Fly-fishing and a craft that endures. The history of the bamboo fly rod appeals to a wide audience, not just armchair anglers.

Fly-fishing on a remote stream, observing insect hatches, reading the water, knotting a fly to tippet, and placing a perfect cast are pursuits that can be truly understood only by those who practice them. To feel the tug of a trout on the end of the line – usually after many hours of casting and changing flies – is to feel a deep sense of connection to nature and tradition.

It can also prompt quests for equipment, fly patterns, and obscure tools – pursuits that can consume a great deal of energy, time, and money, and that sometimes border on obsession.

I was a firsthand observer and participant when, in a different time and place in my life, I worked at a fly-fishing outfitter. This store sold, arguably, the finest fly rods made on a mass scale.

While most were made of graphite, there were also two models of bamboo fly rods. I regarded them with fascination. Gleaming with dark-honey colored varnish, they bore the signature of their maker on the shaft.

By Leigh Montgomery

Full Story: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0919/p17s01-bogn.html?s=hns

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Winston Rod celebrates 75 years in Twin Bridges http://www.matr.net/article-11829.html