This report is shorter than Report 1, but should, nonetheless, be interesting. It deals with the rebirth of the use of bamboo rods for baitcasting.

On my bookshelf are many books about rod building including some quite old ones. Taper design today very much involves the use of computer software which gives the rod designer an advantage, particularly as far as the time is concerned. The major advantage is that the modern builder of bamboo rods can compare quickly a considerable number of rods and is able to enlarge his knowledge spectrum very easily.

For this reason I always find it surprising to read about bamboo rods designed and built, let’s say, between 1920 and 1950. It is almost unbelievable to find that the tapers of rods from this period are hard to improve by modern design methods. In my opinion, the only explanation can be: those tapers experienced a long period of trial and error and many modifications.


In one of my oldest books, I read about baitcasting rods and their use and after the successful experiment with the (ultra) light spinning rods I decided to make a couple. The first baitcasting rod I built was designed to cast weights between 17 and 28 grams (5/8 - 1 ounce). The rod I based my rod on was built, as far as I could determine, about 1950 and my rod was a pleasure to cast jerk baits up to 1 ounce. As with most designs for this type of rod, it has a detachable handle and there is something very important when building it regarding the number and, particularly, the positioning of the guides. If these are not positioned extremely precisely in exact positions, the line will touch the blank causing wear of the varnish (a baitcasting rod is used with the guides on the outer curve (top side of the rod) when fished). This rod was the first of a series of three rods with the same length, but designed for casting different weights.

The rod mentioned here is the middle of the three and here is its description: It is split cane and 6 ft long including the detachable handle. The guides are of two leg-design and are lined with silver-coloured, ceramic-coated rings (low friction, modern yet classic looking, good in combination with dyneema lines). It has a full flex action which makes it relaxing to fish.

The handle features a screw-lock reel seat with a trigger and a walnut spacer as the pictures show. It is thrilling to fish this rod! I have caught a number of good pike with it and it performs truly well.


Leen Huisman, Tjerkwerd, 10 June 2008

Continue to report 3...

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