bamboo duel fishing rod
Question
my friend found a box with two split bamboo rods in it with some flies. The tag on the rods say made in japan O.F. T. the picture on the poles is of a dragon in front of a mountain. The rods are a combination of fly rod set up or Bait casting. depending on which pieces you put on the base. Do you have any idea what these are and if they are worth anything.
Answer
Doug,
I hope you mean dual not duel. Or is it, bring your seconds , bamboo fly rods at dawn. All the dual , both spin and fly rods, I have ever seen, when trying to be both. end up being neither.
Your rod is Japanese. I know because of the cheap box , flies and rod components.
I have found others with company names I was able to trace.
Originally sold by the thousands to GIs in a light long box with lures and huge flies from 1946 to the 70s . Mostly considered trinkets by collectors but memorial to GIs , they have little resale or fishing value. I have never seen any written history on them in English except the following. http://www.maxrod.net/article/
There is a book on Goggle books, with a little history and a limited preview: Bamboo In Japan by Nancy Moore Bess
They are probably not even made from Tonkin cane like most vintage bamboo fly rods .
I have cast several and they are terrible fishing tools.
Luck,
Mac
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bamboo fly rod