Customer Reviews

Splitting Cane: Conversations with Bamboo Rodmakers

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This latest book on the wonders of the hand-crafted Bamboo Fly Rod and their makers is a survey of 17 (counting the Jenkins father & son team as two) men and their craft.

Ed Engle, a Colorado fly fishing guide for more than 30 years, has collected his conversations with these craftsmen. Then he includes a description of a trip to China to the only source of the "Tonkin" Bamboo. This is a book that can, largely, be told by its cover. . . and it reveals a few truths about an esoteric art as practiced by a few of the current craftsmen. It is not intended to be the definitive survey nor is it an unbiased critical review - it is what it says it is - a record of conversations between the author and some rodmakers he knows and a discussion of some of the rods, including the practice and the art of casting them.

This book has been criticized as just another publication by the John Gierach gang. It is true that the book covers rodmaker Mike Clark and his "John Gierach- A.K. Best" taper rod and Gierach wrote the introduction, but that's hardly a negative; I'd assume that the critic would have said the same of members of The Algonquin Roundtable . . . That said, Engle's writing style is his own and he derives nothing from Gierach's prose style.

Another critic remarks that there has been prior publication of some of these interviews. For this reviewer, it matters not one whit that some of the chapters are collected from other publications. The prior publications are obscure and it is unlikely that many of the readers will have had access to them.

This is a delightful insight into the worlds of a few people who make hand-made fly rods that sell for $900.00 and up (way, way up in some cases). What Engle makes clear is that the waiting time for a custom-built rod, along the hundreds of steps and tens of hours that go into the crafting of one of these gems makes the craftsman's price close to minimum wage for the time and skill expended in the process. Engle also points out that if you want a custom rod you will wait for it - there is no jumping the queue allowed. There are some things that money simply can't buy these days.

This is a book about a niche within a niche within a niche and those of us who love fly fishing and everything about fly fishing will love this book, too.

Do you fish with a bamboo rod? Good, what you don't? Then you neeed to read this book about fantastic "living" bamboo rod makers. Ed does a good job of getting into the minds and work of bamboo rod makers and it doesn't hurt that he is good friends with Mike Clark. By the way Mike's rods are soooo expensive these days, if you could get one. I do understand that they are sweet though. Anyway, if you read this book and don't fish with a bamboo rod, you will be by the end of the book, whether through osmosis or the real thing.
You can't pick up books like this and never read anything else like it. After you buy this book you better think about a new bookcase for all your other "new" bamboo rod books.

This is a fantastic book. Well written and extremely interesting and informative. However, this book could totally use some color pics of the rods he's describing. Also, the author describes every single rod in the book as being silky, oily smooth with no shock waves in the loop. A little constructive criticism would make this book a lot more credible. When every single rod is the best ever, the comparisons are rendered almost totally useless. I did love the book though, and couldn't put it down till I read every single page!

Great points from the masters. The other information is great as some of it never appears in other books. This is a must for first time rod builders. The information about Bern R. is very interesting as one of the new guru's of this master craftering of cane rods.

Though I don't build fly rods I found this book fascinating. It tells many techniques and stories behind today's great fly-rod builders. It's inspiring to know that we are probably living in the Golden Age of bamboo fly rods, and that many craftsmen are still pursuing excellence. Now one of my goals is to one day own a modern bamboo masterpiece.

Engle's book is an introduction to many of today's bamboo rod builders. The results of test casting each of the builders' rods seemed to run together as the descriptions of the actions were different but the meaning was the same. I am not sure I could pick a builder through these similar descriptions. The interviews about the builders' philosophies would serve one better. Overall, I thought the book was informative but with no color plates of the rods, the detailed descriptions lost much of their value. Still a good read.

Surveys only some of the better rodmakers - Brackett, Jennings, Jenkins and others - and describes test casting and action of each...Observations were interesting, but not much of a reference. This is not an updated reference book a la Marty Keane (which is thin also) but more of a musing through rodbuilding, action etc. The rodbuilding/collecting/fishing community is lacking a comprehensive reference of fine contemporary cane rods. This book helps but does not go far enough. Pictures are desired in this type of book but sadly are missing. Many of the chapters appeared in a small fly fishing journal out of Livingston in the past so you may have seen them before. And a piece by John Gierach, surprise, suprise.