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I can't remember the last time someone asked me WHY I was fishing bamboo, but a lot of guys have commented on it - and almost every comment was along the lines of "I've been thinking about getting into bamboo, but..." which is usually followed by a phrase like "they cost too much" or "I'm afraid I would break it"or "it's too slow" or "too heavy." There isn't much of an argument to be made about cost; yes, bamboo is more likely to increase in value or at least not decrease much, but clearly, a high-level bamboo rod is almost always going to cost a lot more than a high-level graphite rod. As for the other concerns, I point out that bamboo is tougher than graphite and that a hollowbuilt bamboo rod can compare favorably to graphite in both weight and speed. After casting one of my rods, these guys nearly always profess admiration for its qualities. How many of them actually go on to buy or build a bamboo rod, I have no idea.
As for my own reasons, there are many -- I like the way bamboo looks, as opposed to a piece of colored plastic; I love the way it flexes, smells, even sounds, and above all, the way it feels when I hook and play a fish. I like that it is a natural material; just as I prefer cotton and wool clothes to polyester, like real leather uppers and soles on my shoes, prefer wood gun stocks to plastic, and prefer leather or cloth car seats to vinyl. Plastics have been of great benefit to the world, but there is something solid and substantial in the natural materials that makes me prefer them.
One more thing -- I grew up in the 50s and 60s baitfishing with dimestore cane rods and cheap fiberglass and steel rods. In the early '70s, with a new family and a job that barely paid above minimum wage, I lusted after the new graphite spinning rods, but they were way beyond my means . My first two fly rods were bamboo and fiberglass. Thirty-plus years after graduating from high school, I reached the point where I could get nicer fishing gear, and I tried a few graphite fly rods but quickly settled on bamboo for the reasons mentioned above. I have kept three or four nice graphite rods, mostly for the use of friends and relatives who are afraid of bamboo, but I do fish them now and then and enjoy having them. But I just never had that much experience with graphite, and bamboo is my true love.