Fly guys n' girls workshop - a weekend in Sarnen

[laguna]

'twas the 3rd gathering;

with traditional bamboo rod building workshops, cane splitting, the processes of making agate stripping guides, handmade grips of birch tree bark for bamboo fishing rods, making steel snake guides out of metal wire, engraving...
The "15 degree power measure" demonstration by Mr Theodor Matschewski and Ludwig Reim, from Germany. These two gentlemen have spent the last 20 years in developing this very simple but stunning test which provides a measured account of how your bamboo fishing rod (actually ANY kind of fishing rod) performs.

These were not mere how-to stations either, but real hands-on work places where a complete sequencing of bamboo fishing rods building was in place. As a result, a three pieces rod, "C.C. de France of Hardy" was created and given as prize in the raffle.

and a free Swiss pocket-knife kindly given to all participants.

Bamboo Fishing Rods Sarnen

The 6th gathering was also held in Switzerland last year, sounds like a good weekend by all accounts...

 

[Paul Boote]

Yes, Severe Cane Fly Rod Fetishism, I've encountered it.

First through Alan Bramley of Partridge in the early 1980s (his head rodbuilder at Mount Pleasant, Redditch, back then, Tom Moran, was and still is probably the best cane rodmaker in the world, and was, and probably still is, a lovely fella), then through a Dutch guy, Erik, I had met who knew a lot of Dutch and German sorts heavily into that scene. Still have a small plastic bag of four - maybe six - super quality, rosewood and nickel silver and designer, multiply ventilated, ali reel seats made by big ("whisper their names ... if you don't know them, then you're....") names, guys who lurk in workshops and behind custom lathes that they themselves have made from scratch and do and make remarkable things, that he gave me in the late 1980s.

Lovely people, lovely stuff, they were when I met / saw a few of them.

I prefer fishing, however. Always have.

---------- Post added at 14:11 ---------- Previous post was at 14:04 ----------

Tom Moran.

Just Googled him, only to find that he died in mid May. Only about my age, maybe just a few years older. Gulp.

Moran Rod Company Bamboo Fly Rods at AlternativeTackle.com

 

[Paul Boote]

Tom got an obituary in The Times, I understand, but with it being a firewalled, pay-for-play Murdoch paper....

Far better is this tribute from his son, Toby. Yup, that's the Tom I knew before the international fishy fashionistas found him.

The Passing of Rodmaker Tom Moran – Remembrances of a Friend and a Son

 

[laguna]

A bamboo pole the length of the front room to a proper two piece glass rod with rings and everything, then reacquainted once more with a slender more flexible version across the hand every week at school, traditions eh? Cane the original import, put to practical use by fisher kids and bully teacher for the slightest misdemeanour's such as 'tiddling' and illicit activities behind the bike shed.

Got to admire the artisanal talent, always wondered if willow rods ever existed, any good?

 

[Paul Boote]

Got to admire the artisanal talent, always wondered if willow rods ever existed, any good?

I don't know, but W.B. Yeats the great Irish poet mentioned something similar in a poem that I have loved since my very early teens.


The Song of Wandering Aengus


I went out to the hazel wood
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

 

[rubio]

Just having a weeks holiday with friends in Sarnen when I came across this thread. Small world etc.
Been having some fun with small Brook Trout but lots of rain here and fishing isn't very predictable. Lakes are highest I have ever seen them in any season and any flowing water is really pushing hard.
Will continue to try my luck when I can tho.