Tag: bamboo

While today's Throwback Thursday isn't an old video from 60-70 years ago, it does deal with a throwback topic - bamboo fly rods. If you ever find these old split-cane marvels at garage sales or in antique shops, you'll want to remember what John Stephenson says in this video about how to determine the worth of a bamboo fly rod. If you have even a passing...

Bamboo rods have a religious following among anglers. “Part of it is the way we value the Yankee workshop-like tradition of fine handwork done with what we now consider to be primitive tools, as well as the antique virtues of skill and patience,” writes John Gierach. “But there’s also some unapologetic nostalgia at work here. Bamboo fly rods can...

Subscribe to the MIDCURRENT YouTube channel and be automatically entered in our monthly giveaways Free Fly Apparel Lightweight Hoody and Hybrid Short: comfortable and sun-protective technical apparel designed with anglers in mind. FEATURES | Lightweight Hoody “Bamboo Breathe 140” fabric made from 70% viscose from bamboo / 30% polyester UPF 20 sun...

by Scott Bowen With its cheap but effective approach, the synBAM movement is probably here to stay Maybe you’ve seen a strange comment posted on various rod-makers’ Instagram or Facebook accounts: “synBAM **fail**” Streamside this spring, you might see hand-made signs posted on trees or taped to windshields: “synBAMs stay home.” Who or what is a...

photography by P.A. Rech In college, I was known for the habit of starting to wear t-shirts toward the end of winter.  No jacket, no overshirt, just an Allman Brothers t-shirt on a cold winter's day.  People thought I was strange, but what they didn't know was that I was shivering for them, for all of us; I was trying to fell the beast.  The way I saw...

Have a question you want answered? Email it to us at [email protected]. Question: I need to get a bamboo rod, but a couple hours of Internet research has left me as confused as when I started. How do you know which one to get? Joe F., Los Angeles, CA Answer: First of all, whom are you kidding? You don’t need a bamboo rod; you want a bamboo rod. I’m...

This clip from "Trout Grass" features author and fly fisher Thomas McGuane tying flies and discussing the merits of bamboo rods with fellow author David James Duncan. "Trout Grass" is an elegantly crafted tribute to building and fishing bamboo rods, and features extensive footage of master craftsman Glenn Brackett and discussing the process of creating rods...

WRITERS AND ENTHUSIASTS have been so busy describing the recent "resurgence" of bamboo in the fly-fishing world, it's easy to forget that cane rods never actually went away. The truth is, there is no more versatile rod-building material than bamboo, which is why it's been so successful. The stuff's been ripped, planed, and glued together into fly rods since...

EUSTIS'S INNOVATIVE use of heat had the effect of turning bamboo a deep, dark brown, right to the core, and his neighbor and onetime partner soon began advertising rods of the same color. But Fred Thomas's "Mahogany" model only looked the same. "The Mahogany rod was just stained brown on the outside," Streamer [Bill Abrams] said. "It took Thomas another...

THE BASICS of factory-made bamboo fly rods, shot at the Thomas & Thomas shop.