Hey all, what time should we roll into the Cascade View park this Saturday? 9? 10?
Bamboo fling 2025
- Thread starter Denwor54
- Start date
Bambooflyguy
Legend
This Saturday Ron???
Hi Ron, What time does this gathering start? Dave said 11:am
Sorry, a week from this Saturday!!
Bambooflyguy
Legend
You might’ve been lonely Ron….and it’s opening day for lowland lakes not that that it matters to me….
I think 11am may 3 makes sense. Gives a chance for the dew to dry up and hives the guys who need to drive a ways a chance to get there.
Thanks Dave. I've had an unexpected conflict pop up that morning and probably won't make it until close to noon, so the later start works perfectly for me. I'll be excited to see the gang, lots of great rods, and also to see our new friend Jack Holdridge join us for the first time. Jack says he will be bringing a large number of rods, many of which he has restored himself. He's a highly accomplished restorationist. He also restores old acoustic guitars like the Gibson LG-0 which I find fascinating as well.
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If you tie a multiple-segment leader with heavy mono and leave the tags of the knots on, you can get a fairly decent anchor on grass.
I brought a 13' and a 14" sharpes to last year's bamboo fling and they worked fine. I'll bring my 12' spliced Sharpes to this year's fling in addition to 8' Phillipson, Granger and FE Thomas rods. The long spey rods work fine with single spey casts. Hard to do a double spey on the grass.
It'll be great fun, as always, to see and cast all the great rods you all have collected. Maybe this year someone can give me a brief lesson on casting one of those huge speys, I've always been too mystified to pick one up to give it a try.
I'll enjoy seeing the beautiful and great casting rods Mike Monsos makes. Last year I was sorely tempted to order one, it cast so well, but my budget for new bamboo lately has been tapering down so I've put off new purchase for a while.
My curiosity is piqued to see the large number of rods our newest member, Jack Holdrige, will show. I'm expecting to great, refinished and restored classics will be in his mix.
As for me, I'm planning on bringing my newest rod, a Leonard 50D. It's 8', 3 piece and balances best with a light 4 weight line. As I understand this model, it has varied a lot over the many years of Leonard production under different ownership and under different makers with most made as 5 weights and many made as 6 weights as well. This one is unusual by being so light. It's a very gentle taper, pleasant to fish on a spring creek like Fall River in Oregon using #18 or #20 dry flies. Please feel free to cast it at the gathering next Saturday.
I'll enjoy seeing the beautiful and great casting rods Mike Monsos makes. Last year I was sorely tempted to order one, it cast so well, but my budget for new bamboo lately has been tapering down so I've put off new purchase for a while.
My curiosity is piqued to see the large number of rods our newest member, Jack Holdrige, will show. I'm expecting to great, refinished and restored classics will be in his mix.
As for me, I'm planning on bringing my newest rod, a Leonard 50D. It's 8', 3 piece and balances best with a light 4 weight line. As I understand this model, it has varied a lot over the many years of Leonard production under different ownership and under different makers with most made as 5 weights and many made as 6 weights as well. This one is unusual by being so light. It's a very gentle taper, pleasant to fish on a spring creek like Fall River in Oregon using #18 or #20 dry flies. Please feel free to cast it at the gathering next Saturday.
I made a copy of a Leonard 50D myself a few years ago. I'll bring it so I can compare it to a original. The one I made seems to work well with a 5wt, but I might see what it does with a 4wt line.
I’ll look forward to casting your rod Mike!
I've heard about the Leonard 50D but have never cast one. Will be fun to cast it at the Fling and compare it to Mike's 8' Leonard taper and my 8' FE Thomas and Granger 8040 and 8' Phillipson Peerless. We should rechristen May 3 at the 8' Bamboo Fling!
Many bamboo rod collectors hate the 8’ rods, calling them neither short enough nor long enough. Kind of stuck in no-man’s land. But I think that’s an East Coast bias myself. Back east they fish a lot of small, meandering small streams that run through meadows and woodlands. Shorter 7’ and 7-1/2’ rods are great for that. But out here we fish a lot of larger, faster water. Even that Fall River spring creek I mentioned is a large stream, maybe 50-70’ wide in most places, and a longer light weight rod casts better, mends better and handles those 15-18” rainbows better. So for me, the 8’ rod is my ideal and I own and frequently fish three of them. But mostly I love them because no other rod length provides the feel of casting cane as well as 8’ rods. Those shorty 7’ rods feel stubby to me. Hurray for the 8 footer!
I've always thought that 8' rods were too long and too short. Changed my mind when I took a couple 8' bamboo rods to the Wisconsin driftless. The Granger 8040 which I bought from you also had something to do with the change of mind. Realized that 8 footers do a good job keeping line off the water on small streams, they are outstanding casting tools and they travel well especially if they are three piece. I sometimes even use them on lakes. Here's a Granger 8040 catching dinner on a brook trout lake off the stevens pass highway...
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Kent Lufkin
Geezer
I’ll fling one for you old friend.
Welcome Jack. It’s great to see that you’re able to attend this year.Hi guys!
This is my first post here. Para_Adams (Ron Paport) and Dave Westburg are friends.
May 3rd is my 70th Birthday and casting bamboos would be a fun way to celebrate!
Sorry that I won’t be attending this years gathering.
FYI for anyone looking for repairs on bamboo. Jack did a fine job a couple of years ago refinishing my 8’-6” Heddon 60. It had suffered the typical Heddon varnish meltdown, and Jack got it looking great without damaging any wraps or the original signature!
Greg, sorry to hear you’ll miss this one. Glad to hear Jack refinished your rare and amazing #60, the best Heddon model ever produced IMO!