Post by Chee Yung on Aug 12, 2005 17:24:52 GMT 8
Rod Story 3: Brooks McKenzie 7’9” 3pc 2 tips #4/5wt
Hi BOBS ;D,
When one talks about classic tackle, old antique rods that are on their last legs come to mind. True, bamboo is organic and the fibres will eventually fail due to stress. But I know better as an architect that natural materials are marvellous in their integrity and many modern resin based materials that seem really tough are prone to sudden failure as the uv sensitive hydrocarbons (organic actually) breaks down at certain portions due to impurity, solvent fume emission etc. Eventually the only stable plastics are small pieces that are pollutants that last almost forever. Bamboo? Well, bamboo is actually stronger than timber and the 4,000 year old timber supports in the cores of the pyramids of Giza are still going strong! All that is required is proper wipe down, maintenance and storage.
That said, I picked up fishing using fibreglass and started flyfishing using graphite. It is therefore only partially due to nostalgia that old cane appeals to me. More often, it is that sense of discovery while studying the tapers of masters that keeps me in suspense. Casting becomes more than casting but a dialogue with the rod that exudes a measure of mystery as some of the secret processes/ tweaks in tapers that kept the classic rods fishable after 80 years remain to be discovered. Modern architect Louis Kahn once said, ‘ Ask the brick what it wants to be and it will whisper that it wants to be an arch’. Ask bamboo what it wants to be and it will whisper, ‘ A fly rod’.
It is in this spirit of enlightened modernity that I delve deeper into the art of modern cane rods by searching out contemporary and living makers who pursue this craft like starving artists. These new makers have taken a road less travelled and built on the works of the early masters. Some modern manufacturers like Winston, Scott and Thomas & Thomas still look to their in-house bamboo masters for inspiration and ‘soul’ that is lacking in production graphites. Furthermore, it is ironic that most contemporary cane rods are made entirely by the maker himself unlike most classic canes that are production pieces made by a few specialists.
Allow me to begin this contemporary series with a rod from maker Mike V. Brooks. He is 58 years old hailing from Coburg Oregon. Mike used to tie flies for the original Leonard Company, was an engineer and even taught college before becoming a full time maker. He is a great fan and collector of Jim Payne’s rods and has most of his tapers from which he developed the McKenzie. He is one of the 'resident' makers/advisors at the Classic Fly Rod Forum.
The rod came to my possession via fellow BOB Tengku who managed to obtain a used McKenzie from a bamboo forum member. This rod arrived in a very heavily used condition and even had a slight set to one tip, which made it affordable. Mike had kindly marked my name on the rod for a small token fee but that was it. Imagine my shock after receiving this rod with its ‘cloudy’ varnish except for a clean patch with my name on it! Mike later told me that the rod was the 2 year old demo model that eventually sold all the later McKenzies and was test casted by hundreds at tackle shows and later fished heavily by the last owner. He then recommended that I recondition/rebind the rod myself and gave me tips. But I wanted to keep the original and tight jasper wraps and seeing that the blemished varnish surface could be rubbed off with 00000 steel wool, proceed to do so and just gave the rod a thin coat of rubbed on tung oil.
Slowly but surely, the rod emerged from its cocoon of grime and soon glistened with copper coloured wraps with black silk tipping, red agate guide, highly figured wood insert, hook keeper and Bellinger style uplocking seat. I kept Mike’s varnish over the blued ferrules to compliment the Payne style rich brown flaming of the blank. The rod also had a Phillipson like glue lines that gave it a macho shotgun look. The slightly long handle is also a unique cigar shape of 'solid' feeling cork rings that allows the casting fingers to grip lower down the rod for balance depending on casting distance. I left the set on the tip as it was only bent slightly backwards without twists…. much like some high-end rods designed to counter forward sets. How convenient!
Casting the rod I found that it was hefty and powerful with a slight semiparabolic feel that supposedly characterised Paynes and westerns wind rods. But unlike the Granger 7633, it was smooth casting with hardly any hinge point and the tips were very sensitive for close in casting/streamer fishing. The larger modern snake guides helped with smooth shooting of line. The rod really shines with a DT4 but can play tough with WF5 and even WF6. It was not surprising as the taper was after all designed to handle both boat fishing and for long casts often necessary to fish the powerful McKenzie River. I figured that this rugged rod will follow me to large rivers, for drifting the reservoirs (when the White Paper comes through!) and even coastal fishing. Meanwhile, I’m still touching it up whenever time allows as rubbing really takes time!
New McKenzies retail at about USD$950 and are ideal beginner rods. Newer impregnated Permacane rods by ‘mad chemical scientists’ Mike and 'partner in crime' Steve Kiley have more or less overtaken the McKenzies as they are very light and fast and are supposed to shine with Payne tapers but I’m sticking to varnished rods for now….the pharaohs never needed embalming with resin for themselves nor to hold up their pyramids to last the thousands of years!
Cheers
CY
Hi BOBS ;D,
When one talks about classic tackle, old antique rods that are on their last legs come to mind. True, bamboo is organic and the fibres will eventually fail due to stress. But I know better as an architect that natural materials are marvellous in their integrity and many modern resin based materials that seem really tough are prone to sudden failure as the uv sensitive hydrocarbons (organic actually) breaks down at certain portions due to impurity, solvent fume emission etc. Eventually the only stable plastics are small pieces that are pollutants that last almost forever. Bamboo? Well, bamboo is actually stronger than timber and the 4,000 year old timber supports in the cores of the pyramids of Giza are still going strong! All that is required is proper wipe down, maintenance and storage.
That said, I picked up fishing using fibreglass and started flyfishing using graphite. It is therefore only partially due to nostalgia that old cane appeals to me. More often, it is that sense of discovery while studying the tapers of masters that keeps me in suspense. Casting becomes more than casting but a dialogue with the rod that exudes a measure of mystery as some of the secret processes/ tweaks in tapers that kept the classic rods fishable after 80 years remain to be discovered. Modern architect Louis Kahn once said, ‘ Ask the brick what it wants to be and it will whisper that it wants to be an arch’. Ask bamboo what it wants to be and it will whisper, ‘ A fly rod’.
It is in this spirit of enlightened modernity that I delve deeper into the art of modern cane rods by searching out contemporary and living makers who pursue this craft like starving artists. These new makers have taken a road less travelled and built on the works of the early masters. Some modern manufacturers like Winston, Scott and Thomas & Thomas still look to their in-house bamboo masters for inspiration and ‘soul’ that is lacking in production graphites. Furthermore, it is ironic that most contemporary cane rods are made entirely by the maker himself unlike most classic canes that are production pieces made by a few specialists.
Allow me to begin this contemporary series with a rod from maker Mike V. Brooks. He is 58 years old hailing from Coburg Oregon. Mike used to tie flies for the original Leonard Company, was an engineer and even taught college before becoming a full time maker. He is a great fan and collector of Jim Payne’s rods and has most of his tapers from which he developed the McKenzie. He is one of the 'resident' makers/advisors at the Classic Fly Rod Forum.
The rod came to my possession via fellow BOB Tengku who managed to obtain a used McKenzie from a bamboo forum member. This rod arrived in a very heavily used condition and even had a slight set to one tip, which made it affordable. Mike had kindly marked my name on the rod for a small token fee but that was it. Imagine my shock after receiving this rod with its ‘cloudy’ varnish except for a clean patch with my name on it! Mike later told me that the rod was the 2 year old demo model that eventually sold all the later McKenzies and was test casted by hundreds at tackle shows and later fished heavily by the last owner. He then recommended that I recondition/rebind the rod myself and gave me tips. But I wanted to keep the original and tight jasper wraps and seeing that the blemished varnish surface could be rubbed off with 00000 steel wool, proceed to do so and just gave the rod a thin coat of rubbed on tung oil.
Slowly but surely, the rod emerged from its cocoon of grime and soon glistened with copper coloured wraps with black silk tipping, red agate guide, highly figured wood insert, hook keeper and Bellinger style uplocking seat. I kept Mike’s varnish over the blued ferrules to compliment the Payne style rich brown flaming of the blank. The rod also had a Phillipson like glue lines that gave it a macho shotgun look. The slightly long handle is also a unique cigar shape of 'solid' feeling cork rings that allows the casting fingers to grip lower down the rod for balance depending on casting distance. I left the set on the tip as it was only bent slightly backwards without twists…. much like some high-end rods designed to counter forward sets. How convenient!
Casting the rod I found that it was hefty and powerful with a slight semiparabolic feel that supposedly characterised Paynes and westerns wind rods. But unlike the Granger 7633, it was smooth casting with hardly any hinge point and the tips were very sensitive for close in casting/streamer fishing. The larger modern snake guides helped with smooth shooting of line. The rod really shines with a DT4 but can play tough with WF5 and even WF6. It was not surprising as the taper was after all designed to handle both boat fishing and for long casts often necessary to fish the powerful McKenzie River. I figured that this rugged rod will follow me to large rivers, for drifting the reservoirs (when the White Paper comes through!) and even coastal fishing. Meanwhile, I’m still touching it up whenever time allows as rubbing really takes time!
New McKenzies retail at about USD$950 and are ideal beginner rods. Newer impregnated Permacane rods by ‘mad chemical scientists’ Mike and 'partner in crime' Steve Kiley have more or less overtaken the McKenzies as they are very light and fast and are supposed to shine with Payne tapers but I’m sticking to varnished rods for now….the pharaohs never needed embalming with resin for themselves nor to hold up their pyramids to last the thousands of years!
Cheers
CY
Fishing sucks? Try Flyfishing! ;D
... okay, more effort but I find that the rod becomes part of me the more work I put into it... 
;D ;D
as most modern flyrod tapers/actions including from previously Fenwick-now-Sage are said to be derived from Lyle's tapers....
...you would know the beauty of the Jap babes and relay it to us ignorant boo people 
;D 
... we'll see how it goes as AJ's rod is going to be a hollowbuilt 4wt ;D