My friend Tom Sutcliffe, who lurks here from time to time, mailed me a few days ago raving about a rod he'd recently fished in the mountains outside Cape
Town. He had spent the day with Steve Dugmore, an architect and part-time bamboo rod maker and why was he so excited? Tom had just fished one of Steve's
rods, designed to cast a 000 line. He said it was the finest ultra-light rod he'd ever fished and he swore he could feel the heart-beats of the little,
wild rainbows they caught that day. According to him the fish felt like marlins. I mailed Steve straight away and have included his response. I've also
included a pic of the rods that Tom took on the day. (The reel seat is recessed and designed to allow the hand to rest almost above the reel). Any thoughts on
a 000-wt bamboo rod?!!
Tom
" I'll try to answer your queries re the 000.
To the best of my knowledge no-one has previously designed a bamboo rod specifically for a 000wt.
The rod is 7ft long and I can confidently call the taper my own. You are nevertheless not far wrong in looking to Hiram's Baby Catskill, as this was the starting point.
I am an inveterate meddler and when Ed Herbst asked me to build him a replica of the Baby Catskill 2wt I simply could not resist fiddling about with the taper. Firstly, (knowing Ed!) to try to make it cast a lighter line - at least as light as a 1 wt, and secondly to iron out what I perceived to be a couple of anomalies in the taper (either the result of inaccurate measurement of the original rod or possibly design/construction vagaries that made no real sense to me).
It became apparent that the resulting rod can comfortably throw an even lighter line than a 1wt and in fact was able to cast a 000.
The rod the doc fished with is my personal rod and is a substantial re-working of the taper of the rod I made for Ed. I adjusted the taper I derived for Ed's rod further to suit the 000 wt line specifically and more importantly to suit my personal preferences in terms of what I wanted the rod's action to be.
The tips are indeed very fine for a considerable length and it is consequently not an easy rod to make - you lose a lot of strips in the making and straightening is very tricky. It also requires a little bit of extra care on the river when hauling stuck flies out of bushes etc.!...but overall it is an absolute honey of a rod and I use it whenever I can.
I am absolutely delighted the doc approves of it. I'll happily show you it when you next come to Cape Town and you are more than welcome to take it out fishing if the weather (read 'wind') is obliging"
Tom
" I'll try to answer your queries re the 000.
To the best of my knowledge no-one has previously designed a bamboo rod specifically for a 000wt.
The rod is 7ft long and I can confidently call the taper my own. You are nevertheless not far wrong in looking to Hiram's Baby Catskill, as this was the starting point.
I am an inveterate meddler and when Ed Herbst asked me to build him a replica of the Baby Catskill 2wt I simply could not resist fiddling about with the taper. Firstly, (knowing Ed!) to try to make it cast a lighter line - at least as light as a 1 wt, and secondly to iron out what I perceived to be a couple of anomalies in the taper (either the result of inaccurate measurement of the original rod or possibly design/construction vagaries that made no real sense to me).
It became apparent that the resulting rod can comfortably throw an even lighter line than a 1wt and in fact was able to cast a 000.
The rod the doc fished with is my personal rod and is a substantial re-working of the taper of the rod I made for Ed. I adjusted the taper I derived for Ed's rod further to suit the 000 wt line specifically and more importantly to suit my personal preferences in terms of what I wanted the rod's action to be.
The tips are indeed very fine for a considerable length and it is consequently not an easy rod to make - you lose a lot of strips in the making and straightening is very tricky. It also requires a little bit of extra care on the river when hauling stuck flies out of bushes etc.!...but overall it is an absolute honey of a rod and I use it whenever I can.
I am absolutely delighted the doc approves of it. I'll happily show you it when you next come to Cape Town and you are more than welcome to take it out fishing if the weather (read 'wind') is obliging"
