Meet the Cane Rod Builders!

Larry Donahe has always had a desire to be creative, and making bamboo rods has fulfilled that for him. Making bamboo rods became a passion the very first strip that he hand planed. He was fortunate to spend time learning the craft from master bamboo maker Daryll Whitehead, and Chet Croco (Bellinger of Oregon). Since that first strip all he wanted to do was create beautiful fly fishing rods using Tonkin cane.

Each rod Larry makes becomes a part of him, and he a part of the rod. Bamboo rods have power, grace and elegance that allow us to reconnect to the past. And he loves being a part of that. When he is making a bamboo rod he becomes lost in time. He gets caught up in the texture of the bamboo, the smell of flaming a rod or just dreaming about where the rod will be fished.

To Larry, making bamboo rods is truly where art and function blend. Larry would be honored to build your first or next bamboo fly rod.

Click on Larry's photo to visit his website.

Zachary Pryor - owner of Pryor Custom Fly Rods, grew up in Central Pennsylvania's Cumberland Valley, home to many of the world's most revered trout waters.  From a very early age, he was introduced to fly fishing and fly tying by his father, the holder of a Pennsylvania State Record Rainbow Trout, taken on a fly in the Yellow Breeches Creek.  The trout was probably the largest WILD Rainbow Trout ever taken in the state at nearly 11lbs.

The area was home to many of the most famous names in fly fishing including:  Koch, Fox, Shenk, Marinaro, Clouser, Bashline and Utech, among many others.  By the age of 8, Zach was taken under wing by many of these fly fishing "Greats" and taught the art of fly tying and fly fishing and, in short order, won nine national fly tying championships.  All available time was spent on stream resulting in an intimate knowledge of the area's waterways such as the Yellow Breeches, Big Spring, LeTort, Mountain Creek, Old Town Run, Falling Spring, and Susquehanna and Junieta Rivers.  By age 13, he was making fly rods, tying flies professionally and began guiding on local streams and rivers.

Thankfully, Zach's primary mentor, Gene Utech was deeply rooted in the history of fly tying and fly fishing, as well as it's equipment.  Being a classic salmon and wet fly fisherman and fly tier, Utech was partial to the strict English methods of tying and fishing and used them as the basis for his teachings.  The knowledge and experience gained from tradition never faded and became the foundation for which every Pryor Custom Fly Rod is made.
 

Click on Zach's photo to visit his website.

At R.A. Smith Custom Fly Rods, it’s all about customer satisfaction and making a 'custom' exceptional quality, fly rod designed specifically to fit your casting style, fishing needs, taste and budget. They also offer superior bamboo rod repair and restoration.

Ross enjoys being a bamboo rod maker and it shows in the quality and detail of his work. He gets a tremendous amount of satisfaction from making a truly customized fly rod. That’s why he offers 2 types of construction and 3 grades.

Construction types:
Ross offers the time honored hexagon configuration and the new Tri-Hex method. The “Tri-Hex” is a new construction method that brings all of the structural properties of the triangle to bamboo rod construction with none of its problems. Tri-Hex rods have a crisp smooth action with less rod bounce than a conventional hexagonal rod of the same taper. Tri-Hex rods are a new and unique development in rod making and are being built by very few makers. They will take their place alongside “Quads” and “Pentas” offering fly fishermen another choice in the action and feel of a bamboo fly rod.

Grades:  Bamboo Rods are available in 3 grades

R.A. Smith offers quality built rods for discriminating anglers that are precisely hand crafted by a fisherman.

Click on Ross' photo to visit his website.

The Gnome - Gnomish Rod Works began building "One-of-a-kind pieces of Useable Angling Art" in 2000. To understand what I do, one needs to know how I got here. My father instilled a great love for the outdoors when I was very young. That love translated to a deep seated love of fly fishing; all aspects, all species. This love has lead me down a long strange float along the banks of fly fishing history; eventually finding myself at two wonderful bends in the river; around the first bend was tying flies and just around the second where bamboo rods. From that time forward, I learned as much as possible about these magnificent rods and flies.

While serving his country in Vietnam, during early 1971, my brother’s earthly journey abruptly ended; I was just 10. Wanting to honor him, I began tying flies with his tying equipment. By the time I was 13, I had received my first bamboo fly rod and had started tying commercially for family, friends, and teachers at school. By 1983 I was tying for AK Best which boosted my skills at the vise exponentially.

Gnomish Rod Works' rods - Every aspect of my process, from my mortised rods, hand sewn leather scabbards, to my custom matching one-of-a-kind formfit cases are a hallmark of the Gnome’s work. I build rods either hollow built or solid in 6 strip construction from 4'4' single or two piece and up to 12' in a 3 piece configuration. Sculpture quality Bronze in either cast or hand carved hardware is also a unique feature of Gnomish Rod Works rods. My rods are incredibly sensitive due to the 12 strip grip with no cork. There are two significant advantages to this style of grip: 1) The rod is more sensitive in the hand; thus making you a better caster and angler (cork absorbs action thus cutting down on the “feeling” of the rod and its action), 2) the custom grip looks a lot better than a standard, run-of-the-mill cork grip and is a nod to our Victorian forefathers who developed this style of build. The fish we chase and the places we fish are some of the most beautiful creations on earth, why shouldn’t our tools be the same?

Each rod is truly unique to each customer and will show that individuality in the rod and its fittings as well as the formfit case; where there is always gifted turquoise as well in the rod. This imbues both with good luck. In addition, I love to work in scrimshaw and lapidary so every rod and case reflects the Victorian age as far as style and appointments while performing at a modern level of efficiency.

Gnome’s Traveling Rod Museum - The Gnome’s unique and highly sought after Traveling Rod Museum is the only traveling museum display that covers over 200 years of rod making history with over 100 rods dating from the mid to late 1700's up through the 1960's. The collection has one of the most complete gatherings of pre-1860 rods in the world and shows the evolution of the fly rod from the wood rods of the 1700's through the composite tipped wood rods of the early to mid-1800's and right on through the evolution of the modern bamboo fly rods up to the late-1940's and early 1950's when fiberglass was introduced. Just to name a few materials that the rods in the display are made out of are: ash, greenheart, lancewood, snakewood, hickory, bethabarra, calcutta cane, tonkin cane, baleen, steel, fiberglass and graphite.

Just a few of the rod makers within the collection are; Phinn, Armstrong, Murphy, Krider, H.L.Leonard, John Conroy, G.I.Varney, Geo. Burtis, H.A.Merrill, KOSMIC, Edward Vom Hofe, John Landman, Fred Divine, Heddon, South Bend and Granger and many others too numerous to list here.

Whether you are having a fund raiser, producing a sporting or outdoor show or hosting a flyfishing gathering the Gnome’s Traveling Rod Museum is a instant hit with anglers and is a very popular and highly sought after exhibit.

Click on Jeff's picture to visit his website and order your “custom rod” or to book the Gnome’s Traveling Rod Museum for your next fishing event.

Tim Aaron, owner of Aaron Bamboo Rods, combines years of woodworking experience and a life of fishing to create truly beautiful and exceptionally functional and very affordable (starting at $750) split cane fishing rods.  Tim loves making rods and has even been known to voluntarily cut a fishing trip short just to get back in the shop and work on his latest creation. While he might be the "new kid on the block," Tim learned from well seasoned and highly respected rodmaker Steve Kiley, in Oregon, and offers rods of exceptional quality at an affordable price.  

Tim offers a good selection of tapers - everything from a delicate 6'6" 3/4 wt to a powerful 8' 6" 9 wt. bonefish/salmon rod.  He uses the highest quality Tonkin cane, nickel silver hardware, agate strippers and fine silk thread to finish his hand-planed rods. While the blanks are prepared using traditional six strip construction - his innovative grips take tradition to a new level. His signature cork and wood combination grips are not only eye catching, they combine the enhanced sensitivity of a wood grip with the cushioned comfort of cork.  Every vibration and tick of the rod is distributed right through the grip to your hand.

It’s hard to find this level of quality, at this price point, from a modern rodmaker in the bamboo rod market today.

Click on Tim's photo to visit his website.

Jason Zicha, is the owner and builder for Fall River Flyrods, a rod building shop based in South East Idaho.  While Jason does build custom graphite rods from time-to-time, the vast majority of his business is building fine bamboo fly rods; he handcrafts each fly rod one at a time, with the attention of a master craftsman looking after every detail.  

Fly fishing has been a major part of Jason’s life ever since his grandfather first taught him to cast a line in his front yard around 1982. Jason’s grandfather made every effort to infect his grandson with the same love of the fly rod that had been one of the driving forces of his own life for many decades.  Fortunately for all of us, his grandfather was successful in doing so and now Jason aspires to infect others with that very same love of the fly rod.

The seeds for Fall River Flyrods were planted in 1997, at a time when Jason had a very specific requirement for a new fly rod, but was not able to find a factory produced product which satisfied that unique prerequisite.  As a result, he built his first fly rod and started down the path of servicing customers who wanted more than what is available in the general marketplace. 

Based on this beginning Jason considers everything when he builds a custom order.  Every step of the process revolves around keeping his customer’s requirements, wants and needs in focus.  Jason strives to produce fly rods which are not only outstanding fishing tools, but aesthetically unique and pleasing by using techniques which have been cast aside by manufacturers over the years.

Each bamboo fly rod is appointed with a natural agate stripping guide set in nickel silver, polished and hand fitted nickel silver ferrules and a nickel silver winding check and reel seat which holds a distinctive wood burl or inlaid wood spacer.

All threads used are the finest Japanese silk, hand wrapped with tedious attention to detail.

Cork handles are turned here in the shop from the finest Portuguese flor grade cork we can get in any profile you like including cigar, western, full-wells, or half-wells.  These cork handles are left natural and any pits are not filled with wood glue and cork dust so as to look more authentic.

Each bamboo fly rod comes with hand turned ferrule plugs, a custom made cloth bag and is fitted in a Presentation Grade hardwood hexagonal rod case custom built for the bamboo fly rod to insure your investment will be around for future generations.

Custom monograms, engraving, inlays and thread work is available.

In addition to having a variety of bamboo fly rod designs of his own, Jason is able to build reproductions of many builders work including Payne, Garrison, Leonard, Young, Dickerson, Granger, Hardy, Heddon, Powell and others.  Also, he does repair work on bamboo for those who may be interested in having a restoration job done on a bamboo rod they already own.

Some of the recently received feedback on the quality of Jason’s craftsmanship:

“Jason has been a delight to work with in every way. A true artist; a master craftsman of yester-year. If you love to flyfish, then your life will be incomplete without owning one of his rods.”

“Jason is a true craftsman building very fishable Art!”

“Jason is a great ambassador to the fly fishing industry, and his bamboo rods are outstanding. Jason takes great pride in his lines of bamboo rods and his attention to detail with them makes his rods a step above the rest.”

Click on Jason's photo to visit his website.