I grew up in Makkum, an old fishing village on the Ijsselmeer nearby the Wadden Sea. Life at that time revolved along, on, and around the water. Because of this I learned fishing at the same time as walking.

One my 5th birthday I received my first fishing rod. It was a solid bamboo rod that I used to catch roach, perch and eel. A few years later on a beautiful summer day my grandfather unexpectedly came to my house and gave me a casting rod. That afternoon my grandfather taught me how to operate this rod and what to do in case I caught a fish.

One day I was fishing near Gaast with my friend. There, I met a charismatic guy. His face was tanned and had a big beard on it. He wore a green parka jacket and a felt hat and had a small spin fishing rod with him. We became curious and we asked him what he was going to fish for. He answered “Pike”.

My friend and I were very surprised. This couldn't be possible we thought.  To catch Pike you need a heavy rod equipped with a salt water reel with a thick line on it, right?  We were even more surprised when he told us he'd made this rod himself out of 6 triangular strips. This was my first introduction to a splitcane rod.

He showed us that he'd made the lure himself. It was a tandem spinner, specifically made for catching Pike. Slightly giggly and curious we watched as he began to fish.
My surprise soon became wonder because after only three lures, he had a hit! The first pike was hooked and caught. Shortly after this hit, he already had another hit.

We watched with disbelief while this man caught eight Pikes in only one hour. I was convinced it was because of that great tandem spinner. The fisherman told me, the combination of material and specialized lures made the difference.

To strengthen his story he allowed me to use his rod too for a few minutes. I felt every vibration of the spinner and thus could feel if I was using the right amount of speed. Needless to say, at that moment in my youth, I became as hooked as the fish!
I wanted to fish with such a rod too.

Unfortunately, being only 15 years old I knew I would never be able to afford such gear. So I had to put aside my desire for the time being.

Unbelievably, 20 years later, I met this fisherman, Leen Huisman, again. After a nice conversation, we decided to go on a fishing trip together. And I soon bought my own spinner and fly fishing rod. Since then a good friendship has developed between us.  Now we often go fishing together.

Because I’m a professional woodworker, it wasn’t long until I began wanting to make a splitcane rod myself. Together with Leen's help and using his tapers, experience, and bamboo I made my first splitcane rod, a 3 pieced #5 8'3'' fly fishing rod.

After this first fishing rod I wanted to make myself a different kind of rod, because I like to use a streamer while fishing. So by myself I made a #9, 8'6" fly fishing rod.

This rod was approved by the master himself. He said to me, "the rod has a professional look and lures excellently".  In my opinion this was the best reward I could ever get! And it only fueled my passion to continue building fishing rods.

Building splitcane rods is now one of my favorite pursuits, especially in the winter when there are fewer fishing opportunities. Selling some of my rods allows me to keep pursuing this passion.

Building a rod requires a lot of patience because testing, measuring, re-measuring, baking the bamboo and making a perfect-fitting container must be performed very seriously and careful in order to get an optimal functioning product. Because of this I limit the amount of rods I build to a maximum of eight rods per year.

My opinion is that the best performing rod is the one that catches the most fish.
Therefore, action and quality are my first priority and the beauty of the design comes later. No concessions are made in the design of the rod to give it a better look.

Warranties

These rods are built with the utmost care and personal attention, and can compete with any professionally built fishing rod. The bamboo is split, not serrated. It then get straightened by hand, which makes the fibers run parallel through the strips.
Each strip is made with utmost care and only the best materials are used for it.
Therefore faults, fractures or de-laminations due to improper materials should not occur.

In the highly unlikely event that there is a defect due to workmanship – not through improper usage or negligence of the user - you will get a refund or it will be repaired for you without further cost.