Way Back When: Bamboo, Fiberglass and Big Fish

In response to a question about why it took Joe Brooks 42 minutes to land his world record 29-pound striper and three-and-a-half hours to land a 65-pound tarpon, Lefty Kreh delivers a short but interesting history lesson on Dan Blanton’s bulletin board: “Anyone who has fought big saltwater fish with bamboo knows that it really deforms the rods, putting a serious curve in them. To straighten the rod we would attach it for a few days to a warm pipe that fed steam to a radiator used to heat our home. This is one reason that Joe took so long. Bamboo taught you not to place too much strain on the rod when fighting a fish. When fiberglass came along Joe at first applied this fighting technique to what he always knew.”