Been getting to this intro for a few days now, tied up on the wood pile.

Hunted and fished up here in the Lakes region of NH for most of my life and 10 years ago moved up here and quit the weekend travel. We now say we're on a permanent camping trip!

I'm 62  of the moment and slowing down some but still do everything I want and need to do. Just takes a tad longer sometimes.

Black Bears have become a big part of my life over the past 10 years. I've spent countless hours with them and have well over 40,000 "Bear Pictures"

I'm a semi retired  Engineer having worked for Lockheed a spell and some not so famous companies. Vet from the 67 era, nuff said there. I run an on line store called Black Bear Fly Fishing and I opened shop 5 years ago in an attempt to stop, or at least put a damper on the high prices of fly fishing gear. It has been a very successful mission, and even more so in this economy.

Also have a personal web site, www.tjsbearden.com where anyone can get more acquainted.

My politics are clearly to the right of Atilla The Hun. IMO, no longer a Government of the people, for the people, by the people, rather, a Government for the Government and big business.

Fly fishing is a passion, these days mostly with 1,2 and 3 weight rods. Got into cane rods a couple of years ago and became "hooked"

I guess I can be consodered docile as I haven't been thrown off any forums of late and managed not to get in any deep water on FFNH which takes some doing

All The Best

Tom (AKA Koda)

Great Intro Koda.

You now have full access to the forums.

Welcome and I really hope you like the site.

See Yah

Lee

Welcome to the site Koda. Nice to see another Vet on site ,  Thank you for your service. Would love to see some of your photo's of the black bears.  Will check out your site in a bit here. I agree with Nic nice drawing of the bear. Did you draw that ?   Well again welcome to the site . Looking fwd to your participation. Dave V

    Dang Yellow Jackets . Good thing you had a good supply of antidote and pain killer close by.  Dr Jack Daniels would be proud

Wow that's pretty cool . the bear engraved in your reels. Nice touch.   So you got the Bamboo fever . I have been contemplating bamboo for a while now.  Just want to make sure I get the right rod. They ain't cheep . Well again welcome to the site . Dave V

Quote by: Dave V

    ........... I have been contemplating bamboo for a while now.  Just want to make sure I get the right rod. They ain't cheep .........

Dave

Maybe I should open a thread called "Taking the BS out of Bamboo fly rods". Seriously, don't contemplate too much. Once I hooked the first trout on one I knew I missed out for a lot of years.

We're into IM12 Carbon rods now. Theoretically, we should be able to cast 90 feet of line and feel a fish thinking about slamming a fly! Broom sticks I say! Sure, you can lay out 90 feet of line with one....if you are built like Sasquatch. IMHO, anything beyond IM6 is going too far. Boron has a place, in the salt.

I was blown away by the sensitivity of the cane rod. Every time the brookie twitched a fin I could feel it in the rod. And that was a 4 weight Dickerson taper. If you want the ride of your life do a bamboo in a 1, 2 or 3 weight. You may be able to come up with a 3 weight from a few builders, they break down and cry when you ask em about a 2 weight. Just mention a 1 weight and you'll be accused of insanity.

In big rivers 9 foot rods are the vogue, but for the small brooks and streams of new England they are actually a handicap IMO.  Something in a 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 feet is about right. If I had to settle on one (which I ain't about to do ) it would be a 3 wt in a Winston Taper. But I do love my 2 wt in the Catenach taper.

I used to carry a line of rods from a builder in Michigan. A decent cane rod started out around $600. Within a few months the same rod was demanding $900! A dude in CA decided he was going after the Neiman Marcus crowd and the same rods were going for $2600 !!!

Quite a few US builders get culms from my Rep, some get assembled bamboo blanks, wrap em up and call them Made in USA. The real builders like Bob Nunley who do it from scratch build some beautiful rods. Only problem there is the $1800 price if you're short on frogskins like I am. The rods are worth the money and the wait, but if you can't swing it that does not mean you can't fish a darn good cane rod.

You can get a Zhu rod for around $170.  That's a bad place to go for a million reasons which I'll be glad to cover in a PM but not here on the board.

Andy Shin builds my rods, one at a time, to spec, and it takes him just about 4 months to build one. My dealer in CT is a builder, a collector, and an appraiser of cane rods. He told me in spades, "Tom, I can't build a rod as good as this and get anywhere near the price."

So there are alternatives. My personal rods from this builder are a 2 wt Cat taper, a 3 wt Winston taper, and a 6 wt in an Orvis Limestone taper. I do not use the 6 wt as a casting rod. That one runs a WF7 steady sink on a Martin multiplier which is what it took to balance that rod and is the one I use to troll flies in lakes and ponds for big bows and salmon.

Life is too short not to fish a bamboo rod!

Here's a 4 WT in a Dickerson Taper with a No3 Kodiak Red Agate

Thought I had a shot of the Mohawk on the 6 wt boo...Hmmm, it's on the Redington. Wife been at it again!