Recently Bjarne and I were back in contact again after many years and he offered me to cast a newly built rod. Bjarne generously sent me two rods last week to review: one from the Katana series (8 ft #4) and one from the Pendular series (8.6ft #4, his favorite rod for dry fly fishing).
One can distinguish a Fries rod from miles away. The grip has this gorgeous torpedo-style shape. I just love the proportions of the grip and they feel very comfortable in my hand. The reel seat is all cork (including the reel ring!) and the butt cap is also finished with cork. The underside of the butt cap shows what he calls 'the window to the soul of bamboo'. I really like the looks of these rods.
Fries is the inventor of the bamboo ferrule which he calls F.I.B.H. (Fries Integrated Bamboo Hexaferrule). Seeing a bamboo rod without a nickel silver ferrule is quite a different sight. These FIBH ferrules makes his rods very light, the action of the rod remains continuous and no more need to align when putting the parts together.The two rods are very different characters indeed. The Katana has what Bjarne calls a 'New semi parabolic' action. The Katana series is probably one of his most sought after rods. The rod feels extremely lively and light in the hand. The rod follows the lengthening of the line very smoothly without ever being sloppy. The Katana just becomes an extension of your arm. At a mere 3 oz (86 grams) this is one extraordinary rod.
The Pendular rod series could be called one of Bjarne's signature series. If one has never cast a parabolic actioned rod, he might be very confused at the very first casting stroke as it feels very tip heavy and sloppy. It takes a while to understand this action and needs some adjusting of the casting stroke.Although the parabolic action feels quite slow due to the lower section being more flexible than the mid and tip section giving the feeling that its action is 'upside down', this rod was also able to keep up with a more aggressive casting stroke. But the real strength of this action is the way it is capable of 'catapulting' the fly line from the lower (and strongest) part of the rod. Probably hence the name Pendular.
Even though the Pendular feels quite tip heavy due to the taper this rod just weighs only 3.1 oz (89 grams)! That's astounding. In fact Fries' rods are probably the lightest bamboo rods in the world. Quite an achievement since his rods are not hollow built. The diameter of his rods are very small compared to other rods I've seen in the 8-8.5ft length.His catalog shows an amazing array of rods in several rod series with mostly his own proprietary tapers. One of his most extraordinary rod is called the Noodle, an 8ft #2-3 (!). Bjarne recently told me that he stopped offering rods with nickel silver ferrules. All his rods are now built with his FIBH ferrules.
Rods built by Bjarne Fries aren't cheap starting at around 2000 Euro's (about $2300) and comes with one tip. An additional tip adds 1000 Euro's ($1100). His rods are immaculately finished (his rods aren't varnished but hand rubbed with polyurethane giving the rod a very stealthy look) and details (like the heavy brass tube cap with an inlay of a piece of the hexagonal bamboo) really show his aim for perfection.
Thank you Bjarne for letting me have a look at your amazing rods!
Update Feb 2018:
Bjarne retired from rod making in 2017. This is too bad for me as I was about to order a rod...
