Tag Archives: making bamboo fly rods

Yesterday on the Middle Deschutes River

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Mary Ann and I made it out to the Middle Deschutes River yesterday for a couple of hours to try our luck.  The water levels have been quite high but they are starting to drop…yesterday was high, but fishable.  Water clarity was good, but boy, the water temperature was very cold.  We both tried EuroNymphing techniques to tempt the fish.  Not much was hatching but we managed to pick up a few smaller browns on nymphs.

The two anglers!

A feisty brown that I picked up drifting a nymph.

A beautifully colored brown that Mary Ann got on a #16 red snowcone.

Fly Fishing the Fall River in Central Oregon.

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Wow, it’s been a long time since my last blog post.  It seems that spending time on some home repairs from a water heater leak, getting taxes ready, and high water everywhere have just kept us off the water.  But, Mary Ann and I got out a few days ago to fish the Fall River here in Central Oregon.  The Fall River is one of our local spring creeks that isn’t impacted much by snow runoff.  I took out my 8′  0″  5 wt Spring Creek Series bamboo fly rod out for the day.   I managed to pick up a few cooperative rainbows on nymphs in the morning and dries in in the afternoon when a decent BWO hatch happened.  Here are a few photos of our day.

The Fall River in Central Oregon.

Fighting a nice rainbow that took a #16 prince nymph.

A nice, colorful rainbow to the net. This guy was about 14″.

Building a Bamboo Fly Rod

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This past December, Mary Ann decided she wanted to build her own bamboo fly rod. She has watched me for years and she has several of her own rods that I have built, but this would be the first one she built all on her own.  She chose to build a medium-fast action 8′  0″  6 wt rod.  There are many steps to building a custom bamboo fly rod but here is her build process captured in a just few photos.  Enjoy.

First step – Selecting the raw bamboo culm.

After the bamboo culm was cut to length, it was time to split it by hand into thin strips

Splitting thick strips into thinner strips.

After heat treating the strips and running them through a beveler to rough out the 60 degree angles, it was time to hand plane the strips down to final taper dimensions.

Measuring the final strip dimensions for accuracy.

The finished strips are ready for gluing.

Applying the glue to the strips.

Running the Glue Binder.

Gluing on the Ferrules.

Gluing on the Cork Grip.

Sanding the Cork Grip

The rod needs to get signed with Pen and Ink.

Hand Varnishing the Rod.

TIme to wrap the guides and varnish the wraps.

The finished Bamboo Fly Rod.

The finished Bamboo Fly Rod.

 

Last Week In California at The Fly Fishing Show

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We had a great time at The Fly Fishing Show in Pleasanton, California last weekend.  Great attendance and lots of folks stopped by my booth to chat about bamboo fly rods.  Mary Ann taught two fly casting classes and gave a casting demonstration on Adjusting your casting stroke for varying distances of casts.

The Fly Fishing Show, Pleasanton, CA

After the show was over, I got the chance to drive over to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to the Casting Ponds and Anglers Lodge supported by The Golden Gate Casting Club.  What a great and inspiring facility, with many, many years of fly fishing tradition.  Here are a few photos:

The Fly Casting Ponds

Lots of old rods and flies on display.

An Old Classic Rod

 

Two new bamboo fly rods completed.

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I just completed two new bamboo fly rods this week, just in time for the upcoming Fly Fishing Show next week in Pleasanton, Ca.  I’ll be there with a booth, and Mary Ann will be teaching classes and giving casting demonstrations.  I’ll have both of these two rods, a 7′  6″  2 piece/2 tip 5 wt Signature Series rod and a 7′  9″  2 piece/1 tip 4 wt Spring Creek Series rods at the show and available to cast.  If you are in the Bay Area, I encourage you to stop by the show….tons of fly fishing stuff, and 5 of us who build bamboo fly rods will be there.

A new 7′ 6″ 2 piece/2 tip 5 wt Signature Series Rod with black wraps and a new 7′ 9″ 2 piece/1 tip 4 wt Spring Creek Series rod with green wraps.