Build Your Own Bamboo Fly Rod

Before fiberglass and graphite, the majority of fly fishing rods were made from bamboo. The process of making a bamboo or split cane rod was long and required a great deal of skill. Tonkin cane, the preferred variety of bamboo for fly rods comes from China. Although many have the misconception that bamboo is a wood, it is actually in the grass family.

Tonkin cane has many wonderful properties that make it ideal for fly rods. Some believe that bamboo is not very strong however the power fibers in cane have tremendous strength. Casting and fishing with a well built cane rod is a pleasure that every fly angler should experience.

Traditionally, a split cane or bamboo fly rod would take 40 hours or more to craft and build. The culm would be split into triangular shaped sections, each section tapered with a plane and then glued together to form the rod blank. Although this process might sound simple, there is a lot of labour and skill involved.

There are some famous bamboo rod makers who had their own tapers that they believed offered the best performance and many rod builders today copy and emulate those tapers in their own rods because they work very well.

Today, you can still purchase split cane rods. Often you may find one of the classics available for sale at a very high cost. Or you could have someone well versed and skilled in the traditional methods build one for you. Again, the cost of such a rod will be high but could very well become a family heirloom.

Another option is that you could purchase your own bamboo fly rod blank that has already been split, tapered and glued together. These blanks are offered with the same traditional tapers that were available many years ago. Once you have your blank, you could build your own bamboo rod on the blank using components available from custom rod building supply shops.

This is a considerably less expensive method to acquiring a lovely split cane rod, and there will be the additional pride and pleasure in fishing with a rod you’ve built yourself.