Every rod is painstakingly hand-planed, carefully hollow-built using precision tooling, and hand finished for a beautiful appearance.

Dunsmuir Rod Company
5210 Florence Loop
Dunsmuir, CA 96025
(530) 235-4058

Building beautiful fly rods... that perform.

I hollow-build all my bamboo fly rods. This technique was first developed on the West Coast by E.C. Powell and Winston's Lew Stoner. They wanted to build the bamboo rods capable of handling wind, big rivers, and big fish -- yet still be light enough to fish all day.  

Today -- more than 70 years after hollow-built fly rods were developed, I am one of a small handful of builders who are refining and improving these techniques -- and producing some of the best-casting, best-fishing bamboo fly rods ever made.

My techniques are descended directly from those developed by legendary builder James Reams, one of the best builders working in the craft today.

Internal Tapering for maximum performance...

Unlike some builders, who simply remove a set amount of interior "pith" from their bamboo blanks, I also alter the rod's internal taper (as well as the easy-to-measure external taper) for maximum performance. It means embarking on a time-consuming process of building, fishing, changing tapers when I'm developing a rod, but it also results in a rod that performs better.

Cast one. You'll be surprised.

Each rod is painstakingly hand-crafted from a single culm of bamboo to exacting tolerances. Each represents more than 50 hours of labor, each is hand-wrapped with English Pearsalls silk thread, and each is varnished in a climate-controlled "clean room" which results in a glass-like finish.
 

Strong, capable four-sided Quadrods

My quads are based on tapers I developed myself through extensive field testing. Quads use a boxlike, four-strip construction that results in a rod that tracks dead straight while casting. They also hollow build very aggressively -- the shallow strip angles allow me to take more non-performing pithy material out of the center of the rod while still maintaining the same glue area. They're powerful, smooth casters. My favorite rods.

8'3" 5wt 2/2 "The Quad Rod"
My best-seller, this might just be the ideal all-around Western rod. This is also the rod I fish year-round on the Upper Sacramento. Whether presenting a #22 BWO in the winter or a #6 Hopper in the summer, the Quad Rod offers exceptional power but with a tip light enough to preserve the delicacy bamboo is famous for -- and all this in an aggressively hollowed rod that feels very light in the hand. $2195

7'9" 5wt 2/2 "Quad Rod Jr."
A good choice choice whenever a longer rod is not required -- and 7'9" is the favorite length of many bamboo users. Like all quads, it tracks beautifully during the cast. $2195

7'3" 4wt 2/2 "Baby Quad"
A very smooth, delightful, four-sided alternative to a short hex rod. Patterned after the wonderful shorter Garrison tapers. $2195
 

Smooth, responsive hollow-built Hex tapers

Six strip rods -- "hexes" -- are the most common bamboo fly rod design. Tested, classic tapers abound, and these rods hollow build quite nicely though not as aggressively as the quad (four strip) design. Most of my hex rods have their roots in the best of the "classic" tapers, though I've modified them for hollow building.

7' 4wt 2/2 "Small Stream Special"
Based on Garrison's wonderful 201 taper (with modifications to accommodate my hollow building process, making this taper even more of a joy), this might be the perfect small stream rod. Extremely delicate, it's lively and a lot of fun to fish. $1895

7.5' 5wt 2/2 "The 90DF"
This is a quick, crisp dry fly rod with a slightly swelled butt -- great for throwing tight loops under overhanging branches or dries at fussy, rising fish. An extremely lively taper, made more so by hollow building. It's also a great rod for graphite fishers who want to divide their time between longer graphite rods and short, lively cane. $1895

8' 5wt 2/2 "The Upper Sac Special"
Very light in the hand, this smooth-casting, medium-action taper is very reminiscent of the legendary Granger 8040, but livelier and lighter. Perhaps my best all-around hex taper, this is a great rod for dry flies, pocket water, and everyday use. $1895

8' 3" 4wt 3/2 "The Spring Creek Special"
The only way to build an effective long 4wt is to hollow it. This taper feels authoritative in the hand yet presents a fly with amazing delicacy; never soft or weak. Ideal for spring creeks, but is fine with wind and big fish. Another best seller and a new classic in the making. $1995

8'6" 7wt 2/2 "Big Dog Special"
Though most believe that longer, stronger bamboo rods are too heavy to fish, this wonderful 7wt showcases the advantages of hollow building; the rod is surprisingly light, lively and agile -- yet retains the strength to really put the wood to big fish. Ideal for stoneflies, summer run steelhead, big trout, lakes, etc. $1995