Rodmaking Professionals Map
Kirk Brumels
The Planing Form
P.O. Box 131
Macatawa, MI 49434
Callum Ross
Indi River Rods
Berridale, New South Wales
Michel Sylvestre
Cannes à Moucher en Bambou Sylvestre / Sylvestre Bamboo Fly Rods
Quebec, Canada
Gordon Gove
Gordon Gove
GWR Trading (Pty) Ltd
8 Marimead
4 Reed Place
Pinetown, South Africa
Phone Cel 081 545 2297
Tim Flagler
Tim Flagler
Tightline Productions
54 Academy Street
Califon, NJ 07830
Chris Carlin
Chris Carlin
Far North Rodsmiths
4320 Tikishla St.
Anchorage, AK 99504
Michael Sinclair
Michael Sinclair
The Cane Clinic
3121 Benton Rd, Paducah, KY 42003
Russ Gooding
Russ Gooding
Golden Witch Tech, Inc
1574 Kleinfeltersville Road
Stevens, PA 17578
Chris Smith
Artur Banachowski and Natalia Patoka
Artur Banachowski and Natalia Patoka
Orle 35, 83-420 Liniewo, Poland
What's This Map? And how do I get on it?
This is your map. Own your corner of the world, your niche in this expanding market. If you support Peak Bamboo, then we support you. This list will be populated by invitation only, but earning your invite is easy. Anyone who purchases ten culms, whether that’s one sealed bale or ten high-graded sticks, will receive an invitation to join the pros. That does mean we’re entirely open to serious hobbyists alongside the makers who earn their living entirely through the angling arts. Whether you’re a rodmaker or a rodmaking instructor, whether you make a few rods and guide when your waters aren’t frozen, or you restore rods, or deal in vintage tackle, this is your page. We see the business end of bamboo as a two-way street. You need bamboo and we support our families by selling it. You need to sell bamboo, or classes, or your guide services, or your restoration talents – and we will help you to keep your business days busy. When Peak Bamboo advertises “inside” the industry, we’re trying to sell Tonkin to folks like you. But when we advertise “outside” the industry, we’re doing our level best to intrigue non-bamboo anglers into sampling the pure pleasure that is a bamboo fishing rod. And we are ecumenical in this regard. Flyrods? Heck yes. But Spinning and Casting Rods? Of course. Surf Rods? Spey Rods? Switch Rods? Yes. Ultralight tackle to the beefiest triple-built thing you can make with bamboo, it’s all good. Bamboo represents the only sustainable material from which fishing rods are currently and regularly made. We like fish. We like water. We don’t care about your politics, but we know every good angler wants a better experience on the water. That demands care, for waters, for fish, and for the tackle we use. Join us. We’ll help you sell bamboo rods, bamboo angling, bamboo rodmaking classes, restoration services, you name it. The world of bamboo is not a zero sum pie where every rod sold by every other maker deprives you of a sale. That’s old-school thinking, and it’s wrong. The world of bamboo is a vast blue ocean, with a few thousand folks in the know, and literally millions of anglers who simply are not aware. Help us open their eyes to the pure pleasures of slow fishing, fishing with rods that took time to make, and demand care. Slow fishing, sure, but so often the action is fast and the fishing is faster – there’s no angling challenge that a bamboo rod isn’t up to. These are rods that offer finesse and power in equal measures. Rods that are unique because every culm from which every rod ever made is unique, and because each rod is made individually, by a man or a woman invested in a craft that demands training to master, and passion to pursue. Peak Bamboo will help you share your passion.
Want to get your business on the map? If you’re invited, we’ll need the following information:
- Your Name
- Your Business Name
- Your Address (how can we pin you to the map without your address?)
- Your Angling Business Website URL
- Your Email Address
- Plus a 150 word description of your bamboo-oriented business endeavor.
Haven’t been invited? Please inquire. We know that some of you are 100% devoted to bamboo, yet you don’t need a single new culm of Tokin. We offer exceptions aplenty for vintage tackle dealers and restorationists.
United States
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Alaska
Chris Carlin
Far North Rodsmiths
4320 Tikishla St.
Anchorage, AK 99504
Chris Carlin has been making bamboo rods professionally for over a decade based out of his small shop located in Anchorage, Alaska. He makes both rods and blanks utilizing custom designed or classic tapers in hexagonal and quadrate configurations. Over at Golden Witch, they regularly suggest that “new to bamboo” rodmakers start out by turning one of Chris Carlin’s blanks into a rod. If you’re headed to the Far North, get a rod or a blank designed and crafted by the man who knows these fabulous waters!
Georgia
Chris Smith
Walters Fly Rods
Atlanta, GA
chris.smith@waltersflyrods.com
Originating from a passion acquired on the mountain waters of Western North Carolina, a desire was created to have an impact in the world of fly fishing and to be a part of the heritage and history of our great pastime. The Southeast has a lot to offer when it comes to fly fishing whether you are casting to brook trout on a rhododendron covered Appalachian mountain stream, working a perfect dead drift to a brown trout on the Chattahoochee, or launching a crab pattern at a tailing redfish in the grass.Walters Fly Rods was created with these visions in mind to represent the Southeast’s stake in the fly fishing community. Our goal is to provide the highest quality products available to all fly anglers. Our fly rods are hand built in Georgia including thread wrapping, epoxy, & turning cork.
Kentucky
Michael Sinclair
The Cane Clinic
3121 Benton Road
Paducah, KY 42003
Phone : 270-415-9096
When I discovered vintage bamboo fly rods they hooked me as they had hooked so many fish over the years. I wanted to learn more and found some help from Marty Keane and Stuart Kirkfield’s books.
I put my restoration skills to work and began restoring rods under the Cane Clinic name. But “Clinic” actually has two meanings: it is both a place to be healed and a place to learn. Now I restore rods and write books about them to further the historical knowledge of some of the companies.
I’ve authored five books about bamboo fly rods, including “The Bamboo Rod Restoration Handbook”, restored hundreds of rods and had a really good time doing it. Also developed a color preserver called “Color Guard” because nothing else worked to my satisfaction.
Michigan
Kirk Brumels
The Planing Form
P.O. Box 131
Macatawa, MI 49434
clamriverclassics.com/blog
clamriverclassics@yahoo.com
The Planing Form is an international newsletter dedicated to the craft of making split bamboo fly rods. Serving as a resource for the sharing and dissemination of information, The Planing Form strives to connect rod makers from around the globe with others in the craft in efforts to improve the individual and collective knowledge of split cane rod makers. The Planing Form newsletter welcomes and relies on articles submitted by its subscribers and consists of six yearly issues. Subscription information regarding The Planing Form can be obtained by contacting Kirk Brumels, Editor at clamriverclassics@yahoo.com
New Jersey
Tim Flagler
Tightline Productions
54 Academy Street
Califon, NJ 07830
Tim Flagler is the owner of Tightline Productions, L.L.C., a video production company founded in 1998 in Califon, NJ. Tightline specializes in video for the outdoor industry, including promotional videos for outfitters and lodges, product videos for manufacturers and instructional fly tying videos. They produce a new “how to” fly tying video nearly weekly which appears not only on their Vimeo and YouTube channels but on Midcurrent and the Orvis fly tying blog as well. Many of the tying videos take the viewer well beyond just the tying of the fly and show what it looks like underwater, what natural it represents and how it can be fished. Their YouTube channel has over 30,000 subscribers and is growing daily.
Tightline Productions is proud to have produced videos for Golden Witch Technologies including “Making Bamboo Blanks”, “Finishing Bamboo Rods” and “The Graphite Fly Rod: How to Build a Modern Classic”.
Pennsylvania
Russ Gooding
Golden Witch Tech., Inc.
P.O. Box 159
Hopeland, PA 17533
www.goldenwitch.com
info@goldenwitch.com
Golden Witch – a traditional rodmakers’ supply house. We’ve been supplying rodmakers and restorationists with tools, components, education, & advice since 1998. Please take the time to read our many “rambles,” to browse our component & tool selection, or to consider our educational DVDs. Golden Witch is thrilled to be associated with Peak Bamboo as Peak’s retailer of high-graded culms and low-volume bales.
Around the World
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Australia
Callum Ross
Indi River Rods
Berridale, New South Wales
I am a bamboo rod maker located in the Monaro region NSW, close to some of the best trout streams in mainland Australia. My focus is on producing rods suited to the local waters and therefore concentrate on planing rods in the 3wt to 5wt range.
Canada
Michel Sylvestre
Cannes à Moucher en Bambou Sylvestre / Sylvestre Bamboo Fly Rods
Quebec, Canada
Sylvestre Bamboo Fly Rods is a new Tonkin bamboo fly rod workshop in Quebec, Canada. Since 2015, Michel Sylvestre has worked to build his business project with the goal of rebirthing a traditional craft lost in time in French America. Three young rod builders joined Michel in Spring 2016 to pursue this craft tradition. Passionate about fly fishing, and having knowledge of musical instrument making, it’s in 2014 that Michel discovers the world of bamboo fly rods and decide to make his own. After a fly rod building class in Maine, in the Summer 2015, Michel’s project was born. Since then, he is dedicated to concretize his business project. After only one year of approach, Michel already intends to move his workshop towards a bigger space in 2017, to answer the requests of fly fishermen who believe in the big virtues of bamboo fly rods. “Long life to Peak Bamboo!” and welcome to this new player, essential to the vitality of the Tonkin bamboo rod builders.
Les Cannes à Moucher en Bambou Sylvestre est un nouvel atelier situé au Québec / Canada, consacré à la fabrication de cannes à moucher en bambou Tonkin. Depuis 2015, Michel Sylvestre travaille à bâtir cette entreprise afin de faire renaître un métier qui s’était égaré dans le temps en Amérique francophone. Trois jeunes artisans se sont joint à lui au printemps 2016, afin de poursuivre cette tradition artisanale. Passionné de pêche à la mouche et possédant des connaissances en lutherie, c’est en 2014 que Michel découvre les cannes en bambou et décide d’en fabriquer. Après une formation dans le Maine à l’été 2015, le projet de Michel prenait naissance. Depuis, il se consacre à concrétiser son projet d’affaires. Après seulement un an de démarche, Michel envisage de déménager son atelier en 2017 dans un espace plus grand, afin de répondre à la demande des pêcheurs à la mouche qui croient aux grandes vertus des cannes en bambou. “Longue vie à Peak Bamboo!”. Et bienvenue à ce nouveau joueur, essentiel à la vitalité des fabricants de cannes à moucher en bambou Tonkin.
Poland
Artur Banachowski and Natalia Patoka
Canerods
Orle 35, 83-420 Liniewo, Poland
artur@canerods.pl or natalia@canerods.pl
www.canerods.pl ; www.bamboorods.pl
Our bamboo rod blanks are made on the Tom Morgan Handmill. We craft spinning rods and fly rods for trout, and our specialty is rods for the tidal situations on the little coastal rivers. Our second passion is making bamboo fly rods for pike fishing. Please visit our websites to learn more!
South Africa
Gordon Gove
GWR Trading (Pty) Ltd
8 Marimead
4 Reed Place
Pinetown, South Africa
Phone Cel 081 545 2297
Rod building classes, limited to 3 students at a time. Flexi time training. All materials provided.
also available:
Completed cane rods, Cane rod kits, Nickel silver and Bronze ferrules, African hardwood reel seats insets, Snake eyes