Tony Young

Tony Young started out making bamboo fly rods in Australia just prior to the inception of the Rodmakers' List-Serv around 1995 after reading an article by L.U. Beitz, Fly Rods from Split Bamboo,[1] which chronicles the intricacies of the bamboo rod making process from start to finish. Bamboo was impossible to obtain in Australia at the time and Tony sourced it through Charles H. Demarest Inc., importers of quality Tonkin cane from China to the US, prior to supplies becoming more readily available from the late Andy Royer, the Bamboo Broker.

Correspondence with the Demarests connected Tony with Wayne Cattenach, who subsequently gave Tony a copy of his book, Handcrafting Bamboo Fly Rods.[2] Tony then discovered The Planing Form magazine and was introduced to the Rodmakers’ List-Serv by Cattenach. He then travelled to Grayling in Michigan in 1999 & and 2000,and it was on this 2000 trip that he witnessed Wayne Cattenach cast almost across the Manistee River with a single roll cast, using his 7ft, #4 rod, the Sir D, falling less than 10 feet short. Quite a feat! Tony visited a number of Rodmaker meets in the USA and also fished hatches of the Hexagenia limbata, the Giant Mayfly.

Tony learned his craft as the only bamboo fly rod maker in Australia at the time (McGinn had ceased by then), mainly by experimentation, learning by doing and corresponding through on-line forums.[3] He built his own timber planing forms from Jarrah, based on his own design of which his plans were published in The Planing Form,[4] and he tried out various glues and techniques. Tony made a number of rods for fellow rod maker Peter McKean, prior to convincing McKean to make his own rods. Tony also built planing forms for Peter and provided unstinting help to Peter.

Tony builds all the hardware for his bamboo fly rods, now including the snake guides. however he favours modest Mildrum stripping guides (without agate inserts). While he still makes bamboo fly rods, increasingly he has turned to making ferrules and reel seat hardware, and he is about to release fly reels which are available commercially through his web site.[5]

Tony, who has made about eighty split bamboo fly rods since 1995, now likes these tapers best for casting and fishing: the Paul Young Driggs River Special, the Dickerson 7613 and Guide Special, and the Payne 96 and 98.

[1] L.U. Beitz, “Fly Rods from Split Bamboo. With a hand plane and lots of gadgets”, Fine Woodworking Magazine (USA), May/June 1982, pp. 176-181.

[2] W. Cattenach, Handcrafting Bamboo Fly Rods, Rowman & Littlefield, 1992.

[3] Particularly http://www.bamboorodmaking.com/index.html, the forum of which Peter McKean was also a member.

[4] The Planing Form is an international, information sharing/service-oriented newsletter, linking split bamboo rod enthusiasts worldwide.

[5] http://avyoung.com/index.htm.