Proliferation of Rodmakers

[billems]

I joined an FB page dedicated to bamboo rods. A goodly portion of the members are amateur and professional rodmakers. Man, it seems to be getting as common as Starbucks!

[60InchDV8]

Welll.....this is a wonderful development. Thirty years ago, I recall bamboo rod making was a fading art and fishing with cane wands was also in decline. This gentile craft and angling artistry appears to be reviving and I feel more at ease for the future of angling with a fly.
Regards from the Restigouche where cane single and spey rods are making a come back....Jim

[LeeO]

I’d say that interest in bamboo has declined dramatically in the last 10 years

[3creeks]

Maybe interest in bamboo has, but the interest in craft seems to have experienced a resurgence due to all the pretty pictures on Instagram. There will eventually be a lot of rodmaking equipment for sale on the cheap once the novelty wears off. Just my opinion, of course.

[Canewrap]

3creeks, I agree. Just like flyfishing itself, people think it's neat until they find out how much work is involved, LoL.

[L Swearingen]

Well I don't know what numbers you guys are looking at that support your belief that "interest in bamboo" is declining.
I have made and sold almost 350 Planing Forms since 2008. That's an average of 26 Planing Forms per year.
I have already sold 10 Forms this year with orders for 3 more currently "in the mail."
Declining interest in cane rodmaking declining ? I don't see it.
Larry Swearingen
http://planingforms.webs.com

[Tommasini]

Likely, most of the forms ended up like stationary exercise bikes , a place to hang the cloths.

[GerardH]

I joined an FB page dedicated to bamboo rods. A goodly portion of the members are amateur and professional rodmakers. Man, it seems to be getting as common as Starbucks!

As a coffee drinker, I fail to see a problem here on either count.

[3creeks]

Well I don't know what numbers you guys are looking at that support your belief that "interest in bamboo" is declining.
I have made and sold almost 350 Planing Forms since 2008. That's an average of 26 Planing Forms per year.
I have already sold 10 Forms this year with orders for 3 more currently "in the mail."
Declining interest in cane rodmaking declining ? I don't see it.
Larry Swearingen
http://planingforms.webs.com

I think there's a difference in the interest in bamboo rods and interest in the craft of building them. With all of the guys getting into building rods I honestly wonder what the strength of the market is for them? I do not know the answer, but I'd be interested in the statistics. I have no horse in this race FWIW.

[Fcs]

My boomer generation is retiring in droves, and looking to jump into all sorts of hobbies they didn't have time for until now. Some will stick, lots will drift off. In a decade the second hand market will be awash in used planing forms, table saws, cameras, saxophones, snowshoes, etc etc. The pandemic has also had an effect. Even more time on our hands.

[mer]

I joined an FB page dedicated to bamboo rods. A goodly portion of the members are amateur and professional rodmakers. Man, it seems to be getting as common as Starbucks!

As a coffee drinker, I fail to see a problem here on either count.

As another coffee drinker, Starbucks isn't coffee. It's overly sweetened overly "milked" fru-fru in a cup.
Nescafe Instant in a styrofoam cup is a much better coffee experience than Starbucks.

That said, I think that yes there may be a lot of people that will dip their toes in the water so to speak, buy a form from Larry, start to make one or two rods, "this is hard and a lot of work and takes a lot of time" and give up. A small percentage will stick to the end and actually complete a rod or two. An even smaller percentage of that small percentage will have the skill, develop it and try to make it pay for a house. A non trivial path to "economic freedom"

Keep in mind that they still need buyers.

Bottom line I pretty much agree with all the above posts

[henkverhaar]

My boomer generation is retiring in droves, and looking to jump into all sorts of hobbies they didn't have time for until now. Some will stick, lots will drift off. In a decade the second hand market will be awash in used planing forms, table saws, cameras, saxophones, snowshoes, etc etc.

Mmm, I'm looking for an upgrade French horn... However, not something that somebody would buy on a whim, then peddle off a few years down the line ;-)

Me, I'm holding on to my planing form and stationary bike - use both on a _very_ regular basis...

[GerardH]

I joined an FB page dedicated to bamboo rods. A goodly portion of the members are amateur and professional rodmakers. Man, it seems to be getting as common as Starbucks!

As a coffee drinker, I fail to see a problem here on either count.

As another coffee drinker, Starbucks isn't coffee. It's overly sweetened overly "milked" fru-fru in a cup.
Nescafe Instant in a styrofoam cup is a much better coffee experience than Starbucks.

I drink my coffee black and I like understated rods...even Starbucks can't mess that one up. And then there are the corner mom & pop coffee shops...

Parting with the coffee metaphor, I like the fact that there are options -- a lot of very good ones at that -- out there to find a builder to work with. The hobbyists and custom builders on the scene are carrying the torch which bodes well for us rather than seeing it as a dying craft as portrayed in Chasing the Taper, which was an outstanding documentary but didn't project a bright future for custom rod builders.

[Don Andersen]

In my neck of the woods, there are a lot more builders who have made a number of rods each. From 40 years ago when I started, there was one other. Now, at least 10.
And up here Starbucks are rare, Timmy Hortons are everywhere.
Maybe it’s the coffee?

Don

[bluesjay]

Hi Guys, Starbucks has a good four shot Espresso, and there are quite a few new rod makers, and 'The Sun Also Rises.'

Jay Edwards

[sanderson]

I'd flyfished 30 years before "learning" people still made bamboo rods. I'd fall in the group that had extra time when the pandemic got started. I happened upon an article on bamboo rod makers. It looked challenging, and I jumped in the rabbit hole. I'm currently on rod 15, in under a year. Will I continue? I think so, but I like to travel, and fish, so I don't know. I'm having fun doing it, but the practical side of me asks, "what the hell are you going to do with all these rods?" I give many of them away, but still......

[LeeO]

When I started there were a half dozen active makers in WV. There are now 2 that I know of and one of those is a maybe.

[oldschoolcane]

I have to agree with Lee, there seems to still be a lot of interest in fishing with bamboo rods but its definitely waning. Interest is one thing but you need buyers with enough of a commitment to actually purchase the rods and use them. As far as people looking to build them, I can't be sure of that?