Follow along as I construct my first bamboo fly rod. It's modeled after the Cattanach 7ft 2pc 4wt. I built it for my Dad who lives outside of Traverse City, MI on a small river that flows into the Manistee. This rod should be well suited for the short, accurate casts he'll need to make. I think it will serve him well and it should get plenty of use.

After working for over a year, I finally completed the rod in January 2004. A large portion of that first year went into the construction of the tools required to build the rod. The planing forms took the longest and I have a feeling I'll be tweaking those for some time. The oven, rod binder, and drying box also took quite a bit of time. I'm also in the process of upgrading my tools.

I have no aspirations of becoming a professional rod builder. I'll build for friends and family and the sheer enjoyment of working with my hands and producing something that is beautiful and a pleasure to use.

Thanks so much to the Bamboo Rod Building Listserv community, <http://www.rodbuilding.com/>, and for both Ray Gould's and Wayne Cattanach's books for guiding me through the process.

I'm already hard at work on a Paul Young Driggs River and Payne 101. Since I live on the west central coast of Florida, I don't plan to use any of these rods locally. Most of my fly fishing is done up in Michigan on the Manastee, AuSable, and their tributaries. Maybe someday I'll build a rod suitable to fish the flats here in Florida.

Last updated 01/21/04.

Total Pictures: 35 (Please excuse the poor quality of some of the pictures.)

Mike Ealy
Dunedin, Florida