John McGinn + bamboo
1970 to 2000 – birth of the individual artisan
The second era for bamboo rod making in Australia marked the start of the time of the individual artisan that continues today. The three makers we will discuss are John McGinn, Peter McKean and Tony Young. Though Bluey Powell’s time led us to place him in the first era, by temperament he could have readily fitted with them.
What differentiates this era from our foundation era?
The key differentiator was surely the growing knowledge among our rod makers, and their fishing clients, of the great US rod makers and the tapers they were developing from quite early in the last century. Whereas the Southam 7’6” John Rollo and the Turville 7ft Jenny Anne were remarkable outliers among the rods of the first era, short rods became the norm for the second, with their blend of sensitivity of presentation and ample power when needed for longer casts. For these makers, an 8ft rod was a long rod, as it is for today’s makers.
Though John McGinn still tended to look back to the UK traditions in his tapers, and in his Australian rods he offered 8’6” rods in all his models (8’8” for the Bombala), most of the rods in his Australian series became much shorter than most of his UK rods (apart from the 6’6” Troutbeck).[1]
Peter McKean and Tony Young were both drawn to the US tapers exclusively from the outset. The Internet, bringing an enormous, readily accessible pool of knowledge, was available to them though in a more cumbersome way, with heavy reliance on the email-based Rodmakers’ List-serv group. Since their day the Net has become a dominant information source. For bamboo rod making in Australia, the world has become a village.
[1] Interestingly, the longest of John McGinn’s Australian rods of which we have found an image is the 8’2” Bombala. This suggests that most of his clients were happy with his move to shorter, lighter rods.