It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 5:14 am

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




  Page 1 of 1   [ 10 posts ] New Topic Add Reply
Author Message
 Post subject: Headwaters bamboo?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:59 pm • # 1 
User avatar
Sr. Member

Joined: 02/14/17
Posts: 380
Location: Georgetown, Texas and Corpus Christi, Texas
Just got what appears to be a great, limited-time (half-off) deal in my email from Headwaters Bamboo ... looking at their 6'6" 3 wt. 2 pc, 2 tips.

Anyone have any experience with that rod, or any of their rods?


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Headwaters bamboo?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:24 pm • # 2 
User avatar
Hero Member

Joined: 01/26/09
Posts: 617
Location: Oklahoma
Aaron,
My long time fishing Buddy Kurt bought a Headwaters 6'6" 3 weight several years ago. He was pretty unhappy with it. We both cast it and thought it was really a wet noodle. He has an old Phillipson Pacemaker and a 5 weight Elkhorn that he likes, but neither of us thought much of the Headwaters rod.

Larry


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Headwaters bamboo?
PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 11:20 pm • # 3 
User avatar
Hero Member

Joined: 01/26/09
Posts: 617
Location: Oklahoma
I've already spoken with Aaron and apologized for giving him some bum information regarding this little Headwaters bamboo rod. My friend Kurt bought his rod 10 or more years ago. The 2 or 3 times we tried it out, we thought it was really a limp noodle of a rod, and Kurt felt he had really wasted his money. However, at that time we were both mostly using 5 and 6 weight graphite rods. Starting 10 years ago I shifted from graphite to fiberglass. At first I was buying mostly vintage rods of 6 weight or so. As I started trying ultralight, I was initially using graphite rods, but gradually shifted over to glass rods in ultralight. These days I mostly fish 2 to 3 weight glass rods, and so does Kurt. Today we went to visit a friend, and he brought along his 6'6" 3 weight bamboo Headwaters rod. He thought maybe it might work a little better with a 2 weight line. We started with a WF2 Barrio Small Stream line, and sure enough it cast it pretty well, but the line felt just a little light. Then tried a DT2 Barrio Mallard line, but definitely too light. A WF3 Barrio Small Stream line was perfect and the rod was a really sweet caster and very accurate. Also did quite well with a Cabela's Prestige DT2. Surprisingly, not so good with a SA Supra WF3. Like several other rods I have cast, this rod definitely has lines it likes, and some it doesn't.

Why is there suddenly such a drastic change in our opinion of this rod. As I said, at the time he purchased the rod we were accustomed to casting and fishing with 5 to 6 weight medium-fast to fast action graphite rods. Even after we first switched to glass, we were still using about the same line weight rods. As we have gained much more experience with glass rods and especially with ultralight glass rods, the timing of our casting stroke has evolved considerably over the past 10 years. I now consider this rod to be a really nice UL rod. I decided to print this report today because, although I had already informed Aaron of my change of opinion, I thought there may be somebody else out there wondering about this rod, and I felt like I needed to clear the air.

Larry


Last edited by Canoeman1947 on Sun Jan 28, 2018 11:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Headwaters bamboo?
PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 11:23 pm • # 4 
User avatar
Sr. Member

Joined: 02/14/17
Posts: 380
Location: Georgetown, Texas and Corpus Christi, Texas
Thanks Larry! You're a mensch, and it was good to hear your voice!

I'll give it another look.


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Headwaters bamboo?
PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 11:03 am • # 5 
User avatar
Hero Member

Joined: 01/26/09
Posts: 617
Location: Oklahoma
We probably should have retried this rod much sooner. Somewhere around the time he purchased the Headwaters rod, he also purchased a Hardy Perfection in 4 weight (on sale at $495). We also thought the Hardy was a very sloppy casting wet noodle of a rod. By the time of our second glass conclave, I grabbed it to show another guy an example of a super slow rod. After stringing it up, I was surprised at how smoothly it cast. Again, this was an example of how my casting style had evolved. We now think of the Hardy as a really nice rod. This was several years ago and should have prompted us to retry the Headwaters rod, but hindsight is always more acute than foresight.

I feel that my switch to glass rods several years ago has helped with my casting. I have rods from 5'9" to 8', and line weights from 2 to 7. I have rods with very soft slow actions to rods with medium-fast action. Using this variety of lengths and actions has helped me learn to test out a rod's action and quickly accomodate to it. However, I was casting some fast action 6 and 7 weight 9' graphite rods the other day and found it to be hard work. Maybe I'm getting old.

Larry


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Headwaters bamboo?
PostPosted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:45 pm • # 6 
User avatar
Jr. Member

Joined: 09/28/16
Posts: 77
My principal rod for years was a 6 foot fiberglass Fenwick 5/6, along with sometimes using my father's bamboo battenkill and other rods. Now I primarily fish a 6'6" battenkill 6 wgt bamboo, and a 7'6" Cabelas Three Forks 3-weight.

These two rods are very different. But I like both very much.

As someone who has a fundamental stroke based on fiberglass and cane, I will say that carbon rods are basically mislabeled in my opinion. I have never used a 3 weight line on that rod. 4 weight works great. 6 wgt DT works great--and I mean on both the battenkill, and the three forks. Yep--a 6 wgt bamboo will cast a 4 weight line quite nicely!

I can see where the "wet noodle" thing comes from. But really it is understanding and adapting to how bamboo works.


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Headwaters bamboo?
PostPosted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 11:44 pm • # 7 
User avatar
Hero Member

Joined: 01/26/09
Posts: 617
Location: Oklahoma
Back in the mid to late 90's I bought a Three Forks 3 piece 3 weight. Loved the rod and fished it a lot for several years. A few years after I bought it, Cabela's introduced some additional rods to the Three Forks line-up, and in the catalog these new rods were described as faster than the old rods, but supposedly the 3 weight and 5 weight rods were left at a moderate action. I had bragged about these rods as a tremendous value to a friend of mine, so he purchased a couple to give his grandkids. When they came in, he was mortified to feel how fast they were. When I tried them, I told him the new rod was a lot faster than my old rod. We felt these rods needed a 5 weight line to load properly. It is funny that the other day when we were playing with the 3 weight bamboo, Charlie went in and got his Three Forks rod. Just for kicks we tried several lines on it. It was difficult to cast with a SA Supra WF3, felt significantly underlined. A Hook & Hackle DT3 was slightly better, but not much. However, a Barrio Small Stream WF3 was not bad at all. That Barrio line is becoming one of my favorite lines; it seems to work quite well with a lot of different rods and actions.

Larry


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Headwaters bamboo?
PostPosted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 1:35 pm • # 8 
User avatar
Jr. Member

Joined: 09/28/16
Posts: 77
That's interesting about the line.
I don't have any spare lines. I actually have spare reels!
I can't bring myself to spending $90 on line if I already have a bunch in play. One of my reels is loaded with DT scientific Anglers from 1973. It fishes great. Only now starting to crack but the other end is still new.
My 4 weight line was on sale for $7 or something at Wallyworld. It is Cortland fairplay.


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Headwaters bamboo?
PostPosted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 4:39 pm • # 9 
User avatar
Hero Member

Joined: 01/26/09
Posts: 617
Location: Oklahoma
The latest British pound to US dollar rate has raised the price of the Barrio Small Stream line to about $39.00. One of the best bargains I have found on fly line. It's not quite as slick as Scientific Anglers premium lines or Rio premium lines, but if you clean it and put some type of line slickening agent on it occasionally it works very well. Mike Barrio is a very talented line designer. Once he develops the taper he wants he has one of the largest line manufacturers in England produce the line for him. His lines are not sold through dealers so there is no middle man and no shipping charges. I have no financial interest in his company, but am a very satisfied customer.

Larry


Top
  
 Post subject: Re: Headwaters bamboo?
PostPosted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 12:46 am • # 10 
User avatar
Jr. Member

Joined: 09/28/16
Posts: 77
The Barrio looks interesting--thanks for bringing it up.
Reading about it it seems like a very short "shooting head" type of line.


Top
  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  

  Page 1 of 1   [ 10 posts ] New Topic Add Reply

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  


- OurBoard Support -