bamboo fly/spinning rod

Question
I recently purchased in mint condition a bamboo fly/spinning rod with the tag name samurai. Any idea manufacturer and cost.

Answer
Hi Pat,

Sounds like one of the bamboo rod sets that were made in occupied Japan after WW II.  These were usually put up in balsa wood boxes with rod storage and a bunch of items like flies, bobbers, line, nippers and assorted useful fishing items.  These sets were manufactured under a variety of different brand names; if I recall corectly, Samurai was one of those names.  Thousands of there rod sets were sent home by US servicemen and most have survived quite well...many have never been used.

Typically it is a combination fly/spin rod with a handle that has a ferrule in both ends so it can be reversed to allow use of different rod section to make either a fly rod or a spinning rod.  Quality is not considered high on these rods by most; however, you can find examples that fish quite well and many look very nice.

Collector value is not high.  Typically, you can buy these sets in the $15-$40 range depending on the actual condition.  There does seem to be a little improvement in value as time goes along.

Thanks,  Joe