Building, Collecting, and Fly Fishing with Bamboo Rods.

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Since the mid-1990s, we have witnessed a steady growth in the attention that fly fishermen have devoted to bamboo rods. These are almost always tools built by hand, truly the product of the passion of their makers. Each of them has faced unimaginable difficulties in developing their own technical and aesthetic knowledge in a field that is extremely difficult to master.

Thanks above all to the spread of the Internet, access to information has become easier. Many have been able to discover suppliers of bamboo, publications on rodmaking, distributors of components, and much more. Discussion forums have also played an important role, providing a place where experiences and opinions could be exchanged.

Today, the Italian scene appears very active and receptive. Just last year saw the founding of the Italian Bamboo Rodmaker Association, which immediately attracted considerable interest. I believe it will be important to consolidate this situation and ensure that the current enthusiasm develops into deeper technical and aesthetic understanding. It will be particularly important for I.B.R.A. to act as a source of inspiration for those approaching this passion for the first time.

I hope that the tool I have created will prove useful to collectors, rodmakers, and enthusiasts in general. Some sections, especially the “Gallery,” were designed specifically to showcase what other rodmakers, both past and present, have accomplished and continue to achieve. It is a photographic resource based primarily on images, intended to inspire rodmakers and to offer further insight for enthusiasts and collectors.

I would therefore be pleased to publish photographs of bamboo rods from private collections, with the aim of making this visual archive as extensive as possible.

Finally, I have tried to create a carefully selected “Links” section containing resources that have been useful to me in the past and continue to be so today.

Florence, March 10, 2006

Simone Falchini