Born in 1960, I went fishing with my father and my grandfather at a very early age. No roach was safe from my 14ft bamboo and Fiberglas monster of a rod. Today I am very sure this was the tough but eager beginning of my bamboo passion.

Many years later I came into contact with split cane rods via a friend of mine. I immediately decided to make these beautiful rods myself. Now I have been making rods for over 20 years and a great many bamboo strips have gone through my hands.

My father

In the beginning, my first rods were suitable only as tooth picks, not fishing rods. From that moment on, it became clear that building bamboo rods would be a life-long learning process. Striving for perfection is the ultimate challenge for me, but at the same time I see it as an absolute duty to build every single rod with as much care and attention to detail as possible.

I am well aware that my rods ARE my reputation, thus first and utmost rule is quality.

I would like to thank some people who are very important to me and who have enabled and encouraged me to bring you these fine bamboo rods:

Erne, Jochen, Humbert, Marcus, Bjarne, Bernard and their families. Most of all, I want to thank my father, who taught me to fish, took me along on his fishing excursions, and still shares this wonderful pastime with me. Some years ago, I finally returned some of the favour by teaching him to fly fish.

My special thanks to webmaster Mathias Rehm. Well done Matze.

Happy with bamboo

Hans-Jürgen Schlecht