Models in Development

After a very inspiring trip cross country this summer, I will this coming winter be developing a new series of rod models which will be dubbed 'Tournament Grade'; these will be the lightest feeling, fastest rods I have ever built. They are the result of insights gained from years of hollow-building and taper development and new component configurations. You will be amazed at how the tips stop on these new rods. I will have some early versions available to cast at the Somerset Show in January and finished models ready by the time of the gathering on the Henry's Fork in June. I look forward to putting one of these rods in your hand.

As part of this process of taper development I will be building a series of one-piece semi-hollow rods, including an 8½ foot rod for #4 line and likely an 8 ft. and 8'3" rod for #3 line. There was a time when an 8 ft. rod for #4 line was the holy grail for me, this back in the 1970's and 80's when I was first studying bamboo. It is exciting for me to now have far surpassed what I felt was possible so long ago. These new insights in the last year are now making possible even longer rods for lighter lines with exceptional performance.

About five or six years ago I was given a batch of Japanese bamboo from Yukihiro Yoshida, who not only builds rods, but also manages a grove of bamboo from which he gleans the raw material for his rods. Some of you will know Mr. Yoshida from the Somerset Fly Fishing Show in New Jersey where he has made an appearance for many years now. This winter I will be splitting this bamboo for the first time; it will be used on an experimental basis to make some light line rods from this unusual material. From my initial inspection, it looks to me as though the Japanese bamboo has a much thinner layer of power fiber than does Tonkin or Tsinglee Chinese bamboo. This thin layer of fiber, however, looks under magnification to be very tightly packed. I look forward to trying it with both shorter solid rods as well as longer light line semi-hollow rods. I also have another piece of Japaese bamboo which is waiting for me in California. It came through Mr. Akimaru, another Japanese rod maker of some renown and whose work I admired at last years' gathering on the Henry's Fork. It has a very clean look to it and has been treated according to traditional Japanese methods to add resiliency. If I am diligent I will also have a rod made from this material by next June on the Henry's Fork.