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 bamboorods |
Steelhead on Bamboo |
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Posts: 277 11/11/2008 11:53 |
Just returned from a sucessful trip to the Manistee. Have had a Heddon "Steelhead" Model # 1650 rod for years and was matched with the Heddon Model
#450 reel. Only needed a polish and redip to make the rod shine. Rod is 8' 6'' with a 15" grip and 5" fore grip. Sure came in handy as
the three fish that I landed sure had some shoulders. It was fun and the rig sure attracted a lot of attention.
Bamboorods |
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Chartist1 |
#1 | |||
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Posts: 148 11/12/2008 17:48 |
I've been fishing steelies this year on Elk Creek in Erie Pa with my Pickard 867. I haven't received any compliments on my rig, more like some odd
stares.
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steeldog94 |
Elk Creek | #2 | ||
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Posts: 96 11/18/2008 08:20 |
I've been fishing two handed bambo rods (Orvis, Thomas, Hardy, Leonard) on Elk Creek and the rest of the Erie Tribs for steelhead almost exclusively for
the last three years. I've gotten several compliments and several odd looks. Maybe we will run into each other sometime, it will be great to see another
bamboo fisherman out there.
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BobS |
#3 | |||
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Posts: 985 11/18/2008 10:29 |
I used a Bill Taylor 8' 6wt on Walnut and Elk. Shortly after I released the sixth fish landed that day, three graphiters came along, saw what I was using,
and warned me that I'd never land a steelhead "on that thing."
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pcg |
#4 | |||
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Posts: 1824 11/18/2008 10:50 Admin |
I too have caught any number of Steelies over the last couple years on an old Edwards Salmon rod. Have to admit that at first I was terrified of breaking
it--some of these fish are huge. But gradually realized that the rod is TOUGH. And yup, lots of stares, as well as compliments. After I landed one 15-lb fish,
a guide fishing nearby waded over to me, grabbed my rod & holding it overhead, shouted to the 8 - 10 guys fishing nearby, "Look--he landed it on a
bamboo rod!"
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fishbum |
#5 | |||
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Posts: 207 11/18/2008 11:22 |
I have been catching steelhead and salmon on bamboo since October 2002. I too have been warned by passing guides that "you shouldn't be using a rod
like that for these fish(salmon)". When I asked why, they reply something like "they will make splinters out of that". Well. I am still fishing
with those rods and they are not in splinters yet. I don't expect them to be either.
The latest venture has been with a two handed, two piece, 10 1/2 foot, hollow built, 8 weight. I first used this rod in the spring of 2008. I changed the design a little and even though the first rod is great, the second generation is super great! I cast a three piece version at SRG that a friend of mine made and it is great too. It is a wonderful winter rod because you can wear real gloves when you fish with it and since you are not stripping in line you don't get ice in the guides. I am still trying to get one of the second generation rods made for myself. fishbum |
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gofish60 |
#6 | |||
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Posts: 1858 11/18/2008 11:23 Registered User |
Old story I've told here before, but shows how strong bamboo rods are.
Clark Davis and I were fishing for some Brookies that had been planted in a Lake Michigan tributary one winter (they are put into the water in fall, and go out into the lake in spring). Great fun, lots of 6"-8" fish. I was fishing with a 6 1/2' 2/2 Orvis Deluxe (built in the '40's by Wes Jordan and Cal Skinner, according to Orvis) with a 4wt line and a 5X tippet. We were using dries, and had each caught a bunch of the Brookies, when I had an unusually hard hit, and it seemed like I was on a snag. The line started moving upstream and Clark started laughing, because he'd figured out right away that a Steelie had hit my fly. I was going to break him off, but Clark thought we ought to give it a couple of minutes to just see how well the little rod does. It took about 15-20 minutes, which included some chasing up the stream, but we finally landed the fish, which was about 25" and 10 lbs. The rod worked superbly. Several times the fish had it bent so far that I could actually feel the bamboo flexing under the grip, but the rod wasn't damaged in any way, no sets, etc. Pretty good testimonial on the strength of bamboo and Orvis' construction. We regularly used heavier 8 and 9 wei8ght bamboo rods fishing for Salmon and Steelhead, and caught literally hundreds of fish with them. A couple failed, usually at a ferrule, but then so does a lot of graphite and glass under that kind of abuse. We also got the looks and comments of the other fishermen about fishing those old "wooden" rods. gofish |
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steeldog94 |
Salmon On Bamboo | #7 | ||
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Posts: 97 11/18/2008 13:11 |
Since we are discussion big fish on bamboo; last fall (07) I landed 16 Salmon (Kings and Silvers (Coho)) on the Salmon river NY during an exceptionally good
run using my 12ft Orvis Bamboo Salmon rod and 20lb tippet. I got a few comments from people nearby about how they would be afraid to break the rod on such
large fish. It behaved as it was designed to behave and had no difficulty handeling the Salmon (an equal number of fish broke off). There were no problems
with the rod at all, no sets etc. This year I didn't have as much luck but I still enjoyed using the rod.
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winston59 |
#8 | |||
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Posts: 52 11/18/2008 23:49 |
Nice information on fishing bamboo for steelhead and large trout. I was in Montana and asked a couple of guides I fished with if any of the sports fished
with bamboo. They both shook their heads and said no. One of them advised that the rod would just bust up into splinters. I laughed wondering if these guides
realized that people fished for large trout and steelhead long before graphite. Fly fishing isn't something that started in the age of graphite. In the
last 30 years I bet there have been far fewer large fish caught with any type of rod compared to all the big fish caught with bamboo over the past 100 years.
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BigTJ |
#9 | |||
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Posts: 565 11/19/2008 02:45 |
The guys in our fly shop say the same thing about bamboo, it's not strong enough etc. I should take an old Monty butt section and a rubber mallet in to the
shop one day and pound on it for a minute or two then ask if it's OK if I give their rack of Sages the same treatment. They might need to change their
underwear after that.
I fish a few coastal streams in N CA and Oregon for summer run steelhead with dries or small classic wets and floating lines and troutspey 2-handers. Believe it or not, it's not at all hard to touch 3-5 fish a day. As soon as I can I want to make up a Dickerson Guide Special and have at it. It would be a blast to catch a summer run on a cane rod. |
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