"White Bear" bamboo rod

Hello all,

I just picked up my first bamboo rod...local TU chapter had a used/for sale table at one of their meetings and gave the proceeds to Casting for Recovery. I bought a bamboo rod donated by one of the TU members. It needs a little work -- some ferrules replaced and a new finish -- but I figured even if it turns out to be unsalvageable, it was still a good donation.

The member that donated it wasn't there, so all I know about it is that it's got a sticker on it that says "White Bear - Japan".

Has anyone heard of this rod maker before? I couldn't find anything on the interwebs and I'm just curious...I don't really know anything about bamboo, but it looked like an appropriately sized rod for the small stream brookies I fish for most of the time.

Thanks!

there were alot of low quality rods imported from japan at the end of world war 2,most are low quality,give it a cast with a few differant lines,try starting with a 6wt,and see what happens,somtimes the ferrules are not the greatest but if they are sound and not cracked you should be in ok shape.if you like the action you could always do a rebuild with some modern components,a picture would help,steve

Ha! Finally have a digital camera, my parents gave me their old one while I was visiting them last weekend.

So, here's a couple of pics of the rod. Sorry they're not the greatest. Took a closer look at the ferrules, looks like one might be slightly bent somehow. When I picked it up at the TU meeting they told me that one of the semi-local fly shops has a guy that does rod repair. I'm headed up that way next weekend so I'll take it by and have him look at it. The bamboo doesn't look warp or cracked at all.

Thanks!

thats one of the japanis imports,tape some guides on it and cast it befor you do anything to see if you like it.steve

Most of those Post War Japanese rods had cheap aluminum ferrules on them.If you need ferrules replaced I wouldn't put anything on the rod but the cheapest aluminum ferrules you can find.An upgrade to nickel silver ferrules would most likely mean that your ferrules have more value than the rod.If you can put it fishing condition for $20 or less you might end up with a servicable rod.
Will

Japanese import or not, cool rod, love the old logo on it.
I'm sure it's still got a lot of fish in it.

When I need replacement ferrules on an otherwise serviceable rod that has no value as a collector's item, I've covered a couple inches of the bamboo on the small end of a rod section with epoxy, and then glued the right sized piece of fiberglass rod to the big end of the mating upper rod section. The fiberglass has to be wrapped with thread and the thread sealed. The result is a fit-over ferrule with stength, flexiblity, and light weight, all at little cost.

Sorry about my s low response, I started coaching last week and my free time has consequently vanished.

Thanks for the feedback! If it ends up being fixable, it'll be my first bamboo rod so I won't have anything to compare it to...I bet I'll end up liking it as long as it casts halfway decent. I'll let you know how it turns out.