top of page

Interested In Fishing Your Own Bamboo?

5-rods-14APR26-2.jpg

Up Your Game with Phill's Custom Bamboo Fly Rods !

I build four and five weight Brownie rods and three weight Brookie rods. They catch fish, lots of fish. 

  • Each rod is made from bamboo from the Tonkin province of China

  • All are eight-foot, two-piece rods

  • Snake guides, stripping guide, tip-top guide, and ferrules are tied with silk thread. 

  • Rod blanks are coated with two coats of petroleum-based spar varnish and then sanded with 2000-grit paper. Rods get one last dip of varnish over all the wrapped guides and ferrules.

  • Reel seats are hand-turned from various exotic woods: Buckey Burl, Cocobolo, Bocote, Bubinga, Padauk, Madrone Burl, Afzelia Burl, Spalted Tamarind, etc.    

  • Reel seat butts and slide bands are enameled with fused powdered glass. Each reel seat butt and slide band is a unique interpretation of a fishy pattern; no two are alike.

  • Traditional uploading or downloading reel seats are doable as well.

  • Most Brownie rods are fitted with Super Z Ferrules. Newer Brookie rods are fitted with a carbon fiber ferrule reducing weight significantly, transferring energy from butt to tip more smoothly, increasing sensitivity, eliminating corrosion. 

  • Rod grips are turned from stacked cork rings and can be finished with rattan wraps.

​

When you are ready to up your trout fishing game, I suggest we do a meet and greet so I can coach you on the nuances of casting bamboo. That way, you can try a rod to see if you like bamboo and want to proceed. I will provide a reel with line for testing. Not included in the purchase price are reel and line, rod tube, rod sock, leader, tippet, flies. 

​
"The charm of fishing is that it is  the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope."  
John Buchan

Interested In Fishing Your Own Bamboo? ​

I have a ton of material resources having got this far down the rabbit hole.
Reach out and I'll share what I know.

Phill's Bamboo Rods, 4933 Foxfire Trail, Middleton, WI 53562
P: (608) 692-9836 phillthill@gmail.com
Copyright © 2026 All rights reserved

bottom of page