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Albertatrput, Many years ago I fished the strangest place ever for Athabaskas. Right through an operating coal mine on tbe Gregg River. Was a beautiful trout stream reminding me of Racehorse Creek. The only downside was the thousands of styrofoam cups floating here and there. A product of tbe miners. I’ve caught other Athabaska Rainbows in streams all over the place. The fish tend to be small reflecting the tough conditions of their existence. Don

I couldn’t resist. There are more bamboo rod builders today than most might suspect. The builders exist in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and perhaps more further east. In Alberta, I am aware of 7 builders which is a record. When I started some 35 years ago, there were two. Unlike years past, most builders build to suit themselves with only a few selling rods. These builders are pushing the material and designs into some really interesting places exploring ideas that folks who are driven to feed families often don’t have the resources. This has resulted in rods of two, three, four, five, six, eight and twelve strips as well as inside out rods, truncated triangle rods, hollow rods and on and on. While some of the following is not new ideas, the ideas are being explored. Like most crafts, web sites have appeared. There are a number of videos on UTube showing the hows and whys of building a rod. A dying craft, it isn’t. I started FFing with bamboo some 60 years ago and then traipsed along following the newest and bestest finally realizing some 30 years ago I had it right the first time. i still fish plastic rods for coarse fish. Don Bamboorods.ca