Lesson 1: Reading a rod in your hand

Bamboo School · Lesson 1 of 12 · about 7 minutes

Builds on: Short Course Lessons 1 and 2 (what bamboo does, and what a taper is)

Most people judge a bamboo rod in the first ten seconds. They pick it up, give it a shake, and decide. Sometimes they're right. Often they're judging the wrong thing.

This lesson is about slowing that down. What to look at before you string it up. What to feel for when you cast. And how to tell, in one session on the grass or the water, whether a taper is one you'll still love in five years.

Before you string it up

Look first. Join the sections, line up the guides, and hold the rod out level at arm's length. Then sight down it from the butt, the way you'd sight down a board at the lumber yard.

You're looking for two things. Is the rod straight? And are the guides in one clean line?

Now turn the rod slowly in your hand, a sixth of a turn at a time, and sight again at each flat. A straight rod stays straight all the way around. A rod with a set will show a gentle curve in one direction, and it will turn with the rod as you rotate it.

What a set looks like

A set is a curve the cane has learned. It's almost always in the tip, because the tip is the thinnest part and the part that bends most. You'll usually see it in the top third, as a soft bow, not a kink.

Don't confuse a set with a crooked ferrule seat or guides that are out of line. Those show up as a sharp change at one spot. A set is a smooth arc.

A slight set is common on rods that have been fished hard or stored badly. It doesn't ruin a rod, and it can be taken out (that's Lesson 9). But know what you're looking at. On a used rod, a deep set in both tips tells you something about how it was kept. On a new rod, the tips should sight straight.

This is also why a Deluxe rod comes with two tips. You saw that in the Short Course. If you rotate them, neither one spends enough time under load to learn a curve.

Swing weight: the weight that matters

Bamboo is heavier than graphite. You know that. But the number on a scale isn't what tires your wrist. Swing weight is.

Swing weight is how heavy a rod feels when you move it, not when you hold it still. Weight far from your hand counts for much more than weight near it. A heavy reel seat barely registers. A little extra mass up in the tip, and you feel it on every false cast.

To feel it, hold the rod by the grip with no reel and make a slow casting motion. Then do the same with the reel on. A good reel balances the rod so the weight sits closer to your hand. On a bamboo rod the right reel can make the whole outfit feel lighter, even though you've just added weight.

Two rods of the same length can have different swing weights, and longer rods carry more of it out at the end. Notice it, but don't decide on it alone. How the rod casts matters more.

The waggle, and what it tells you

Hold the rod by the grip and give it one firm flick, then stop your hand dead. Watch the tip.

Two things happen. The rod bends, and then it recovers. On bamboo you'll see the bend run deeper toward your hand than on fast graphite. That's the deeper flex from the Short Course, and you can see it without any line at all.

Then watch how the tip settles. Count the swings back and forth before it goes still. Bamboo damps vibration, so the tip should stop quickly and cleanly, without a long wobble. That quick settling is a big part of why bamboo lays line down so quietly.

The waggle tells you a little about where a rod bends. It tells you nothing about how it casts with line on it. Don't buy or reject a rod on the waggle. Use it to know what to pay attention to once you're casting.

Cast it at 15, 30 and 50 feet

Now string it up. Use the line you plan to fish, not whatever was handy. Bamboo often fishes better a little over-lined; a rod marked 5wt often casts better with a 5.5 or 6. We spec the recommended line for every rod we sell. If you're testing a used rod and don't know its line, try two.

At 15 feet. Strip off just enough line to clear the tip by a rod length or so, and cast. This is where bamboo should shine. A good rod bends on very little line, and you should feel it load in the cork even here. If the rod feels like a stick and the line just flops out, the taper may be too fast for close work, or the line too light. Try a heavier line before you decide.

At 30 feet. This is the range most trout fishing actually happens at. Watch your loop. It should form easily and unroll at its own pace. Now play with your timing. Shorten the pause and feel the cast fall apart. Lengthen it until you feel the rod load fully. A rod you'll like gives you a clear signal in the cork when the timing is right. You shouldn't have to guess.

At 50 feet. Now push it. Every rod has a range where it's comfortable and a point where it starts to struggle. Notice where that point is, and how the rod tells you. A fast taper will usually keep a tight loop longer. A parabolic rod will ask for a slower, longer stroke and may run out of easy distance sooner. Neither is wrong. What you're learning is whether this rod's best range matches your water.

Spend most of your time at 30 feet. That's the cast you'll make a thousand times a season.

How to tell a taper you'll like

Here's the hard part. Almost any decent bamboo rod feels good for the first twenty minutes. The question is whether it will feel good on the third day of a trip, when you're tired and your stroke has slipped.

A few things to try.

Cast badly on purpose. Rush a cast. Make a sloppy one. Some tapers forgive a bad stroke and still put the fly near where you wanted it. Others punish every mistake. If you're still building your bamboo timing, the forgiving rod is the better rod for you, even if the other one feels more exciting.

Cast the distance you actually fish. If you fish small streams, the 15 and 25-foot casts are the whole test. Ignore how the rod does at 60 feet. If you fish big water in wind, the reverse is true.

Pay attention to your hand. After half an hour, does your wrist feel worked or relaxed? Are you forcing the rod or letting it load? A rod you'll like over the long run is one where you stop thinking about the rod.

Compare two at once if you can. One cast with each, back and forth, with the same line. Differences that are hard to name on their own become obvious side by side.

And give it more than one session. Your stroke changes as you learn the rod. A taper that felt slow on the first afternoon may feel just right by the end of the week. That's what our 30-day trial is for: fish it on your own water, at your own distances, before you decide.

Next: You've felt the rod. In Lesson 2 we go inside it: how a culm is chosen, why nodes are staggered, and what heat does to the cane.