Hi Marco! Do you prefer that I call you Marco or MOG, by the way?
As you like. I am getting used to be called MOG although this is the name of my rods. But it’s fine with me!

I met you in Sansepolcro during my bamboo rod learning moment. I immediately noticed your deep knowledge and interest in rod making tools and parts (I remember your accurate lesson on wrapping threads for instance), not to mention the intrinsic quality and aestethical beauty of your end product. We will certainly come back to these topics, but to start with our interview, can I ask you, where do you live?
I live in Licola, a village 15 km North of Naples and just 1 km from the sea. It’s not really the ideal location for making fly fishing rods perhaps. It would be more suited for making trolling or surf casting rods, actually. But I can’t complain, there are excellent trout places like the Volturno and the Biferno rivers within one and half hour driving distance – will talk about it later on. Besides one cannot forget the Pizza which in Naples is not like anything elsewhere….

When did you start bamboo rodmaking?
I am a very recent bamboo rodmaker. I finished my first rod in 2003. So I have been a rodmaker for just 5 years. I completed 60 rods so far. Initially, I used to have a hectic pace, up to three rods in a month. I have slowed down and I am more a "human" being now.

My story with bamboo begun a long time ago. In my family there is no fishing tradition. My father, used to fish in the Lake Maggiore (the second largest lake in Italy, Between Piedmont and Lombardy) by the end of the second World War with a special fishing tool named "Tirlindana" , probably more out of sheer need than just for fun . Pikes, trouts and bass. The Tirlandana is a mooching device, like a primitive reel, held from a rowing boat and releasing a long copper line with a kind of spinner at the end. My mother was at the rows, my father held the line. My mother hated the lake.

One day, by the mid 80s I was in London for the important Cruft's Dog Show - my wife Sandra and myself are Rodhesian Ridgeback dogs breeders - and while walking along Fulham Road I happened to get in front of a wonderful shop window. There must have been more than 20 bamboo rods shown. To make it short, I ended up a happy owner of a 8'3'' Sharp bamboo rod, a Young fishing reel, fishing lines and flies and a wonderful vintage ('50s) book about starting fly fishing. In my bright ignorance I hadn't realized yet that the world had been using graphite rods for more than 10 years.

I started in this way, without knowing that bamboo rods were over and out - this was the mainstream thinking those days - and I haven't used any "plastic" rod since. I got hooked and bought more bamboo rods, Pezon et Michel, Hardy, Alcock, fishing reels.

My "pusher" was Scottish fellow Jamie Maxton Graham, who was as deaf as a post. Speaking on the phone with him was a memorable achievement. But he had a phantastic catalogue.

I started thinking of making a bamboo fly rod while reading a French book: "L'art de la pêche à mouche sèche" by Jean Paul Pequegnot. A chapter of the book was dedicated to "refendu" (bamboo) rod making. The Internet revolution blew away all resistance.

When do you make your rods? I mean, do you do it in your spare time?
I don't have any standard moments. I am easygoing. There are moments when I don't like doing anything - and I laze - and then I get into moments when I work without interruptions for hours. But generally speaking any moment is ok: after dinner, during week-ends, I take holidays from work, depending from the actual mood or, worse, when I absolutely have to finish a rod for a client. On top of that I am a fan of the "...better tomorrow than today" theory, so I am often late on my schedule.

And which moment of bamboo rodmaking do you like less?
Easy: the cleaning of the blank from the glue. It's a stressful moment. Let me explain it.The whole rod building is seen as the triumph of precision and detail. Measurements tools from precision mechanic are used, calipers, gauges able to define 1 mil of an inch - or 0,025mm. Everybody is but talking about measurements and how to be more accurate. And then you have this moment, this removing the glue from the blank and consequently part of the bamboo which goes with it. What's more,this is done using only sand paper, your hands and your... gut feeling. Tom Morgan - whom I consider one the best rodmaker of all times, once said in one of his wonderful writings that “ ....(when) using 320 grit sandpaper you remove approximately .001” of material with three very light strokes. Therefore, you must be extremely vigilant in order not to remove too much bamboo particularly on the ends of tips.” Vigilance and sensitivity with a blessing to high precision measuring tools.There is a nice movie about the Winston company with Glenn Bracket in action cleaning a blank from the glue - before he left the company out of personal disagreement. He uses a pad with two hands and leans with his whole body on the rod. It is true that he has got a lot of experience but I also wonder how much bamboo he removes from the rod. This is why I don't like the cleaning of the blank.

Were you among the founders of the IBRA?
Yes, I am among the founding members of IBRA. Basically, the idea belongs to Alberto Poratelli and Gabriele Gori. Marco Boretti, Albiano Barbiani and myself got involved, too and the whole thing started up. But as I said, the true motors were and are Alberto and Gabriele.

Do you always flame your bamboo strips?
Yes, I always made my rods this way. I like the look too much to try differently.

Can you teach us a little about wrapping threads, what those numbers means, if silk is better than synthetic?
I don't think that silk is better than nylon but the former is certainly more in line with traditional methods and what's more you can find a wider array of colours and sizes (diameters).I started wrapping the guides with Pearsall's Gossammer which has a diameter 6/0. A real pain. It was difficult to tighten up the threads and I broke them many times. Then I moved to Naples, still by Pearsall's, a 4/0 size, easy to use but with a limited choice of colours. Finally I decided myself for the silk threads by YLI in the 100 size - practically a 4/0 - and above all for the Rice 2/0 Jasper, in the black-orange and black-white colour range. They haven't been produceed anymore for many years. Once they were used by Granger and by Wright McGill. I buy these silk threads from Ricks Rods of Richard Gottdenker in Denver and he has still a good stock.I must say that I bought from Rick a whole bunch of silk threads which I will never be able to finish. The same applies for my stock of tropical wood pieces.Today, I notice that rodmakers tend to make a minimalist wrapping, as short as possible, even making it disappear completely with transparent threads. On the contrary, I believe that a superior silk thread, well visible and appropriately laid down enhances the beauty of a rod, similar to a beautiful pair of legs enshrouded in precious silk stocking....Don't you agree?Anyhow, on my rod I don't add a tip to my wrapping and I go about 8 coils beyond the end of the guide's foot.

Do you make other parts of the rods yourself?
No, and I don't think at all to be able to match the finished products of the above mentioned manufacturers. Why using an average, "ok" component when I can use the best that the professional market can offer? I will never be able to make it like them. And, besides, the whole thing just to say that the whole rod is made by myself? I don't think it makes sense.The only things which are mine are the woods parts. I collected a good selection of tropical woods. I especially like wood coming from the Dalbergia tree: Cocobolo, Rosewood, Kingwood, Blackwood. Even if some of this woods are offered by some reel seats makers I can assure you that mine are far superior! And I also got woods which nobody offers: Arizona Desert Ironwood, Sapele, Katalox. In any case, always dark woods.

Your "links page" is probably the most comprehensive reference on bamboo fly fishing rods that I know. It also shows your astonishing researching quality on a subject....
My link page started off as a personal internet research tool. Then it grew larger and large the way the Internet grew. Eventually I thought that it could be be useful for others and so I made it available to everybody. But it's a lot of work to keep it up to date.

Which taper do you like, is it your own? What are the resulting traits of your rods (e.g. semiparabolic, slow action...)?
My taper ? Yes, No. There are more than 500 tapers around, more or less of public knowledge. When you design a taper that you think is new, original, and then you happen to check it with those of other rod builders you find out that you made something very similar to another one, perhaps designed 70 years ago.
I make bamboo rods of three types of action. One, is a "tip" action - or a "Dry Fly Action" as the American fly anglers say - designed especially with the Italian fisherman in mind who wants the "fast, fast, fast". It's a variation of a "Cross Silph" with substantial changes.
Then I make a progressive-rapid action rod, quite new for a taper design.
Finally I make a parabolic action rod where its taper was created and tested by Gabriele Gori.
The "tip" and progressive rods are 6' to 8' in length. The parabolic rods are 7'6'' to 8'6''.
All my rods above 7' are hollow fluted - except for a specific request to make the rod solid - and are of two to three pieces.

Is there any master rodsmith of the past that you prefer?
To the cost of sounding rethorical, I would say that among the great old masters I prefer Garrison. I like his straightforwardness in rod making, the simplicity which is a feature of his own personality and creations, the coherence of his mind.
But certainly some contemporary European rodmasters inspire me the most. In Europe Bjarne Fries, In the USA Per Brandin and above all Tom Morgan, a real icon as a person and as a rodmaker.

How do you name your rods? Is there any serial number?
My rods have the "MOG Rods" signature, the length accordind the Imperial Standard system, the line DT, the type of action and when it applies the code "HF" which stands for "hollow fluted".

Can I ask you how do you temper the bamboo strips, for how long, at which temperature?
Here I am a strict Garrison fan: 7 minutes at 197°C. The day I will have an electric oven with thermostat I will try other formulas. For the time being, with a hot-air-gun-oven made out of insulate stove pipes I can't do bettter. In any case, if that was ok for the Master....

Who are your clients? Do you custom build or do people buy the finished rods?
Some are from Canada and in the USA. Most of them are from Italy. Some I met in person, others by phone and usually through the Internet.
I don't sell finished rods and I don't make custom-rods strictly speaking - i.e. after the clients measures. The choices for a client are somehow few: type of action, and my length spans, then obviously the number of pieces, the type of reel-seat taken from either the Garrison sliding one - my favourite - and a few others among which two with threaded barrel, silk colour among those I was telling you abou. In other words, the customer who wants a rod made by me buys my rod and not a copy of other bamboo rods. And this without any bad critics towards those rodmakers who make replicas of old rods which are really fantastic but I decided to take another road.

What would you suggest to a person who would like to buy his first bamboo rod?
To cast with as many rod as possible. Bamboo rods must be chosen with the arm and the eyes. We cannot forget that they are fishing tools and so they must cast well and elegantly according to his own personal style and also they must please the eyes. And based on that nothing but your personal taste can lead you.

Thank you for your time, MOG!
Would you like, perhaps, to finish with a personal comment about bamboo rod making?
It's like smoking. If you don't start it's better. Once you have started it's difficult to stop!

Marco O. giardina Website

From makers of bamboo fly rods: Marco Giardina to the entry page of my interview