About the Gathering

Southern Rodmakers is an annual gathering of bamboo fly rod makers. Over 300 craftsmen from 39 states have gathered on the White river near Cotter Arkansas since 1998. If you're interested in making bamboo fly rods, join us at the gathering in October, or follow the links below to join the on-line gathering of bamboo rod makers. "The List" is a great place to start. The list is an old school e-mail server with hundreds of members around the world.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Tony Spezio's 1wt Taper

I stumbled onto Tony Spezio's famous 1 weight taper looking through the SRG archives.  I gave Tony a call to see if it would be ok to post it here.  He generously agreed to share...as he always does.  Tony has helped a lot of folks get started making bamboo rods.  I got my first splitting lesson in Tony's shop at my first SRG.  Tony was awarded the SRG lifetime achievement award in 2012 for generously sharing his time with so many of us when we were getting started.

So here's the 1 weight taper.  It appears that the tip makes this a 1wt.  With a 1wt line, the tip begins to load at 25ft.  The butt follows quickly at 30ft and the mid section begins to load at 45ft.  There have been reports of large fish landed on this rod.  The light tip and strong butt would make that possible.  I haven't had a chance to cast this rod.  Hope to see it at SRG 2014.

 

From SRG 2014 Tapers