A sturdy Solid From The Previous to shut out February!
The historical past of the American bamboo fly rod is one among nice innovation and craftsmanship relationship again to the 1830s. Grasp rod builders are nonetheless making great rods right now in an unlimited number of lengths, tapers, and kinds.
The basic fly rod amassing neighborhood is likely one of the most vibrant, with the common change of analysis and info and conjecture on the Traditional Rod Discussion board and different on-line venues in addition to at common rod constructing gatherings on the Catskills Fly Fishing Heart and Museum and elsewhere.
On-line auctions equivalent to eBay in addition to consignment sellers such because the Spinoza Rod Firm maintain an energetic marketplace for shopping for and promoting all forms of bamboo fly rods.
Generally, rod values are a perform of the standard and renown of the maker, in addition to shortage and situation. Provenance can be generally a key issue, together with who could have owned or fished the rod and precisely the way it has been handed down over the ages.
Avid flyfishers additionally routinely fish their classic and collectible bamboo rods, typically actively selling their fondness for a selected maker, design, or taper.
The bamboo fly rod is a quintessentially American creation. Regardless that full bamboo fly rods have been definitely made in Britain within the mid-1800s, it was American rod builders equivalent to Samuel Philippe of Easton, Pennsylvania, Thaddeus Norris of Philadelphia and C. F. Murphy of Newark, New Jersey, who, amongst others, superior the design of break up bamboo fly rods to excessive artwork.
A number of the earliest fly rod makers have been additionally gunsmiths who had discovered to vogue and machine wooden and metallic, and a number of the fantastic engraving in early vintage rods resembles the fantastic scrolled engraving work on weapons.
From the early “rodsmithing” days, when some rods have been made utterly or partially with woods equivalent to hickory, ash, ironwood, or greenwood and lancewood, the making of rods utilizing sections of break up bamboo quickly adopted.
There may be some controversy over who developed the primary utterly break up bamboo fly rod in addition to who really invented the four-strip and six-strip building of the rods.
Hiram Leonard of Bangor, Maine is typically credited with perfecting the six-strip rod, reportedly enhancing upon an earlier design by Charles Wheeler. Different rod makers adopted, together with Charles F. Orvis of Manchester, Vermont, who began making bamboo fly rods within the early 1870s.
The superb selection within the evolution of the fly rod could be seen vividly in Jeff Hatton’s superb Gnome’s Touring Rod Present, an unlimited assortment of a whole lot of the rarest and historic fly rods from the 1820s to the Nineteen Fifties.
A full show of the rod present seems in my e book “Fly Fishing Treasures” and captions for every of the a whole lot of rods are posted on-line at: https://flyfishingtreasures.com/gnomes-traveling-rod-show/
Following the publication of Marty Keane’s wonderful e book: “Traditional Rods and Rodmakers” in 1976 and A. J. Campbell’s “Traditional and Vintage Fly Fishing Sort out” in 1997, a substantial amount of analysis and curiosity in basic bamboo fly rods accelerated.
After Hoagy Carmichael revealed his e book “A Grasp’s Information to Constructing a Bamboo Fly Rod” together with his mentor and grasp rod maker Everett Garrison, now in its 7th version, a whole lot or maybe 1000’s, have been impressed to attempt to construct their very own fashions. Carmichael made about 100 rods of his personal, that are extremely collectible.
The way by which the bamboo cane culms are chosen, cured, break up, beveled, tapered, and glued collectively varies vastly by the maker, and because of the very nature of the fabric, no two rods are exactly the identical.
The design of the person tapers that decide the motion of the rod can embody a excessive stage of engineering sophistication, artistry and know-how. Allegiance to particular designs and makers can turn out to be really cult-like.
A number of the most collectible bamboo fly rods embody high-end makers equivalent to Ed and Jim Payne, Gillum, Garrison, Dickerson, Powell, Winston, Carlson, and Younger in addition to up to date rod makers like Aroner, Brandin, Carmichael, and Taylor.
These high-end rods will typically set you again 1000’s of {dollars} and a number of the earliest and rarest rods from Thaddeus Norris, Hiram Leonard, F.E. Thomas, Thomas Chubb, John Krider, B.F. Nichols, J.B. Criminal, and Orvis, amongst others, are true museum items.
The Heddon, Grainger, Phillipson, Montague, South Bend, and Shakespeare corporations, and others churned out 1000’s of cheaper rods as nicely.
In case you discover a full Samuel Phillippe rod, please let me know—not a single one appears to have survived after the final identified instance perished within the hearth following the bombing of the Anglers’ Membership in New York Metropolis in 1975.
Whereas appreciating the spectacular historical past of innovation and craftsmanship within the building and evolution of the bamboo fly rod, additionally it is great to fish them and generally even sweeter to convey a fish to the online with the one you’ve gotten made with your individual fingers.
So, take excellent care of your bamboo rod, as it might be fairly useful sometime. Higher but, engrave the reel seat of your rod, as iconic rod maker Fred E. Thomas did in 1914: “If not in Fred E. Thomas Palms, This Rod is Stolen.”
Steve Woit is the creator of “Fly Fishing Treasures: The World of Fly Fishers and Accumulating”, a e book that includes profiles of 30 consultants and collectors and over 800 pictures of uncommon and collectible fly rods, reels, flies, books, and ephemera.
