Inexpensive new bamboo fly rods

Question
I have been looking for a bamboo rod that I can afford, meaning less than $500 bucks. I ran across a company in Wisconsin called Born to Fish that imports Tonkin hollowed blanks from China. They describe their action as medium fast and sell a 8.5' 6 wt. for about $300. My question is do you know if this company has a track record, I can not find reviews of the rods which concerns me, also are their other companies that might might meat my meager budget?

Answer
Hi Ralph,

I am not familiar with the Born to Fish company so I can't provide any insight there.  I am familiar with a company called Headwaters Bamboo Rods in Portland, Oregon, and I can recommend their products for your purpose.  To be fair, my company builds some of the Headwaters rods so my opinion may be a bit biased.

If I were you, I would contact both companies and ask some questions.  Talk to the owners and ask about warranties, component quality, company history and customer satisfaction.  There are other companies out there that build on imported bamboo blanks.  You should be able to locate them via the internet.

The import bamboo blanks have significantly improved over the past few years.  Quality is good and prices are reasonable.  It is quite possible to acquire a pretty nice bamboo rod at a reasonable price.

For those who might disdain imported blanks, let me remind you that the vast majority of graphite and fiberglass blanks used in this country (USA) are imported and have been for years.  May or may not be a good thing, but it's the way it is.

Thanks,  Joe