Bamboo Pole?

Has anyone used a bamboo/cane for poling? Seems like the feel and flex might be different than a wood pole.

I had paddled down the Gunpowder River, almost to the marshes at Days Cove. There was a long shallow gravel riffle before hitting tidewater, which I bumped and ground over. I knew I couldn’t paddle back up those riffles. I harvested a chunk of bamboo and used it to pole back upstream. I gues it would have been an okay pole, but it needed something to reinforce the tip, which easily splintered on the rocks and under stress.

Is bamboo what you mean by “cane?” I don’t think I’d like cane if it has bumps like bamboo does at the joints of the hollow chambers. Maybe you mean cane like rattan, in which case remember rattan grows as a twisty, pliable vine, and is soaked in water to make it more pliable. I think it poorly suited for a canoe pole. Try T6061 aluminum!

I fly fish almost exclusively with cane (bamboo from Tonkin, China) some nearly a hundred years old. Mostly eight footers, some fairy light weight seven or seven and a half footers. Also use in bigger water 8.5 & 9 foot rods, for the bigger species I sometimes target.
Very pleasant to immerse yourself in cedar & canvas canoe, canvas tents & packs, wool, woodsmoke and bamboo. Leave the petrochemical landfill destination stuff out of your life as much as possible.

"Glenn, Alan, what is the best way to change this to a thread about bamboo poles?"

- I was able to change the thread title to reflect the more correct usage of "bamboo" rather than "cane"

Chip said:

Try T6061 aluminum!

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I have no doubt an aluminum pole would be perfect However, I have no desire to use one. For now I pole just for relaxation and really like my wood pole.

I see bamboo along the river occasionally and thought it might be interesting to have the additional texture of the bamboo pole.

Wood makes great poles. Wood is quieter than aluminum and if it’s cold, wood doesn’t suck the heat from your hands the way aluminum does. I’ve never found a good solution for making a two-piece wood pole, and I find the ability to split the pole into 6-foot pieces is convenient and not unusual in aluminum poles. So, both wood and aluminum have their advantages.

I often use the “pool cue” method to retrieve the pole. The bumps, called nodes on bamboo, make sliding the pole through your hands uncomfortable. Yes, they could help you grip the pole, but I prefer a smooth pole and wouldn’t want a bamboo pole. I’ve used a pole with a spiral, tape wrapping, and I even thought that was uncomfortable.

Bamboo is a plant I don’t remember often seeing 50 years ago. Now, I frequently see stands of them, and the stands grow larger every year. Once it gets established, it seems as there’s no turning it back. I know where to find lots of it if you want to go into bamboo pole making!

I did a bit of searching online and found a bunch of references to bamboo poles, most of the stuff I found was related to "skiffs" rather that canoes. My original though was to find out what people in Asia or South America use for poling because I have seen plenty of examples of indigenous people poling and assume they are not using anything other than the something they chop down from "jungle" and can also be easily replaced.

I found a few comments that stressed the need to fire cure the working end of the bamboo pole, supposed to strengthen the tip to avoid the splintering issue. I was also thinking that adding a metal tip would be helpful, one might even be able to use a small tin can (tomato paste size or maybe those small energy drink cans?).

I can understand the problem caused by the nodes which would be hard on hands, thinking that these could be sanded down, probably not getting rid of them completely but at least making them somewhat smooth.

I recall in elementary school, one of the outdoor activities was pole vaulting and at that time (early 60's) we were given bamboo poles, of course we are talking about kids that probably weighed about 75lbs at most.

I grow bamboo and was hoping to use it as building materials.

Reading up on how to cure bamboo for use has put most of these projects on hold. There were three main cures. Heat fired. Long soak in salt water. And another.

I’ve found that if I harvest mature stalks and do not let the touch the ground, then prop them out of rain, off the ground, plenty of air, about half will harden into solid lengths that could be used.

Uncured bamboo just splits apart and disintegrates.

Erica said:

I grow bamboo and was hoping to use it as building materials.

Reading up on how to cure bamboo for use has put most of these projects on hold. There were three main cures. Heat fired. Long soak in salt water. And another.

I’ve found that if I harvest mature stalks and do not let the touch the ground, then prop them out of rain, off the ground, plenty of air, about half will harden into solid lengths that could be used.

Uncured bamboo just splits apart and disintegrates.

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Thanks for that Erica; it never dawned on me that bamboo needed curing. Not much bamboo up here, though they were widely used for ski poles in yesteryears.