1/2, 3 1/2oz, WF# 5/6; Comes with Hard case tube and handmade sock; We have the privilege of offering up one of Mr. Cooper's Hand Crafted Bamboo Fly Rod for your bidding fun! These are rare and hard to find. This one comes to you as super nice pre owned and is signed by Mr. Cooper, please refer to pictures on this great Rod!!! In the quiet of his basement workshop, Wes Cooper has been keeping a 90-year-old Michigan tradition alive - that of hand-building bamboo fly rods in an era dominated by mass-produced fishing poles. Cooper’s first bamboo rod was a dime store model purchased for $3 in 1944. It wasn’t very good, he said, but he had been inspired to get one after spending time with his uncle, Ralph Cooper, an Ohio State casting champion in the 1930’s. Cooper is a member of a small, but growing fraternity of cane-rod builders in Michigan, anglers who prefer the aesthetics, feel and performance of bamboo over graphite rods. And though some say ‘that is so yesterday,’ Cooper, now 87, says hardly the case, he learned how to construct a split-cane rod in 1985 from strips of Tonkin bamboo imported from China. Each is lovingly built by hand and signed, He sells to customers all over the U.S. under the name Coldwater Collectibles. . Cooper certainly has been all of that. He’s built 272 bamboo fly rods since he began developing his skills. And Cooper is often the one that bamboo rod owners turn to for repairs. His rods sell for approximately $1,100. They require 50- to 60-hours to build. The most popular, has been his seven-and-half-foot, 5-weight rod, perfect for trout.