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Gehrke's Bamboo Fly Rods
History of the
Gehrke Bamboo Fly Rod
Company:
The Challenge
| Historical things are tales of the past. It might be proper to refer to this narration as a Hysterical Past instead because this fly rod manufacturing company started out as a dare over the World Wide Web. One needs to know fly fishing history in the United States starting from the time of Theodore Gordon, through the Depression Era of the 1930's into World War II which pulled the United States back into financial stability at a great cost in lost human lives and great sacrifice to its' citizens. I'm a depression baby who was born in 1934. It was during this time that Heddon, South Bend, and other production line bamboo fly rod companies were producing rods in great quantities. The dollar was worth a full fledged American Dollar backed up by gold or silver certificates. A cup of coffee was only a nickel and often it was simply free with meals or breakfast. My grand father, Theodore Kurczak bought a brand new South Bend for $2.50 American which included an extra tip. Fishing was a serious source of protein during the Great Depression and even then, Heddon thought South Bend's prices was outrageous as they offered their production fly rods with two tips for the outlandish price of .75 cents. Most people don't realize bamboo fly rods started out in America as "Production Line Items". They were mass produced and of course, a culm of bamboo cost only .10 cents each then and that was for a twenty foot long length of it! Well, a length of bamboo often was over three inches in diameter in those days and over ten fly rods could be made from three such culms of Tonkin Cane. "Tonkin Cane" is the preferred description as the Latin term was of little use then and Tonkin Cane has a certain appalling ring to it even though everyone is referring to the same special species, Arundinaria amabilis. Besides, "Tonkin Cane" was easier to remember for the cane grew in Tonkin Providence of China, up the Sui River drainage system. Many bamboo fly rods of the 1930's and 40's had multi wraps between the guides because the glue of the day was horse glue which is made from horses. During WWII, most American's didn't realize that a lot of the meat they were buying was horse meat, not cattle. Rendering the hides provided much of the needed glues used in industry such as in furniture manufacturing. The common color of this water soluble glue was purple or reddish purple. The mark of a quality bamboo fly rod was to be able to see full length glue lines of purple red throughout the entire length of the fly rods. Glue lines have nothing to do with the castability qualities of any fly rod. It's a visual thing, and that is all. When Bill Phillipson of rod fame and I were friends in Denver Colorado, Bill was the first to let me in on the truths about bamboo fly rod production. Bill had the last remains of what once was an effort to go full tilt as a production line company but labor and the lack of technology was still against the rebirth of such an idea. At that time, which was around 1970 -1975, and just before he was bought out as a tax write-off by the 3-M Company, Tonkin Cane cost him .25 cents a culm. Lucky for him he had a rafter full of it as the price was pushing .50 cent a stick just about then, which happen right after he sold out and retired. As a matter of record, I own the last two bamboo fly rods made by Bill Phillipson which he finished one Saturday on the last day he locked the doors and walked away from the business for good. In fact, a lady employee came in that day to do the wrapping and writing, but Bill Phillipson autographed both fly rods for me. This is a genuine piece of bamboo fly rod history and I'm lucky to be part of it. The point is, learning about the fly rod construction process opened my eyes into the world of gullibility by the general fly fishing public and what it has been willing to pay for dedication and craftsmanship even though they didn't know the majority of the work was done my machinery! What is a machine and why do we make them? We make them to save repetition, to do the hard work for us, to lower production costs and to save time. Going from horses to tractors changed the agricultural future of the United States (for example) only to raise America's obesity and cholesterol levels. Our food source went from high protein diets to carbohydrate based diets of flourized grains and when your body is overloaded with carbohydrates which changes to sugar instantly, the excess sugar is stored as fat. Protein + Carbohydrates = Cholesterol + Sugar = Weight Increase = Heart and Brain Attacks. Now it is one thing to save labor and time to increase profits but when those savings don't equate into lower retail prices, someone is getting screwed and that somebody is generally the public and a gullible one at that. The definition of "Capitalism" is buy low, sell high. That along with the greatest sinner in the fly fishing industry is the eighth Orifice known in fly fishing. Well, over the years, I've chewed on over-pricing by not only the bamboo fly rod industry but the fly line manufacturing entities also. When a company can make a fly line for less than a dollar and end up with a suggested retail price of $60, something is seriously wrong. No wonder they can afford full page ads in Fly Fisherman's Magazine. One day, on the Internet, where a talk group known as R.O.F.F. for rec.outdoors.fishing.fly took exception to a statement I made which was, "Bamboo Fly Rods are overpriced and that I could make and sell bamboo fly rods for a retail price of only $300 dollars, blah, blah, blah . . ." The preverbal hit the fan and a challenge was offered with orders of intent. I filled 134 or those orders in my first year. That is how this started and if you would like to read about the whole, unsorted affair, may we refer you to the Rod Facts section of my Rod Building Site: RodBuilding.Com |
Copyright © 2000-2002 George Gehrke , All Rights Reserved.