Bamboo Tips - Contributors
Talsma, Todd

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I'm Todd, I'm a 45 year old rodmaker and I can change...if I have to....I guess!  ;^)

Seriously, I must have made my first rod somewhere around 1989 or so. My dad always had a couple of Montague rods hanging around when I was a kid.  We always trout fished, just not very often with fly rods.  My brother and I would play around a couple of times a year, but never very seriously.  I always liked the thought of bamboo rods and didn't know if I could make one or not.  I had built several spinning rods and a couple of plastic fly rods, so the basic building process was understood, but I didn't really know what I was getting into.  I bought a copy of the Garrison/Charmichael book, read it and had serious misgivings.  About the same time, I was able to buy a copy of George Barnes' first book. Well, George made it sound like anyone could make a rod so I dove right in.  I still have a copy of the letter I received back from Harold Demarest when I inquired about pricing for bamboo.  I ended up making a couple of rods and then put the rodmaking aside for quite a while  when our children (now 18 & 15) were young and we moved into a house that didn't have a good spot for a shop.  Back at it now though!!  Never lost the bug, it just went dormant for a while.

I took a look at the archives and my first post was back in September of   1996.  "Mac" mentioned the tips site (Ralph Moon also eluded to it earlier).  I found the first reference to it was back in August of 2001.  I remember that Mac had a couple tips that were the first ones that I added way back then.  From that start, the site is now up to 1126 pages (I just took a look at that too!).  It's really a labor of love, plus I've been able to learn a lot in the process.  When you read, format, reread, post and read the messages again, you've got to absorb some of that information, don't you???

In August or September of 2003, I received a call out of the blue from Bob Maulucci.  He proposed that I take over publishing Power Fibers (you'll have to talk to Ron Barch about The Planing Form!).  I thought about it for a couple of weeks and agreed to give it a go.  Well, as they say, the rest is history.  I just finished up my 6th year as editor and have enjoyed every bit of it.  Between Power Fibers and the Tips Site, I've been blessed to meet some great people, both in person and online.

I'm from Zeeland, Michigan. I've lived within a 15 mile radius my whole life!!!

I guess that's about it!