Bamboo Tips - Contributors
Bennett, C. Scott

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I am C. Scott Bennett (C. Scott in deference to the other Scotts among us) from N. New Mexico.  I've been fishing with cane rods since the early fifties when I used a bamboo bait casting rod fishing from my Dad's boat in the south shore bays of Long Island, NY.  Fly fishing came later, fiberglass then graphite, and in 1977, I paid $100 for my first cane fly rod, a Phillipson Peerless, 7 1/2' 5 wt. That rod is still in use and still one of my favorites.

I started fixing bamboo rods that had come my way needing various repairs and eventually found that I needed to be able to make replacement sections from scratch.  I find it very gratifying to put a beat up old rod back into service even if it would be easier to just build a new rod.  Those old rods just seem to have something special going for them.

So now I have built or rebuilt (not restored) 15 or so rods.  Presently on my bench I have an LL Bean (Edwards) major rebuild in progress, and a PHY Perfectionist taper I am making on the advice of Dr. Steve Weiss who let me cast his at CRR 2009.

I have been on the Rodmakers List for about ten years.  I try to contribute when I have something useful to add but mostly I just read and learn, southern comfort food notwithstanding.

Finally, I would like to say how sad I am at the passing of John Channer.  A few years back I was introduced to him at the start of a day fishing the San Juan River.  His first words to me were "So you have also completely lost your mind." meaning of course, "welcome to the club."  I was using an original E.C. Powell rod and he could not contain himself until he had fished with it for a while.  He traded me the use of a "Grayrock Mystery" rod he had made which cast very well indeed and was an object of rodmaking beauty.  I will surely miss his posts to the list.