# calcutta cane surf rods



## mudmasher (Oct 23, 2009)

I've got 4 acres of big cane Bamboo.I used to surf fish with rigged out calcutta's and 309 Penns in the 60's and 70's.i need to revive the tradition ! does anyone have any tips on Rod builders that would tackle a job. I've got some blanks that i have cut and dried that are 22 feet and perfectly straight.if anyone wants some, ive got all you will ever want(cut your own).


----------



## bigfost (Oct 11, 2004)

If I'm reading this correctly, what you have growing is bamboo, not calcutta cane. They are two different animals. I don't know of anyone who would be willing to put the work in to build a rod out of bamboo.


----------



## Charlie2 (Aug 21, 2004)

*Bamboo Suf Rods*

There are two methods for using cane for fishing rods. The first is a split rod which is made from sections glued together to form the blank. It is labor intensive and you're right: No one in their right minds would even consider making one when other materials; even fiberglass, that work as well.

The other method is taking an entire bamboo stalk and sanding /cutting the joints flush. This method isn't as labor extensive and the method that I would even consider today.

My Dad made split bamboo rods and you can guess who had the honor of the 'grunt' work such as splitting the culms and planing the tiny strips.

My Dad did the 'brain' work where he would glue the strips together to form the desired action. These rods were often glued together with hide glue which wasn't as durable as more modern adhesives and are prone to separate.

Billy and I discussed the making of bamboo rods, but they are better made from fiberglass, graphite or composites. C2


----------



## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

Looks like a lot of work but maybe worth it for a flyrod.


----------



## speckcaster (May 5, 2012)

*I'll stick w graphite..........*

Cane poles......today....in the surf.......??????????

what century is this........?????

must have set the time machine on the wrong setting.....dam%#*&t

:help:


----------



## SurfRunner (May 22, 2004)

I used to see those big bamboo surf rods quite a bit years ago. Reels were hosed clamped on and guides were wraped with a small diameter of nylon chord. The did catch fsh fish. the only thing is the rods would frm a bow after a while and you would have to turn everything over and fish it the other way. Regardless, they caught the same fish we do today.


----------



## 535 (May 23, 2004)

I've always kind of wanted one... there was a c-store down near freeport that used to sell the blanks

I saw a couple at sharkathon on a tacoma, am pretty sure it belonged to Todd, redraider (?) on EC


----------



## mudmasher (Oct 23, 2009)

oh well believe what you want to, but it's the same stuff that we used 40-30 yrs ago. we got our blanks at the pecan brokers wherehouse. thats how us poor people used to get pecans out of the trees with... anyway, life is too short to be like all the other "cookie cutter's" out there. i guess thats why i have a Pan head Harley....if yall want any Boo poles, by-gally, I've got them.


----------



## SURF Buster (Feb 17, 2008)

mudmasher said:


> oh well believe what you want to, but it's the same stuff that we used 40-30 yrs ago. we got our blanks at the pecan brokers wherehouse. thats how us poor people used to get pecans out of the trees with... anyway, life is too short to be like all the other "cookie cutter's" out there. i guess thats why i have a Pan head Harley....if yall want any Boo poles, by-gally, I've got them.


I agree with you,I am the one having Patfatdaddy looking for some Calcutta. I am 60 and used those things in my pre-teen years and fished with them untill my mid-twenties. I grew up in Freeport and for Bullreds you could not beat them.

It would be nice to see some young guns fish and hunt with what we had back in the 20th Century. And if I can come up with a Calcutta Blank I am going to be casting for those reds and remeembering "The Good Ole Days"


----------



## bigfost (Oct 11, 2004)

I imagine most of us "back in the day" cut our surf fishing teeth using Calcutta cane rods. I've seen them from one extreme to the other. A few people would really do them up nice, with reel seats and nicely wrapped guides. At the other end of the spectrum, I've seen them with hose clamps to hold the reel and three or four guides held on with electrical tape.

They all caught fish.

Someone said something about the bend or "set" they would take after catching a fish. Usually all you had to do was bend them back the other way and they would be pretty straight again.

I retired all my calcutta rods many years ago, but I know people who still make and use them.


----------



## alvinslash (Jan 14, 2012)

pm sent


----------



## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

I thought I saw some outside of OT's Bait Shop. I would think a bull red or jack would snack one in half.


----------



## Paul Marx (Nov 13, 2009)

I've got a bunch growing as well . The walls are thick . Is there a way to dry them to where they will come out straight ? I do have some straight one dried already , but they dried straight naturally . The crooked ones I just cut at shorter (12') to use as gig handles .


----------



## Ibtsoom (Jun 2, 2009)

My uncle used to hang them up with a weight on the end to make them dry straight.


----------



## mudmasher (Oct 23, 2009)

yep Surf Buster, My Uncle Paul taught me well in Lake Jackson ,he owned,now my cousins do, Barlett Marine. he'd only keep reds and flounder, throw the trout back.I'm not gonna quote him on what he called them..........


----------



## mudmasher (Oct 23, 2009)

fishingcacher said:


> I thought I saw some outside of OT's Bait Shop. I would think a bull red or jack would snack one in half.


 the biggest Bull we ever caught was a 52 incher at the Matagorda Jetties in 1987. there was a limit than and no bull red tags, and YES the Game warden was there to watch the release to. it took around 30 mins and 3 budweisers to get her in and a huge homemade dip ring net that a Vietmanese dude had(for his jackfish). the pole that caught that fish now resides in a beach house in Matagorda with a notch on it(52 inches). 309 Penn w/ 40lbs test. she never waivered. Don't worry about the Mule, just LOAD the wagon.


----------



## fishhawkxxx (Jul 7, 2012)

*'boo rods*

a lot of the old 'boo rods had guides on 2 sides of the rods,so you could fish one side of the rod one day and the other side the next time,this keeps blank straight


----------



## SURF Buster (Feb 17, 2008)

mudmasher said:


> yep Surf Buster, My Uncle Paul taught me well in Lake Jackson ,he owned,now my cousins do, Barlett Marine. he'd only keep reds and flounder, throw the trout back.I'm not gonna quote him on what he called them..........


Mr. Bartlett relieved me of a many of dollar back in the 70's repairing my old second hand outboards.

I know about them trout, my dad called them Sheetfish. Never kept any till I was a teenager.


----------



## Charlie2 (Aug 21, 2004)

*Cane Poles*



Paul Marx said:


> I've got a bunch growing as well . The walls are thick . Is there a way to dry them to where they will come out straight ? I do have some straight one dried already , but they dried straight naturally . The crooked ones I just cut at shorter (12') to use as gig handles .





Ibtsoom said:


> My uncle used to hang them up with a weight on the end to make them dry straight.


I was raised in Foley Alabama where I knew a guy named Lew Childre and his son L.J. Yes; that one. Singer on the Grand Ole Opry.

They used to import cane poles by the shipload and straighten them using a blowtorch then varnishing them. It was a two-man operation along with a guy named Clifford Grant.

When you see a striped rod, it was done this way.

They called them 'Bream Busters'.

Ah.... Memories


----------



## Paul Marx (Nov 13, 2009)

Charlie2 said:


> I was raised in Foley Alabama where I knew a guy named Lew Childre and his son L.J. Yes; that one. Singer on the Grand Ole Opry.
> 
> They used to import cane poles by the shipload and straighten them using a blowtorch then varnishing them. It was a two-man operation along with a guy named Clifford Grant.
> 
> ...


What a good story Sir . It's a lost art .Well at least here in the states.


----------

