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Since I was a young child, I have spent my time dreaming of how to catch bigger and better fish. As a young boy I worked an entire summer to save enough money to buy my first fishing reel ($7.39). This love of the sport and the desire for quality fishing equipment continued to follow me throughout my life. As a young family man, I dreamed of owning a bamboo fly rod to further develop my fishing skills on the Michigan waterways, though my budget prohibited me from owning my dream bamboo fly rod.
Photo by L.Hanson shows first bamboo rod I built in the summer of 1980 caught a 27" brown on dry fly.
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Photo by L.Hanson shows the rod-winding bench in the workshop.
In 1978, my wife took our young children on an extended vacation. Shortly after they left, I went to a fishing rod show and purchased the book, A Masters Guide to Building A Bamboo Fly Rod from Hoagy Carmichael and a planing form. That simple purchase changed the direction of my life. I got a culm of bamboo used to roll carpet on from a neighbor and began to make my first Hanson Rod. When my family returned three weeks later, I was completing the first section of my first rod. Life would never be the same for our family. |
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The first Hanson Rod was surprisingly efficient - it wasn’t polished, but I could catch fish and it inspired me to continue my search for perfection. I continued to research the art of bamboo rod making and purchased a supply of Tonkin cane bamboo, and two years later, sold my first rod at the Midwest Fly Fishing Exposition. About that time I met Ernest Schwiebert, which resulted in many conversations and consultations on rod qualities and rod development with him. Ernest decided to include information about my rods in his book, Trout Tackle II. The book is considered a classic history of bamboo rod making and makers. Over the next thirty five years my Hanson Rods have been built in the Garrison tradition and have continued to evolve. Each custom rod is hand-planed and made with meticulous attention to detail with tapers that continuously evolve to produce a lightweight, smooth casting, high performance rod.
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Photo by L.Hanson
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I have had the support and mentorship of master craftsmen during this process including Per Brandin. Per is a respected world class rod maker from Massachusetts who changed the way I thought about the design of my fly rods. His approach to rod design was a significant departure from the previous designs I was familiar with. He convinced me to develop my own scalloped hollow rods. He helped me develop machines to design my new ultra light hollow rods.
Beyond the new hollow design, he convinced me to use micro ferrules. These design changes resulted in the total mass of my rods decreasing and yet the performance stayed the same. In addition to less weight, the rods cast tighter loops, but better still, dampened so well there was no noticeable sine-wave in the line during the cast. The line was virtually straight after the cast.
I feel fortunate that I was able to design and build long light rods that cast well, are light in the hand and have that magical feel of fine bamboo.
Beyond the new hollow design, he convinced me to use micro ferrules. These design changes resulted in the total mass of my rods decreasing and yet the performance stayed the same. In addition to less weight, the rods cast tighter loops, but better still, dampened so well there was no noticeable sine-wave in the line during the cast. The line was virtually straight after the cast.
I feel fortunate that I was able to design and build long light rods that cast well, are light in the hand and have that magical feel of fine bamboo.
Rods Fig. 1A taken by T.Banners
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My favorite 6-weight, 3-piece;
image provided by T.Banners
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These rods are capable of casting into the western wind as well as casting very short and precise. The 9-foot rod has become my favorite dry fly rod for the Henry’s Fork and Yellowstone area. I have always enjoyed fishing longer rods with dry flies, especially on big rivers. So, this is the direction my rods have evolved.
The 7’9” - 3 wt was my first taper that really worked well, which then morphed into the 8’ – 3 wt rod weighing 2.6 ounces. This rod is my personal favorite for Michigan trout fishing. This design worked so well that I had to push the design envelope of longer light line rods to include designs for 8’6” - 3 wt to 9’ - 4 wt.
