Get hooked on the art of fishing rod making

Have you every wanted to build your own fishing rod?

Well, David Anderson and Ken Bradbrook will be helping people do just that at the Centre of Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades this weekend.

They’ll be teaching the art of making a split cane fly rod by hand and answering questions about fly fishing.

The pair are skilled cane road makers who run commercial producer Riverstoned Cane Rods.

“My dad was a great fly fisherman and when I was about 50, I started fly fishing and bought some old cane rods and I thought I’d like to learn how to make these,” said Mr Anderson.

“I went to American twice and did some courses there with one of America’s top cane road makers and met Ken who builds the rods with me.

“We’ve been working on it ever since.”

Mr Anderson said he enjoys crafting with a natural material in the bamboo.

“Each rod is different and they are made out of a natural fibre which really appeals to me, being out in nature fishing with something that’s from nature” he said.

The workshop runs over three days where participants are taken through the entire process of creating a fishing rod.

“They will build their own rod and also have the experience of flaming the bamboo to get rid of the moisture and gluing it together,” My Anderson said.

“They’ll take away a really nice rod and hopefully they idea this is something they’d like to take part in further into the future.

“They are really good projects to have and with so much technology today it’s really important we keep pushing the idea of handmade, artisan and bespoke pieces.”