Beyond a doubt the best fly fishing rod material is good bamboo properly selected, cured, split, glued, and correctly proportioned. It possesses strength combined with lightness, resiliency, pliancy, power and balance in greater degree than either steel or solid woods.
Formerly anglers and rod makers could draw fine distinctions between male and female Calcutta and Tonkin ” canes,” but under present conditions good Calcutta is very rare and the word ” Calcutta ” is becoming merely a trade term. Good bamboo of all kinds is more difficult to obtain and a good piece of Tonkin is better than an indifferent one of Calcutta. Male Calcutta, however, is supposed to be superior to either the female or Tonkin. The cheapest split cane is known as steel vine or African cane. It is light colored and makes up into good, inexpensive bamboo fly fishing rods.
Six Strip and 8 Strip Bamboo Fly Fishing Rods
We assume that you know that bamboo is split and then glued together in order to utilize the hard outer enamel and reduce the diameter of the pieces. Some rods are made of bamboo split into six sections (hexagonal) and some in eight (octagonal)...