My very first fishing experience was with a cane pole fishing for crappie on the banks of the Arkansas river in Logan county Arkansas.

My grandpa knew where some of these "cane poles" grew and he'd go harvest new ones when the old ones got ratty. They were dried, but I don't think he put any type of coating on them.

I'd like to grow some of these cane poles and introduce my young niece to fishing, but I don't have a source for this type of cane.

Is it safe to assume that it was some type of bamboo that grows wild in AR.? I can't think of any other type of "cane" that would suffice.

My question to those of you who know,..is there a preferred strain of bamboo to make cane poles?

We have some growing in the ditches around here in OK, but it doesn't get as big or as tall as the stuff my grandpa used. His fishing poles were 10-12 ft. in length and 1.0"-1.5" in dia.

Is there some type of bamboo that's native to parts of AR or other parts of the South..?

Problem with bamboo is once it gets started, it can't be stopped... like Kudzu.

and THEN, ya have to import pandas to eat it
and soon
we'll be up to our necks in wild pandas...

Just buy fiberglass!

I wish I still had grandpas "American Fork and Hoe " square steel rod!

Nope,..I want the real McCoy. Want to walk down memory lane....


That's why it "accidentally" gets started on the neighbors place....

I've found some here in East Texas that is growing on my neighbor's place. It runs 10-12' tall with bases roughly 1 1/2" thick.

It CAN be controlled. You fertilize it and mow the edges as new shoots come up, treating it like a hedge. You just can never let it get away from you. Sorta like kudzu.

I bet my neighbors would let you come get some shoots.

Ed

We have cane that grows along creek banks here in Tn. When I was a kid we'd cut long ones and hang them from a tree limb with a rock tied on so they would dry straight. Once dry we'd put eyes on them and a couple of coats of varnish. Lasted a good while. We did this because we didn't have the money for real poles....not because they were great fishing poles. Used heavy ones to "snatch" suckers. Worked OK for that...everything else...just so-so.

Interesting side note...we have an old (very old) cemetery on our farm and for some reason there is a patch of cane growing on the edge of it. I've about killed it by clipping them down when I clip the pasture but have always wondered why they were growing there. No water neat the cemetery. All other cane I know of grows on the bank of a stream.

Elwood

i've seen the sugar cane growing hera in tn. i've still got some old ones that my papaw used for fishing and for putting out for greenbeans to run up.

had to wade through a bunch of bamboo flyrod ads & found this:

What your looking for is ( Phyllstachys Aureosulcata )

go to tytyga.com

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Those are the canes the indians used to make arrow shafts. They don't get long enough for fishing poles.

I'm surprised you don't see patches of bamboo growing in your daily travelling. There are several patches around Greenville. After you cut it you should season it under a shelter until it's dry. If you expose it to full sun while it's green it will split.

Does Boone and Crockett keep records on pandas? Do they taste better than Spotted Owls?

http://www.bamboogarden.com/Phyllostachys%20nuda.htm Is another fine choice.

Didn't know that...


Thanks for all the info...

One particular stand of bamboo around my house when I was a kid had the big stuff, over 2" in diameter. We would cut it and use it for pole vault poles. I got up to between 6 and 7 feet before my bamboo pole snapped at my highest point and I came down square flat on my back. Thought I was dead Wound up the pole vault career..

lucky you didnt come down on the splintered pole and become skewered

You do realize once started it can take 7-10 years to come out of the ground and be usable. It builds a serious root base before ever showing a sprout.

Nope,..didn't realize that....

We have a couple of clumps of bamboo that is 8-10'in diameter and up to 10-14' tall. I've often thought it would make good fishing poles. I have no idea what kind it is, but it spreads very slowly. We have been here 10yrs and I can tell the clumps are larger, but not a lot. If you want some,come and get it, but you have to take it all. On the other hand if this is fly rod quality, PM me. Ken

I'm from Mississippi and cane pole fishing is the norm there rather than the exception. All my life they were mostly store bought but have seen many people raise them. Cut green and then take to barn an hang by tip with a weight on the large end until dry. Then make a handle about a foot long and 1 1/2" in diameter and push end of pole in it. Have seen many that had burn stripe on them and were varnished or shellaced sold in stores and bait shacks. Never owned or used one of those as they were out of my price range. I know of one stand of bamboo near my home that was over 20' tall and stalks were over 4" in diameter. In any case it's not nearly as prolific or hard to kill as kudzu. Mississippi has been trying to control and eradicate kudzu for well over my 78 years with no real success. Miss State ( my alma mater) has a research farm devoted to that purpose.

Bundling several tightly together can serve the same functions. Just try to match the zigs to cancel the zags. Throw some baling twine tightly around them and forget them for a while.

i have a farm neighbor who has a small (10'x30') in his front yard, but the bases are quite large, maybe 2-3" diameter.

roundup mixed with 2-4-d kills bamboo. i use that combo all over the farm and also on a patch just off my back yard. 2 applications and you can't tell it was there.

Grows wild here in in Mississippi. We would cut the cane, season it and buy a perch jecker (float,line,hook and and shot, packaged together) for a quarter. Scrounge up live bait, worms, grasshoppers, catalpa worms, crickets, and go fishing. We always had spares seasoning in the garage or barn. I worked as a principal on the Choctaw Indian Reservation. The Choctaws are reknowned for their baskets made of river cane. They would cut it with a butcher knife, trim it, and then split it. They would wet it to keep it pliable and dye it. I asked if they used natural dyes. They told me no, not since they discovered Rit Dye. The community at Conehatta (where I was principal)had the oldest and the best basket makers. They even made double weave baskets. Think of a tube sock within a tube sock.Extremely difficult.Some times at the end of the month they would come around for fast cash. I wound up with a great collection of baskets of various patterns, shapes and sizes. I enjoyed my four years there.

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