Golden Witch. Your Custom Rodmaking Supply House Since 1998

Upcoming Shop Closures

We are closed June 7th through June 25th, inclusive. This is our summer break for family time, and it’s something we’ll be doing every year from 2017 forward. The shop is 100% closed for business during this span (no work, no email responses), though you may place internet orders. Upon re-opening, we will tackle orders in the order received. Please be patient if you order while we’re gone or the first week after we re-open. If you have questions, please hold off on emails until the final days of June or early July. Thanks so much for your understanding! I love this company, but it chugs along keeping me busy seven days a week all year, so this is the break I need to keep from burning out. Have a wonderful start to your summer!

Head’s Up…The Gooding kids have requested a backpacking trip in August. Tentatively we’ll be closed August 25th – September 4th. If you need custom parts (agate strippers, blued components, etc.) during this time, please order by August 1st for certain delivery before the closure; for non-custom parts (ferrules, snakes, silks, etc.) you can safely order up through August 23rd. Thanks! - Russ

Please see our Shipping Rates, Terms & Conditions Page for general shipping Q&A.

Hello Rodmakers & Restorationists!

The Latest Ramblings

Making Bamboo Chopsticks

Written by admin : Posted on May 18, 2017 : No Comments

Chopsticks. Love bamboo & Asian cuisine? You can craft hexagonal bamboo chopsticks. For novice rodmakers, they represent a good way to practice setting up and using a planing form on something arguably less important (and intimidating) than a first set of rod blanks.For every maker, chopsticks represent an incredibly useful way of productively using scrap bamboo from the rodmaking process. And what a teaching tool, too,

Bamboo Rodmaking for Beginners

Written by admin : Posted on May 5, 2017 : No Comments

In 1997 or so, Frank Armbruster of Colorado Bootstrap published a Free Report on the basics of how to build a bamboo fly rod. He advertised it in the classifieds of a popular national fishing rag for the price of one SASE and a couple of unused stamps. Our own Matt West responded to that ad, and that was the first day of the rest of his life.