print article Print     e-mail photogallery E-mail
Published February 05, 2012, 12:00 AM

Photo gallery: Bamboo rods


Phil Johnson of Esko, who makes bamboo fly rods, signs each rod. This is a 7½-foot, 4-weight rod in two pieces. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)

  • Phil Johnson of Esko, who makes bamboo fly rods, signs each rod. This is a 7½-foot, 4-weight rod in two pieces. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Phil Johnson of Esko splits a piece of bamboo into smaller pieces, which will eventually be formed into a fly rod. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Phil Johnson uses a measuring tool to check the angle of individual shafts of split bamboo to make sure they fit together properly. This is an end view of what will become a fly rod. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • After splitting a piece of bamboo, Johnson sands the bulges in the stalk, called nodes. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Phil Johnson carefully works a strip of bamboo past the blade of a putty knife, splitting into two slender pieces. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com
  • Raw stalks of bamboo, called culms, rest against the wall in Phil Johnson's workshop in Esko. Eventually these stalks will be split into long, narrow pieces that can be formed into a fly rod. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Small bamboo rods are especially effective on small trout streams. Jim Pothast of Duluth used a bamboo rod given to him by Phil Johnson to catch this rainbow trout on an Iowa stream. (Photo by Jim Pothast)