It is that time of year and as I write it seems that winter is just getting closer.
As a Colorado Fly Fishing Guide winter is a time of year that I look forward to and is a most necessary time to prepare for the summer angling season. At this point in the year my fly boxes are bare and a lot of my gear is in dire need of repair. On the list for winter projects this year is to finish building a bamboo 4 weight, a rod that I started years ago, but have yet to find time to finish. My friends, bamboo rod aficionados and Denver anglers, Shawn Bratt and Mark Shamburg helped me flame and split the cane, build a custom grip and fit the ferrules, but life got in the way and I have yet to finish wrapping the rod! However, this winter it is going to be a different story…I’ll be posting pictures of my bamboo masterpiece come spring…
Fishing bamboo really is a lot of fun and learning to cast these more precise fly rods will help any fly caster better their skills. Bamboo rod builders are in a league of craftsmanship all their own and their rods are true works of art. Lately, I have heard a lot of anglers claim that bamboo fly rods are just too slow action to make the accurate casts that are needed for modern day fly fishing.
However, this is simply not true! Modern day builders like Mark Shamburg of The Confluence Rod Company are using more modern and progressive rod tapers to create bamboo sticks that generate higher line speeds and tighter loops. These rods cast with the efficiency and tight loops of modern graphite and boron rods, but still maintain the classic touch and feel of bamboo.
Tight Lines,
Tyler Bowman
The Flyfisher Group
