, you will rate the rods as being better to you. (All are great, mind, but they are clearly different.)
At the prices good 'boo commands, it is clearly advisable to try a few before making a purchase, particularly if you’ve come iinto fly fishing usinfg faster modern rods. Even a moderate 'boo is going to feel funny to you.
(Nobody has mentioned Bill Abrams at Housatonic Rods. Beautiful instruments. Builds the Dickerson tapers, btw.)
K, I’m sold, was gonna buy one sighte unseen, from AJ Thramer, 7’6 med. fast, 5wt, 2piece… now I think I should cast some, I’m in Harrisonburg Va. very close to Stauton… There you go canerods… Still I think AJ will get the bid, to much info coming my way here, e-mail, and chatroom, about him to not go there, but at la’s I’m still open…
Thank you all for your wonderful peplies, the info ya’ll have given me would have cost lot’s and time.
Tim
???
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[This message has been edited by Grubb (edited 21 December 2004).]
To answer your question, I’ve cast a buddies Blonde Bastard, seemed pretty sweet for the price. He ordered his on the initial introduction, got it for a song. Haven’t cast or held a Thramer so I can’t compare actions or build quality. Build quality is kinda subjective, but I’d place the Blonde Bastard a couple of notches below a Golden Witch.
I’d like to second JC’s Elkhorn plug. For the money(I own a boo and a graphite by them) you cannot do any better on craftsmanship. It’s definately urged that you find one to cast before you lay down that kind of cabbage for a rod though.
Price and the quality you might expect at a given price is only one factor, and if I may say a very small factor. If you were to select any given maker as a point of arguement, and were to try a number of rods(different size, weight ,taper), all made by that same maker, and of the same quality and craftsmanship, I believe you would find that some just didn’t suit you at all, some might feel better, and some are just everything a rod should be – for YOU. Would there be anything wrong with the rods you didn’t like ? Probably not. The next guy might have totally different results. I think that once we start fooling arround with cane, we are looking for a rod that fits us perfectly. When you can cast without being aware of the rod, when the rod disappears, when you can be the rod, grasshopper, that is the rod for you.
AgMD
Lots of good bamboo rod makers in your area. Look up Chris Bogart in Luray, Virginia, Jerry Andrews across the line in West Virginia, and Joe Byrd in northeast Tennessee. I’m sure any of them would be honored to let you try out some bamboo rods. Let’s see, Mark Wendt is not too far in Maryland, Bill Taylor is just north in Pennsylvania, and the list goes on and on. If you’ll drop me a note at maker(at)canerods.com I’ll be happy to supply some email addresses and/or phone numbers.
Grubb, one thing I have found about bamboo is that they have a different feel and are usually slower than the graphites. I have about 60 bamboo rods of various makers, some of them vintage some of them relatively new. I have learned to love the slower actions of most of the older bamboos that I have and when I got my first Thramer, it was one of his classic tapers, a Leonard 50 DF. Then I got his 7 1/2’ DX taper, a little faster than the Leonard, then I got a Payne 98 and then a Dickerson 7613 taper. (I got the blanks and built them all) They all have different feels and I love to fish them all. I would recommend that you go to one of the “gatherings” where you can lay hands on a few different rods and find one that you really like. I would warn you that they are habit forming, and for you own sake, if you ever start building them, prepare yourself for becoming an addict to them. I still fish a lot of graphite too, but I have to admit, I love the bamboo feel.
