Some Thoughts on My Costs of Building Bamboo Fly Rods, Nets, and Wading Staffs.

Posted on December 23, 2024 by Dave Dozer

I do my best at keeping the prices of my bamboo fly rods, nets, and wading staffs down so they are affordable to many anglers. Yes, bamboo fly rods cost more than graphite fly rods of today…but really,…when did the cost of high-end graphite rods increase to $1600??? Every couple of years, I do an assessment of my costs for building my bamboo fly rods. Unfortunately, costs continue to go up. Over the past 3 years, I’m seeing these increases:

Cost of raw Bamboo has risen by 85%
Cost of silk thread has risen by 20%
Cost of ferrules has risen by 35%
Cost of reel seat hardware has risen by 15%
Cost of shipping through FedEx or UPS has risen by 20%
Cost of consumable materials (sand paper, varnish, glue) has risen by 10 to 25%

As a result of these increasing costs, I’m feeling that I need to increase the prices of my fly rods, nets and wading staffs. Any orders placed over the last days of this year will be at my current prices. Starting January 1st, 2025, the updated prices will be in place.

All two tip bamboo fly rods will be $2395

All nets will be $600

All wading staffs will be $600

Best Regards,

Dave Dozer

Getting Out Fishing Today With Our Bamboo Rods!

Posted on August 13, 2024 by Dave Dozer

I was able to get out fly fishing today with my good friend, Joe, on Whychus Creek, the small creek in the canyon below my house. Whychus creek is one of my favorite spots here in Central Oregon…beautiful water and no other anglers around. I took out my 6′ 8″ 3 wt. Fast Action Series Bamboo Rod and Joe took out his 7′ 0″ 4 wt bamboo rod he built with me in my workshop. After a bug sampling that showed a lot of stonefly nymphs, I started with a #10 black rubber legged black stonefly nymph. Joe started with a #16 Tan X-Caddis pattern. We both were successful and caught several nice rainbows. After an hour, I wanted some dry fly action so I changed over to a #12 Yellow Stimulator pattern…Joe stayed with his X-Caddis. For the next 2 hours, we both raised a lot of feisty native rainbows, and by the end of the day, we each caught about 15 fish. What a fun day with our bamboo rods on one of our small creeks here.

A Big, Black Stonefly Nymph

6′ 8 3 wt rod

Joe with a great Bow And Arrow cast.

One of the beautiful native rainbows we caught.

Updates to my WEB site.

Posted on March 31, 2023 by Dave Dozer

I haven’t posted for quite a while so I wanted to provide an update. I’m in the process of re-designing and updating my WEB site. I’m pretty excited about some new additions. This past several months, I’ve been working on a new Fast Action Series of bamboo fly rods that will be available very soon. These rods are great for anyone looking for a faster action rod that throws large flies well in windy conditions, or, just looking for something with a very nice fast action. Also, I will now be offering custom Bamboo Wading Staffs that I’ve been building. These are one-piece wading staffs built from the same select Tonkin bamboo that I use for my fly rods. Stay tuned in the weeks ahead for my updates.

Fishing my local creek in October

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Dave Dozer

I made it out to my favorite local small creek this past week with my good friend, Joe. I fished my 6′ 8″ 3 wt bamboo and Joe took out his 7′ 0″ 4 wt bamboo that he built in my workshop. This creek runs right below my house and gets almost no fishing pressure, so we had the water to ourselves for the afternoon. This is some of my favorite kind of fly fishing…getting out on very small local waters with light bamboo fly rods. We found several willing native rainbows in the 6″ t 11″ range ready to take assorted nymphs and dry flies.

My favorite small rod with a classic Pflueger 1492 reel.

Joe fighting a nice little rainbow

A nice fish landed!!!

We each caught several of these colorful native rainbows.

Starting a new Bamboo Trout Net

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Dave Dozer

I’m getting started on a new Bamboo Trout Net today to add to my inventory. It will be available for the Christmas Holidays…would make a fantastic Christmas Present for that special angler!

The 5 long strips will make up the hoop section of the net. They are 72″ x .75″ x .070″. The shorter pieces will make up the handle of the net. They are 13″ x .625″ x .200″.

The first step is to start gluing up the handle pieces.