Raising a little cane...
David Roberts
Raising a little cane...
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| At the age of five I
used my grandfather's old Montague, dapping for trout in Magee Creek. Probably with a
brace of wet flies since that was the fashion back then. Also, it worked, and when you're
a kid, what's best is what works. Somewhere along the way I learned to cast that fly rod. I fished cane until high school, when I saved up my hard-earned cash and plunked it down for a Phillipson Royal Wand glass rod - a sweet little 6-footer that was perfect for the West Fork of the San Gabriel River (I lived in Southern California at the time). Phillipson always made great rods, and this wasn't the last Phillipson I would own. I went overseas and served in Vietnam, and while I was away I wrote Bill Phillipson and told him I liked his rods and wanted to buy one when I got back. I'd heard he might be selling the company. I never heard back from him, but when I got back, there was a brand new Phillipson waiting for me, compliments of Bill Phillipson himself! Around that time I met another rodmaking legend - Russ Peak. His glass and graphite rods were wonderful things, but I couldn't bear to put my cane rods down for very long. I can't pinpoint why, but I love the slow, unhurried feel of the things. I think they feel like fly rods are supposed to feel, and besides, they do a wonderful job of protecting the light tippets I fish on the technical, small-fly spring creeks I love so much. Then there's the beauty (there is nothing "mass produced" about most bamboo rods) and the craftsmanship takes my breath away. A lot of people collect these wonderful things, but I don't - most of the rods I fish are modern rods built by modern builders. I fish them, and fish them hard. Most days you can find me out on the Rogue River or some other piece of water, and my rods have held up just fine. They are not fragile like many would have you believe. Besides how well they fish, I just like hanging out with the cranks, scientists and mystics who are bamboo rod builders. I've spent hours in Bruce Howell's shop listening to him talk about tapers and watching him work. In the Summer of 2003 I shattered my toe and couldn't fish for what probably only seemed like forever. With the help of my wife Linda (who was happy to get me out of the house - I can get cabin fever pretty bad), several times I loaded my truck with fly tying gear, drove to Dunsmuir, and sat in Chris Raine's brand new rod shop ( www.dunsmuirrodcompany.com/ ) I tied flies for him and managed to drive him crazy (instead of my wife). We talked about rods, and I watched him turn big chunks of bamboo from China into beautiful, willowy fly rods that look almost as pretty as they trout they catch so well. One thing's for sure about bamboo rods - when you meet another bamboo addict, you tend to know it. Some of my favorite memories involve fishing the Upper Sacramento River with one of my best friends - Tom Chandler. Tom's a nut about bamboo rods too, and we've spent literally days talking about different builders, tapers, and fishing each other's cane rods. I know that some consider bamboo rods archaic, others think they're quaint, and still others assume you're a snob when you pull one out of a tube, but I just love to fish them. I will fish them until I am gone.
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David Roberts |
Fly Fishing Guide, Certified Bamboo Addict, Trout Bum |
1234 Hammel Rd |
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Artwork ©Stuart Helmintoller, used with permission of the artist: http://helmintoller.com/streamside
