Tapers - Bamboo Fly Rods

At Headwaters Bamboo Rod Company we build our rods based on proven "historical" tapers, meaning that the tapers we use were designed by Twentieth Century bamboo fly rod craftsmen.

A taper is a fishing rod term that defines the rod length, optimal line weight, and rod flex action. It is, literally, the shape of the rod itself and determines how it will function in the hand of a fly angler.

Medium action rods will flex about two-thirds of the rod when casting. For comparison, the typical fast action graphite rod flexes the top approximately one-quarter of the rod.

Two tip sections are traditional to bamboo rods to allow the tips to naturally relax and straighten on off fishing days. 

Each of our fly fishing tapers are named after a favorite Western USA fly fishing river. 

We offer three tapers; a 4-wt, 5-wt, and 6-wt. We think this handles the range of fishing needs for trout or light warmwater fly fishing.

Note, each rod can be underlined or overlined one line weight to speed up or slow down the rod action. Therefore our three rods effectively cover line weights from a 3-wt to a 7-wt. And can give the action of a medium fast, medium, or slow action rod. 

• The Gallatin: 7' 6" 4-wt. Medium Action. Taper: Payne 100
• The Henrys Fork: 7' 9" 5-wt. Medium Action. Taper: Paul H. Young Para 14 
• The Deschutes: 8' 0" 6-wt. Medium Action. 4.7 oz. Taper: Dickerson 8014