Cooperative Living January/February 2022 - 15

COOPERATIVE FOCUS
CASTING
a Line
Rick Robbins is a custom fly rod maker
and fly fisherman
B
ARC Electric Cooperative
member Rick Robbins of
Lexington, Va., can't remember
a time when he failed to enjoy fishing.
" There's a photo of me fishing when
I was four. I'm 76 now, so that's 72 years
of fishing, " he says.
Robbins grew up
in Texas, fishing with
his dad along the bays
near Houston. He tied
his first flies for a Boy
Scout merit badge
when he was about 12.
After graduating
from law school at the
University of Texas, he became a lawyer
for the U.S. Department of the Interior
and, later, for the National Park Service.
Some 48 years ago, he turned his
passion in a craft. Robbins began making
bamboo fishing rods, first for himself
and later for friends. As his skill grew at
making rods that were truly responsive,
he developed a reputation as a master
craftsman. Now he has a two-to-threeyear
backlog of orders for his handmade
bamboo rods.
Why make rods of bamboo, instead
of graphite or fiberglass, which are much
less expensive? Robbins says the best way
to explain is to relate a comment that a
man made at his booth at a fishing show.
When the man picked up a bamboo
rod for the first time and cast with it,
he exclaimed, " It's alive!' "
Bamboo " has a feel like no other type
of rod, " explains Robbins. He concurs
that bamboo rods are heavier than rods
made of other materials, though quickly
adding that a properly balanced bamboo
rod feels almost weightless.
Robbins uses only one type of
bamboo, called Tonkin Cane. It grows
co-opliving.com
only in a 10 square-mile area near the
Sui River in China.
There are many varieties of bamboo,
many of them harvested much closer to
Virginia. So why rely solely on Tonkin
Cane for fly rods? " It is the strength and
density of the fibers [of the bamboo] that
make them rod-worthy, " Robbins says.
Robbins takes 60 to 100 hours to
make a bamboo fly rod that meets his
standards. He makes every part of each
rod, except the guides.
The process begins when Robbins
orders Tonkin Cane from a wholesaler
on the West Coast. A truck delivers the
bamboo culms in lengths of 12 feet.
Robbins cuts the bamboo using a
machine built in 1925 and designed for
milling fly rods. It can mill the bamboo
as precisely as one-thousandth of an inch.
Robbins is the fourth fly maker to own
it. The machine, which weighs a ton, is
bolted to the floor
of his workshop.
The artisan
process begins as
Robbins cuts the
bamboo into
appropriate lengths
for either two-piece
or three-piece rods.
Next, he cuts each
section precisely
into six sides so the
rod is hexagonal.
Robbins lines up the naturally
occurring nodes along the
bamboo so that none of them
will be directly opposite other
nodes.
Then he glues the six sides
together with a high-end
furniture glue made of urea
formaldehyde. " The British
January-February 2022 ● Cooperative Living ●
13
used it during World War I and World
War II to glue airplane parts together, "
he notes. The finished rods, with fitted
sections, measure 7 to 8 feet in length.
Of his craft, Robbins observes " As
my mentor Tom Maxwell used to say,
'It's not rocket science, but it takes a
certain amount of attention to detail.'
There are about 80 different steps along
the way, so there are plenty of ways to
mess up. "
By the time Robbins finishes making
a fly rod, he has conducted numerous
checks to each part to ensure it is the best
he can make it. He says that his customers
" should be able to hand my rods down
at least one generation. "
Robbins enjoys practicing the craft
that has taken him years to perfect and
making the custom fly rods that become
family heirlooms. But he also makes sure
to save time for his own fly fishing. 
For more, visit
rickrobbinsbambooflyrods.com.
PHOTOS COURTESY HARRISON R. STEEVES, III
http://www.rickrobbinsbambooflyrods.com http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living January/February 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living January/February 2022
