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Recently I came to the realization that I needed to get a handle on my bamboo fly rod collecting. Within every list and catalogue I looked, there were rods that I felt must be purchased or I might never get a chance again! Then, I looked at the "Got a New Rod Lately" topic on this board and saw dozens of gorgeous rods, many by makers out there I have never heard of, and I wished I had one! And, of course there are the rods that come up for sale by Old Masters like Dickerson, Payne, Edwards, Thomas... There are makers who are working out there right now producing fantastic rods from Abrams, Brandin and Carpenter to Taylor, Wagner and Zeitak with many makers in between. Production rods like Granger, Philipson, Heddon, Orvis, Thomas & Thomas, Winston and Sweetgrass, are very impressive and, not to forget, there are the guys at the height of their game taken from us too soon, for me, George Maurer comes to mind. How does one decide which rods to buy? How can there be some order to all of this? I found myself searching through lists of rod collections that others had posted. Did I see a pattern? Some I did but many I did not. A few collect specific makers or just quads but many, too many, seem as lost as me, buying rods like me, nice rods but rods with no specific relationship to the other rods in my "collection". Well, they are all hand made split bamboo rods which are gorgeous to look at and wonderful to fish. Now, there are those whose collections did show some order and studying them has shown me a way. Did I want to collect one maker, like Paul Young or, one design, Quadrates for example, perhaps rods by Colorado makers? There are many choices and I could make up my own category, like all blonde or all dark flamed, or all three-piece 7 ½ for 5 wt rods! I could do whatever I liked or continue doing nothing at all, buying rods that interested me and that I can afford (ahem) at the time. And, if I were to come to some conclusion would I need to sell all those rods which do not fit? Well, I can answer that right now. No! But, I did decide to move in some organized direction if only to get a grip on things before they spun out of control. The first nice bamboo rod I owned, purchased as a gift for me by my wife, was a Thomas and Thomas Classic 7 ½' for 5 wt. (Serial # 40XX, Dorsey and Taylor). Now that was a gorgeous rod. Not only that but when I looked at the T&T catalogues back then (Mid to late 80's) the Individualist Series were Magnificent, the Sans Pariel, well they were certainly "Without Equal" in my book, except perhaps their Limited Edition rods! I spent many hours going over T&T catalogues just spellbound by all those fantastic bamboo fly rods. My only other T&T is a Sans Pariel also a 7 1/2' for 5 wt (serial # 33XX, Dorsey and Maxwell). Yes, thinking back, I became interested in collecting bamboo rods, after given that T&T classic, because of all those gorgeous rods in the T&T catalogues. Thomas and Thomas bamboo rods are great rods, very collectable and, like many a man before me, I have a thing for a swelled butt! After many days of consideration, the basics of my rod collecting are beginning to materialize. Thomas and Thomas rods will become the core of my collection. Of course, the George Maurer rods I have will always be special and the few rods by the old Masters are going nowhere. If that Dickerson or Payne comes along and I can afford it :^) I will not hesitate to buy. In addition I will likely choose one active rodmaker, whose rods I admire, someone I can call up and talk to on occasion, talk about bamboo fly rods and fly fishing and whatever, like I did with George Maurer. Being able to get that person on the line will, to some extent, narrow the field. Jim Phillips