PJ’s Fine Bamboo Rods will open its first brick-and-mortar store in Pagosa Springs on Oct. 8. The custom fly rod maker has been servicing Southwest Colorado with its e-commerce business since ...

An avid fly fisher, Johnson worked his way through lots of other rods over the years. Bamboo fell out of favor in the 1950s. He began using fiberglass rods, and later those made from graphite.

While Sexton said he’d love to transition to just making rods, it isn’t a reliable source of income for any small maker because it takes at least 40 hours to make each bamboo fly-fishing rod ...

FREMONT -- Wes Cooper won't be fishing today, the opening day of trout fishing season. He is more likely to be in his basement shop making bamboo fly rods. Cooper, 81, has built 245 such rods ...

Bamboo became a popular material for fishing rods in the late-19th century but quickly was replaced with other materials — metal and, later, fiberglass. Modern graphite is considered by many to ...

An avid fly fisher, Johnson worked his way through lots of other rods over the years. Bamboo fell out of favor in the 1950s. He began using fiberglass rods, and later those made from graphite.

If you go What: The sixth annual Colorado Cane Conclave, a gathering of anglers who build, collect and fish bamboo rods and other vintage tackle When: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 7 Where: Planet Bluegras… ...

Johnson splits a bamboo rod with a knife inside a home woodshop in Laramie, Wyo., on June 21. Johnson has made 25 bamboo fly fishing rods in his lifetime. Andy Carpenean/Laramie Boomerang ...

An avid fly fisher, Johnson worked his way through lots of other rods over the years. Bamboo fell out of favor in the 1950s. He began using fiberglass rods, and later those made from graphite.

Barch, who’s been a fly fisherman his whole life, said he discovered split cane when he met an angler, who made bamboo rods, fishing with one on the river. He had to have one, he said.