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Walter Brunner
(2 April 2007, Pyburg, Austria-
January 2007)
The Legend of European Bamboo Rod Making
 Walter Brunner, son of a carpenter, began making bamboo rods in 1946 (for sheer necessity, back from a war detention camp; in a way similarly to Roberto Pragliola who also catched fish by hand and for utter need of food), initially for bait fishing, then gradually built his own equipment and in 1963 became the only full-time professional bamboo rod maker in Europe: the Brunner Fly Rod Co. of Austria.
Actually until 1949 fly fishing was completely unknown to him until he saw a British gentleman on holiday fishing in the same river where he was fishing (unsecessfully trying to catch graylings) and who explained to him the new technique.
He made the first tempering of the bamboo strips with his kitchen oven when he noticed that ne needed to remove the humidity from the bamboo. Alberto Poratelli told me that Brunner initially used to attach the bamboo strips externally to a round container and then start a fire in it in order to temper it!
Then, Hans Gebetsroither, a fishing warden and famous fly fishing instructor also influential for theSwiss Hebeisen business, where eventually Brunner also became a fly fishing instructor in 1979.
Because Walter Brunner was a fisherman first and then a bamboo rod maker. It was Gebetsroither who, after the sudden death in a car accident of Brunner's principal, in 1963, convinced and supported Brunner to take the rod maker path instead of continuing the carpenter business. Gebetsroither kept counselling hom on rod action and type. So the first rods were rather short and fast. Then an important fly fishing shop of Vienna, Gassmich, contacted him to make (successfully) longer, softer and lighter rods.
His professional rod making activity, ended only with his death in 2007. It's really a pity I missed him only of a short time. I made my first bamboo rod at the end of 1997....
Here a PDF file in memory from Walter Brunner which was sent to me by Bernd Bieber. The PDF file is in German. It's a document from the Austrian Fishing Club (ÖFG) with a statement to his death in 2007 and it contains some pictures.
| Walter Brunner |
| Life |
1927 - 2007 |
| Period of activity |
1946 - 1990s |
| Estimated rod production |
In 1996 Walter Brunner said he made 54 rods that year. Before he could make more (he said he made 100 rods in 1964) but he kind of slowed down and split the bamboo by hand with a knife and not by saw band as he used to do. (that, he said on the Giorgio Cavatorti's website report, was in order to improve quality, and meant 5 to 6 hours more of work, period of time not specified, per year?)
Brunner made rods for over 30 years, so estimating and average of 50-100 rods per year this could give us an estimation of roughly 1500-3000 rods. |
| Naming of rods |
First catalogue in 1972. No information of naming before 1972.
Aftwer 1972, always month and year of construction and name of Series.
For feet-to-meter conversion click here
1972-1997?
"Wildwasser" Series
short and fast rods; with two tips, green bag, black tube; tippet longer than butt but with compensation piece. Usually black Gudebrod silk wraps (on request they were made in dark red, "bordeaux" color)
Models:
"Cheri", 185cm, #5
"Gebetsroither Super",
200cm, #5
"Gebetsroither", 212cm, #6
"Traun", 228cm, #6
"Traun Special", 235, #5-6
from 1972, "Austria" Series
red, "bordeaux" Gudebrod silk wraps as standard (black on request); two pieces of the same size; softer action; ideal also for wet flies
Models:
"Teichl", 220cm, #5
"Pielach", 240cm, #4-5
"Orbigo", 245cm, #6
1985 "Salza" Series, shorter and softer action rods.
5 models. One model called "salza sensitive" in 3 pieces, 230cm and brown wraps
"Pielach" Series: (name of narrow river, the Pileach is only 20m wide and doe not allow casting long distances). Rods of 210cm or 230cm.
Models:?
"Amabili" series, for dry flies, #3
Models: ?
"Amabile Exlusive"
"Fortuna", 3 pieces, 210cm,#4
"Thymalli" series
Models:?
"
Thymalli Sensitive"
Giorgio Cavatorti and others say that probably the Amabili and Thymalli series are the best rods Brunner ever made, so after the mid 80s, probably Walter Brunner reached his peak in quality production.
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| Estimated Maximun Value |
1300$? |
From an ebay auction (13 December 2009)
Model Salza, 2,1 m, #4, 2-pieces, 1 tippet, used by Brunner only a few times, mint conditions, made in 1988: 887.50 Euro
Source. http://fishinghistory.blogspot.com/2007/07/walter-brunner-1927-2007-european.html
http://www.cavatortigiorgio.it/pages/brunner.htm
Giorgio cavatorti book,CAnne e mulinelli da collezionei, Edizion Petra 2003i, pp.38-39, excerpts here http://www.lapescamoscaespinning.it/pdf/38-39.pdf
IBRA Newsletter: http://www.rodmakers.eu/BJ00ENG/BJ00ENG.pdf
Bernd Bieber, email message, picture taken from the PDF file he kindly sent me and which I posted on this webpage (link above)
From Walter Brunner to the main page
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