First time I fished bamboo was about 60 years ago on the Toutle, since then I drifted away from fly fishing, came back about 25 years ago. Glass and then graphite were rods of choice until 10 years or so and I came back to bamboo occasionally. I've refurbished a few rods and built quite a few from cane blanks, if you haven't fished 'boo you are missing a lot. I would really like to build from scratch, splitting the culms, etc., but now am content to fish what I've built or refurbished and experience the difference from modern graphite and a fine bamboo rod. There is a difference.