Banboo - Fly Rods

Gehrke's Bamboo Fly Rods

Tonkin Bamboo Advantages

Fly Fishing with Arundinaria amabilis bamboo is unequaled in all of fishing. There is nothing nicer in sensuality, personal feel, or being in touch with life than fly fishing for trout with a Happy Hooker Bamboo Fly Rod.

I suppose some would regard the above as a bit direct, but the truth of the matter is, the American Fly Fisherman has gotten away from bamboo fly rods because they have been out priced by the individual fly rod masters. The working man shouldn't be squeezed out of fly fishing with bamboo because of common, filthy, dirty money. The working man is what America is built upon and they deserve to afford a quality bamboo fly rod long before they have to retire. This is what our company is about. Whatever it takes, we will put a bamboo fly rod into anyone's hands that is responsible and willing to meet us half way.

We are initially referred to as the "Bastard Bamboo Fly Rod Company" because we have cut the price of owning a bamboo to a quarter of the price of the $3,000.00 fly rods made today. Ours are of equal quality although in the beginning, they were not. But we have learned quickly under the guiding tulage of Darryle Whitehead Al Bellinger, and others. The support we have received from the masters of bamboo is impressive. We all learn from each other. I think the consumer will begin to see more and more "Production Line Manufactured" bamboo fly rods flooding the market. I have always said, "One man can make a difference," and it seems to be coming true. Bamboo, in the future will outpace the plastic rod industry by leaps and bounds and I think this is a fair prediction. It isn't a question of making production fly rods but our abilities today to invent the machinery which makes it possible. A new era is catching afire in fly fishing because we realize that trout and bamboo go together like love and sheets.

If you nick a graphite rod it will explode, sooner or later. Now, follow this closely. A nick in a graphite fly rod is exactly the same as if you were to scratch a pane of glass. The sheer line is easily reached if the nick is on the edge of the glass. If the nick is in the middle, great flexing pressure is required to make that nick spread in the glass from the center out to the edges. If you have never had a graphite fly rod "EXPLODE" on you, the noise is akin to that of a rifle shot! Your heart will stop a beat or two if it ever happens to you and usually this happens with a large fish. You not only lose the fish (usually) but your rod is indeed, shot! Both ends look like a fuzzy paint brush!

The cross sectional pressures on a fly rod, (graphite or bamboo) can exceed 175,000 pounds per square inch. No wonder a graphite blows the way they do when nicked. The tip giving way is one thing, but have you ever had the mid or butt section of a graphite blow as it has me on two different occasions? It's not funny, trust me. This is what the damage looks like. Every graphite fiber separates into a blossom of individuality. In short, it looks like a whisk broom!

Bamboo, on the other hand, dents as it doesn't nick. The fibers stay intact. With a "dent" the power fiber curve around the dent and your fly rod continues to function. Seldom is the dent severe enough to cause the rod to snap but as with anything, bamboo is not perfect but it is more forgiving. This is why all our fly rods come with two tips and why you always want that back up. Fly fishermen are forgetful and they are very hard on rods in the heat of fly fishing. One reason is, fly fishermen always seem to want to walk with the tip forward instead of trailing them behind them. Oh! If I could only pound this into everyone's heads we would have less fly fishermen sending in fly rods with "door damage." So it is, we guarantee all our fly rods to be perfect until the customer breaks it.

Tonkin Cane, in the 1930's grew only in one place on the entire planet. Up the Sui River, it occupied only 40,000 acres and that was it. The eco-system is so confined and special, with the trade winds and moisture content pushing up out of the east, and high humidity, the limited species "Arundinaria amabilis" was not only difficult to get to, but the Chinese were more interested in the larger bamboo species which they make over 2500 other products and have other uses there of. The Chinese are clever because like the Japanese, they use time with enough human minds to pay attention to "details". Today, the desire for Tonkin Cane from the Providence of Tonkin has increased cultivation in China's micro-environment where it grows to double the natural acreage.

The bamboo that we order is selected by a fellow American and it is supervised from the time of cutting to shipment in containers from that slow boat from China. Although China is learning capitalism, you cannot yet trust the Chinese. Frankness and truth seems to elude them yet. Besides having a language barrier, trade negotiations have a lot to be desired. As "English" become the language in International Trade, the Chinese may slowly learn how important trust is when dealing with Americans, as the Russians are quickly realizing. Japan and Americans are perhaps the most honorable countries to deal with but you can never satisfy the Japanese for production, so don't even try.

How can anyone, ask yourself, admire a graphite fly rod that was made a hundred years ago (for that day is coming) with the same adoration as a bamboo fly rod handed down by his grand father? It simply doesn't equate.

"Love" is something that relates to things that once were alive and perhaps still are. Minerals are mineral. Yet, did you know bamboo is the largest reed growing on earth? Graphite is nothing more than carbon. I don't demean graphite fly rods for the sake of promoting bamboo for I have fished Lamiglass Graphite happily for the last thirty years. Steve Posey is perhaps one of the finest men I've had the privilege of knowing in my lifetime. Graphite has served me well and of course I've busted my fair share of them for I am a very bold fly fisherman and wader. I hunt trout like some prehistoric cave man looking for his last meal. I am patient but I'm very aware. If you can't think like a fish (which lowers my I.Q. substantially) you're going fishless pard. Count on it. There is nothing worse than boiling rock soup for your nightly meal under western skies.

There is a debate between rod choices. Weight is one of them. Oh! What a can of worms this is. I often ask folks that I get into a fish, "Hey! JOE! (With fly rod pumping like a dry well handle) is that rod too heavy now?!!!"

"Smart *#%&!" Is the usual reply.

I think rod weight is an "Eastern" id factor that truly amounts to much to do about nothing. God, no man can tell the difference between an ounce different between a graphite and a bamboo fly rod. One is lifeless and the other is vibrantly alive. What the hell is this issue about weight about anyhow? I simply don't notice it and as strong and big as I am, I have the touch of a safe cracker's finger tips when it comes to fly fishing. Frankly, I don't have the time to waste on issue of mild regard. I may be sensitive but I don't think there is a fly fishermen out there that can convince anyone about the difference and worth of it all. The pleasure is in the casting and nothing does if better than bamboo.