Back on Track..

As I was saying before the fishing interrupted, Gierach's book, Fishing Bamboo reminded me of those  two cane rods I'd had as a teenager. In the UK, rods made of "rent and glued" bamboo are called cane , or split cane rods, that is the way it is. I know our American cousins call them bamboo, that too is the way it is, but, out of habit, I'm going to carry on calling them cane.

Allcock Popular 10' 3/1 A typical mass-market British cane rod made by one of the celebrated Redditch based manufacturers that dominated the UK tackle industry. Well made but relatively soft and heavy, and in modern terms, almost unusably long.

So, in the UK cane rods have the reputation of being soft, long and very heavy. When starting a back cast, you probably have time to make a pot of tea, light a cigarette and take in an old episode of The Archers before having to address the forward cast. The first British made cane fly rods I acquired seemed to bear this out. How then could the American still be so enthusiastic about their bamboo rods? And how the Dickens would I be able to afford a modern cane rod?

The answer came, like all quality cane, from the Far East, in the form of a new make two piece (2/2 in fact, 2 piece, 2 tops) imported via Ebay from China.

Zhu's Rods, 8' #5 2/2, apparently based on a Dickerson 8014 taper, and my first "modern" rod.

When the rod finally arrived, packed in a 2 inch water pipe, I took it out of the bag and it looked fabulous. I have to say there are few graphite rods that you can genuinely say look pretty, but this did. The first outing too was a revelation.  I'm still  not sure what I expected, perhaps some kind of magical moment. What I actually got was a perfectly usable fishing rod..you can see me using it in the picture below (First Post).