Bamboo Rods and Fly-fishing: An Introduction

Bamboo Rods and Fly-fishing : An Introduction

Arthur Kuan Chee Yung
January 2007

Forest-fringed water, fish, fishing, flyfishing and bamboo fly rod is, to me, the perfect order of nature, and a worldview that leads to the present cane rod obsession. I believe one never can learn how to appreciate canerods, it is just a manifestation of your roots, values and hopes for the future.

My roots are in Taiping, a colonial town nestled delicately in the Larut valley. Every morning I’d breeze through the Lake Gardens, the liquid heart of the valley, in a rusty 60 year old Griffon bike, rushing past ancient raintrees with boughs forming gothic arches that sprout from buttress roots, stretching over the garden’s ring road and dipping gracefully into the lake itself. Islands of bamboo groves nestle within the gardens against a backdrop of green hills. Hills rise to a thousand feet with cool refreshing waterfalls crashing down over granite hillsides. Bamboo grows there too, beside the hill’s pocketwater. Brandishing a machete, I’d fell culms for my various woodsman-crafting projects. The bamboo tips, stripped of leaves and hung to dry, converted into long whippy fishing rods to float crumbs, size 16 hook and unweighted line into darkwater pockets where rasboras and tengas flit playfully. The lightning quick silver denizens are hard to catch but when hooked would fight so desperately that their delicate transparent mouths bled. I felt sorry for hooking them but was addicted to the take. Fishing is not the perfect way to connect with the nature of fish and rivers but it is the best. Not that I’ve not tried goggling downstream, floating like a lazy log and immersing into the watery world of fish, shrimp and the odd freshwater crab. I gave up because my senses were overwhelmed by river, the fish were out of reach and no one believed the crabs.

It is diffiicult to communicate observations of nature that seem so important but are frequently ignored by others. So it is with the salient points of fly-fishing and tackle. The reason for catch and release fishing is tough enough to explain but liking bamboo rods is even harder to make sense of. Why bamboo? Why limit oneself to slower action tackle that need more care and that is more expensive? The price of bamboo is about twice that of good graphite but pure monetary value is certainly not the issue nor worth any bragging rights. The real reason for the paying this price is the same as getting broke buying a diamond engagement ring. It is the price of experiencing love in craftsmanship, in nature, in my roots and my past. A good modern bamboo rod is a work that is always created at a loss. As every artist knows, selling our craft is like removing a pound of flesh. It is a product that is the labor of calm passion, created after some 60 hours of delicate work. In some strange way, the high value is also translated to the fish as the ritual of fishing becomes more than just catching fish. It is an investment in a lifestyle that suggests a future in Eden, with leaves of green and flowing clear water.

Unlike almost every useful tool in life that is turning into either metal or plastic, a bamboo rod suggests an alternative way of life. The incredible natural strength of the cane power-fibers prove that with some crafting, natural products can perform incredible feats of casting line and playing fish. Every cane rod is different like every fish we catch. Every cane rod is also every bit as tough and as delicate as fish. Understand a cane rod and the nature of fish becomes clear. It is not possible to understand and respect fish if we only want to muscle it in and display it. My best experience with a fish is when it comes to my hand, calm but bright with life, to be unhooked, admired and released to leap another day. The fish is not prey but a dancing partner in this cycle of life.

As an object for the future, the bamboo rod encapsulates my hope that my family and friends will see some method in my madness, some beauty in my obsession and be encouraged to experience it all with me. Fishing cane rods with my bride is about sharing love and nature together. Passing down prized cane rods to my children is an act of handing down memory.

The following ‘rod stories’ chronicle my journey into the world of cane rods, my pleasant encounters with poetic makers and lovers of cane alike. Enjoy…