Post by ShadowCaster on Jan 30, 2006 21:37:14 GMT 8
Caution : This posting is not exactly “Kosher” to purist flyfishers !
I realized some time ago that in the last 33 years of my piscatorial pursuit, fly fishing was not exactly there from the start since Genesis. Dad gave me a 1-pc Tonkin Cane pole in 1973 (a real bamboo pole “in the culm”….. not split bamboo….) at age 4. I caught fork-tail catfish (lots of them!) with earthworm as bait in the saltwater river just in front of our vacation home in Trengannu, West Malaysia. And life was never the same again! Very soon, dad upgraded my Bamboo to a Cardinal 4 and 282. 4 years later at age 8, I discovered bait casting in the form of an Ambassador 5500C, spinners, spoons and lures and evolved from digging earthworms and netting minnows as bait to figuring out which tidal condition best suits Abu Killer, Nilsmater Spearhead or the Rapala Original……….. The barra and jack population got lots of harassments from me during school vacation periods.
I guess the 29 year habit of lure fishing dies hard. And with the addiction of classic split Bamboo fly rod, the curiosity with classic bamboo bait casting rod is simply too hard to resist.
While the literature of split Bamboo bait casting rod cannot match the depth of its fly rod counterpart, its history is just as long and colourful. Legend goes that Jim Payne was a lure fisher at heart although it was his fly rod that was coveted for most part of the century. Some big name rod builder today such as Ron Kusse still offer Bait Caster that has a 2 year wait list. Rumour goes that Kusse is also an exclusive lure fisher despite the US$3k+ price tag of his fly rods.
Bait casting rods simply has the functional, blue collar appeal to it that I personally identify with.
In its hay day between WW1 & WW2, the mass market but high quality bamboo bait caster were dominated by Heddon, South Bend and to some extent Goodwin Granger. We all know the cult of Granger fly rods from Colorado but apparently, Granger’s bait casting rod was equally respected by lure fishers in its time.
After WW2, when Granger was taken over by Wright & McGill & Bill Phillipson left the Granger company to set up Phillipson rod Co, the 2 main builder of high quality but still mass market bait caster rods were Wright & McGill & Phillipson. Of course one can go ahead and order a Payne or a Leonard “bass plug pole” for a month’s salary of an “average Joe”, but most average Joe that demanded quality in the “plug pole” bought W&M or Phillipson.
Incidentally, Phillipson bait casting rod still has a crazy following in the Japanese Bass fishing crowd. A mint Phillipson Bamboo casting rod would go for about 90,000 yen while a mint fibreglass rod would cost about 60,000 yen in the secondary market. Even some of the rare Featherweight casting rod handle would run up to about US$150.
I was fortunate enough to pick up a good condition 6ft 2-pc W&M casting rod with 2 tips that was a perfect candidate for restoration. The “Water Seal” series of W&M were impregnated for durability. This probably explains the good condition of the cane. The Water Seal series was offered from the early 1950 all the way till W&M stopped Bamboo rod production in 1955.
The second tip was definitely a separate order by a previous owner as most bait casting rods only come with 1 tip at that time. This is apparent as the second tip seems to have higher quality guides although the taper and action are the same. The signature Granger Nickel Silver plated ferrules are still shiny and snug and give resounding Granger pops when taken apart. The rod decal on the butt section is still 95% intact.
The only restoration I needed to do on the cane was minimal. Some polishing work on the cane with 5/0 steel wool, followed by a few coats of Birchwood-Casey Gun Stock Wax. The wraps are surprising sound even after 50 years so some sanding with 1200 wet sand paper and a coat of spar varnish is all it needed.
Now the original W&M rod handle was rather fascinating to explore. It took me a while to realize that the nickel silver serrated butt cap actually rotates such that it extends a stainless steel reel holder into the reel seat area. So to attach a reel to the handle, one simple place the reel on the seat area and rotate the butt cap clockwise to clamp on the reel. Rotating the butt cap the other direction retract the reel holder and when retracted all the way, it is flush fully inside the handle and no one would notice the mechanism! Such is the craftsmanship of the 1950s. The handle was originally painted black but as some of it had chipped off, I decided to polish them off and re-buff with 5/0 steel wool for a metallic look. The cork handle looks as new after some washing.
Now let’s get down to business……… From the day the UPS man delivered the rod to my place, I was anxious to cast and fish it. After the minor restoration works, the next task as to find a matching reel. I knew the old style rod handle wasn’t made for the new generation low profile bait casters, but I had to confirm that myself. Sure enough, the Antares and the Daiwa TD-Z was designed and built too low such that the line rest awkwardly on the fore-grip.
I then tried out the several conventional round casting reels that I had. The Calcutta XT 100 fitted well but the gold coloured reel was simply too “loud” for the rod. Besides, the ventilated side plate design was a little out of tune for the classical look. On the other hand the Daiwa CV-Z looked like a million bucks on the rod. While I was tempted to baptise the rod in local waters with the CV-Z, I hesitated for a rather technical reason : the CV-Z has a space age magnetic cast control system that is at least 40 years ahead of the W&M rod…….. hence, the entire outfit comprising the CV-Z isn’t exactly classical from my perspective. In the end, I settled with a good old silver Abu 1600C with the evergreen centrifugal cast control system. But I must confess that the reel was upgraded with a pair of ABEC 7 ceramic bearings…… only because I could not find the pair of original bearings that I had changed out some time ago.
The rod still has very good back bone on it. I cast a total of 6 lures with it, from a tiny 5g crank bait to a 18g metal spoon, and the rod was more than adequate in terms of accuracy and distance. The rod managed about 60++m with the jig, thanks to the ABEC 7 bearings but I suspect it would have easily made 40-50m even with ball races made in the 1950s. For the lighter lures, the soft tip made it ideal for the light floating lures. Accuracy was not a problem either. Sensitivity was surprisingly good as I could feel every single vibration of the crank baits.
How’s the fish fighting capability? I had 2 lbs of drag set on the reel loaded with 10lb fire line. (That’s my other disclaimer as I could not find any 8lb mono in my possession!) While I only managed several small to medium size Peacock Bass and Toman that morning, I would rate the rod as a 6-10lb. One can probably use a 12lb line on the rod with 4lb of drag without any problem, but I felt that the sweet zone was 2lb of drag on 8lb line. And here are the outcome. :
I thought that was a worthwhile distraction to the double hauls, reach cast and #22 Blue Wing Olive. By the way…… any one know where I can find an original 1952 Abu Record ?
I realized some time ago that in the last 33 years of my piscatorial pursuit, fly fishing was not exactly there from the start since Genesis. Dad gave me a 1-pc Tonkin Cane pole in 1973 (a real bamboo pole “in the culm”….. not split bamboo….) at age 4. I caught fork-tail catfish (lots of them!) with earthworm as bait in the saltwater river just in front of our vacation home in Trengannu, West Malaysia. And life was never the same again! Very soon, dad upgraded my Bamboo to a Cardinal 4 and 282. 4 years later at age 8, I discovered bait casting in the form of an Ambassador 5500C, spinners, spoons and lures and evolved from digging earthworms and netting minnows as bait to figuring out which tidal condition best suits Abu Killer, Nilsmater Spearhead or the Rapala Original……….. The barra and jack population got lots of harassments from me during school vacation periods.
I guess the 29 year habit of lure fishing dies hard. And with the addiction of classic split Bamboo fly rod, the curiosity with classic bamboo bait casting rod is simply too hard to resist.
While the literature of split Bamboo bait casting rod cannot match the depth of its fly rod counterpart, its history is just as long and colourful. Legend goes that Jim Payne was a lure fisher at heart although it was his fly rod that was coveted for most part of the century. Some big name rod builder today such as Ron Kusse still offer Bait Caster that has a 2 year wait list. Rumour goes that Kusse is also an exclusive lure fisher despite the US$3k+ price tag of his fly rods.
Bait casting rods simply has the functional, blue collar appeal to it that I personally identify with.
In its hay day between WW1 & WW2, the mass market but high quality bamboo bait caster were dominated by Heddon, South Bend and to some extent Goodwin Granger. We all know the cult of Granger fly rods from Colorado but apparently, Granger’s bait casting rod was equally respected by lure fishers in its time.
After WW2, when Granger was taken over by Wright & McGill & Bill Phillipson left the Granger company to set up Phillipson rod Co, the 2 main builder of high quality but still mass market bait caster rods were Wright & McGill & Phillipson. Of course one can go ahead and order a Payne or a Leonard “bass plug pole” for a month’s salary of an “average Joe”, but most average Joe that demanded quality in the “plug pole” bought W&M or Phillipson.
Incidentally, Phillipson bait casting rod still has a crazy following in the Japanese Bass fishing crowd. A mint Phillipson Bamboo casting rod would go for about 90,000 yen while a mint fibreglass rod would cost about 60,000 yen in the secondary market. Even some of the rare Featherweight casting rod handle would run up to about US$150.
I was fortunate enough to pick up a good condition 6ft 2-pc W&M casting rod with 2 tips that was a perfect candidate for restoration. The “Water Seal” series of W&M were impregnated for durability. This probably explains the good condition of the cane. The Water Seal series was offered from the early 1950 all the way till W&M stopped Bamboo rod production in 1955.
The second tip was definitely a separate order by a previous owner as most bait casting rods only come with 1 tip at that time. This is apparent as the second tip seems to have higher quality guides although the taper and action are the same. The signature Granger Nickel Silver plated ferrules are still shiny and snug and give resounding Granger pops when taken apart. The rod decal on the butt section is still 95% intact.
The only restoration I needed to do on the cane was minimal. Some polishing work on the cane with 5/0 steel wool, followed by a few coats of Birchwood-Casey Gun Stock Wax. The wraps are surprising sound even after 50 years so some sanding with 1200 wet sand paper and a coat of spar varnish is all it needed.
Now the original W&M rod handle was rather fascinating to explore. It took me a while to realize that the nickel silver serrated butt cap actually rotates such that it extends a stainless steel reel holder into the reel seat area. So to attach a reel to the handle, one simple place the reel on the seat area and rotate the butt cap clockwise to clamp on the reel. Rotating the butt cap the other direction retract the reel holder and when retracted all the way, it is flush fully inside the handle and no one would notice the mechanism! Such is the craftsmanship of the 1950s. The handle was originally painted black but as some of it had chipped off, I decided to polish them off and re-buff with 5/0 steel wool for a metallic look. The cork handle looks as new after some washing.
Now let’s get down to business……… From the day the UPS man delivered the rod to my place, I was anxious to cast and fish it. After the minor restoration works, the next task as to find a matching reel. I knew the old style rod handle wasn’t made for the new generation low profile bait casters, but I had to confirm that myself. Sure enough, the Antares and the Daiwa TD-Z was designed and built too low such that the line rest awkwardly on the fore-grip.
I then tried out the several conventional round casting reels that I had. The Calcutta XT 100 fitted well but the gold coloured reel was simply too “loud” for the rod. Besides, the ventilated side plate design was a little out of tune for the classical look. On the other hand the Daiwa CV-Z looked like a million bucks on the rod. While I was tempted to baptise the rod in local waters with the CV-Z, I hesitated for a rather technical reason : the CV-Z has a space age magnetic cast control system that is at least 40 years ahead of the W&M rod…….. hence, the entire outfit comprising the CV-Z isn’t exactly classical from my perspective. In the end, I settled with a good old silver Abu 1600C with the evergreen centrifugal cast control system. But I must confess that the reel was upgraded with a pair of ABEC 7 ceramic bearings…… only because I could not find the pair of original bearings that I had changed out some time ago.
The rod still has very good back bone on it. I cast a total of 6 lures with it, from a tiny 5g crank bait to a 18g metal spoon, and the rod was more than adequate in terms of accuracy and distance. The rod managed about 60++m with the jig, thanks to the ABEC 7 bearings but I suspect it would have easily made 40-50m even with ball races made in the 1950s. For the lighter lures, the soft tip made it ideal for the light floating lures. Accuracy was not a problem either. Sensitivity was surprisingly good as I could feel every single vibration of the crank baits.
How’s the fish fighting capability? I had 2 lbs of drag set on the reel loaded with 10lb fire line. (That’s my other disclaimer as I could not find any 8lb mono in my possession!) While I only managed several small to medium size Peacock Bass and Toman that morning, I would rate the rod as a 6-10lb. One can probably use a 12lb line on the rod with 4lb of drag without any problem, but I felt that the sweet zone was 2lb of drag on 8lb line. And here are the outcome. :
I thought that was a worthwhile distraction to the double hauls, reach cast and #22 Blue Wing Olive. By the way…… any one know where I can find an original 1952 Abu Record ?
... well, you were once 'lurecaster' before 'shadowcaster' ;D...
) and maybe I'll convince uncle wong to try making cane baitcaster rods much much later ;D... one step at a time ;D
;D ;D... thats another crazy ballgame ;D
Huh, what to do?.... 
Fishing sucks? Try Flyfishing! ;D
;D... like me, start with spinning tackle, then graduate to surfcasting, onward to luring, some graphite rodbuilding in between, and finally to fly... its a fun journey indeed