G. W. GREGORY

Producing the finest, bespoke split cane fly rods and hand built fly reels for the bamboo enthusiast.

 

ABOUT ME

I purchased my first split-cane fly rod twelve years ago at the age of seventeen, an 8ft Robert Turnbull, and on occasion I still fish with it today. It was this rod that inspired me to start building my own bamboo fly rods. I can now offer you the finest, bespoke, hand planed split-cane fly rods, built to order in my small Devonshire workshop.

ABOUT BAMBOO

Since the invention of the split cane rod in the 1800s very little has changed by way of the technology. The accepted wisdom being that the six sided blank has the best combination of strength and stability although five and four sided rods do exist and even Hardy's octagonal blank which while beautiful is something of an engineering nightmare and it's cost of manufacture lead to it's short production run.

The manufacturing of split cane rods follows one of two basic paths; either hand split and hand planed sections glued together or machine planed sections glued together to form the blank. The taper being created by the control of strip dimensions.

There are advantages to both methods and I will explain these as quickly as I can.

Hand planing using a steel form to control taper is a gentle, and very accurate method working with the bamboo. Because the cuts are made along the fibres much more strength is retained in the finished blank, the tearing of fibres is much less likely and the result is a very accurate and beautiful blank in which the natural material has been nurtured and harnessed rather than bullied into the finished product. The process is however very time consuming with tolerances of + or - .001 of an inch.

Machine planing is much quicker making it possible to manufacture more affordable rods. However, because the bamboo is cut by a rotating blade it is inevitable that scalloping of the cut edge will occur resulting in tiny breaks in fibres along the glue line and a although these are in most cases too fine to see they are there and represent weakness. Almost all of the rods manufactured in the UK over the past 100 years employed this method of manufacture and it produces a perfectly acceptable rod which is why I offer the option of my GWG rods.

All my blanks are hand split and the strips hand straightened, cutting strips with a saw is fundamentally flawed and results in drastic weaknesses. In a raw culm of bamboo the fibres run in wavy lines often kinking at nodes. If these kinks are cut through without being straightened then fibres literally run out of the side of a strip making it likely to break under load. This can often be seen in the cheaper low grade blanks produced in the 1900s, a problem also common in cheaper greenheart blanks which were not only heavy but very prone to breaking.

The Signature Series

A completely hand built rod which is created to your exact requirements, the ultimate custom rod. Based on one of my hand-planed split cane blanks and finished with the finest components available. Taking a minimum of 60 hours to build these rods represent the pinnacle of the rod makers art. If I am not happy with the blank it is scrapped and I start again, without exception.

The GWG Series

For those of you new to bamboo, just curious or working with a smaller budget. These rods are built on blanks designed by me and machine planed in England. Each rod is then hand finished by me in the workshop.

Please browse around my site by clicking on the images to the left and feel free to contact me regarding options, pricing and advice.

 

Fishing with a split-cane rod is quite different from using a carbon-fibre rod. The speed of the action, weight and control are quite unlike that of modern "plastic" rods making split cane, in my opinion, infinitely superior. Because of the nature of the fibres in bamboo much more information is transferred, through the blank, to your hand giving remarkable feel and control during the cast and playing of a fish. This takes some getting used to and I recommend taking a days instruction if you are new to split-cane in order to get the most out of your rod.