[SPEAKER_00]: Hey everybody, welcome back to the Mastering Rod Building podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host, Bill Focker, and I am delighted to be joined again with the man by the man, the myth, the legend, Bill Oyster of Oyster Bamboo in Blue Ridge, Georgia.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if you've been paying attention, and I know a lot of you listen to it because the numbers are very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we recorded an episode in early December of 2025, shortly before Aaron low my sales guy and me, along with our buddies Joe and Steve Heywood at HFF custom rods took after much long wait and years of anticipation took the oyster bamboo rod building class in build shop in Blue Ridge, Georgia and so
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, if you haven't listened to that episode, I highly recommend you pause on this one and go listen to that and then listen to this one as a follow on because there's a lot of really, really good information in that, but if you, if you're one of those people like me is bad at following directions bill is has been building bamboo full time professionally 27 years.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's in arguably taught more he and his team have taught more people to build bamboo than anyone else in the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe everybody puts together.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's, uh,
[SPEAKER_00]: commission rods for US presidents state department officials foreign royalty like literally a who's who of anybody.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know this, but I based on my research you've probably got had built as many rods as in terms of an American rod builder in scale is more than anybody out there.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're also a master and graver and kind of as I have come to find a fun guy to hang around and sort of a Renaissance man and in every aspect of the word.
[SPEAKER_00]: So please welcome back.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bill Oyster.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for having me, Bill.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just I literally can't I really almost don't know where to begin and anyone who knows me will tell you I'm rarely speechless, but as we talked about on the first episode, I have thought about taking this class for.
[SPEAKER_00]: more than 10 years.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't remember if it's 12 years or 14 years, but I knew about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had heard about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I never really talked to anybody first person who'd done it and I felt drawn to do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Honestly, I couldn't afford it at first when I was looking at it and then get busy over the years and all this, but finally the opportunity presented itself.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what Aaron and I finally had to do was like, we've been talking about this for three years.
[SPEAKER_00]: If we don't just pay the deposit and lock ourselves in, we're never going to do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what we did.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we we paid it a deposit and said, Cassie, I don't know when we're going to be able to take it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I want to lock myself in and she said, all right, as long as you take it, this was like in 20, late 20, 23, maybe or early 20, 24, and she said, as long as you take it before the end of 25, your deposit's good.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we ended up taking the December 2020, five glass.
[SPEAKER_00]: We kind of skated in under the wire, but I mean, I'm almost overwhelmed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you do this, you do it all the time, but wow, the class is awesome, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it was so unbelievable.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I don't even know where to start.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I guess the first thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I asked Joe and Steve from HFF, and I asked Dusty who was in our class and is a buddy who's taking multiple classes with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this was his third class.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I asked Aaron, my guy, you know, like, what were your impressions?
[SPEAKER_00]: These were my impressions.
[SPEAKER_00]: And everyone, like the first thing out of their mouth said,
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Dusty's a commercial pilot and, you know, has to test pilots and train pilots and do this stuff right like Joe Aaron Steve and I have all taught tons of people how to repair rods, how to build rods now granted that's conventional, you know, non bamboo rods and not always fly rods, but.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just what you guys do in a six day period, how well organized it is, how well-urinized and clean and well equipped the shop is, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Every single tool you're gonna need for every steps right there in your tool chest that your personal bench with an outline around it, so you can put it back in the right place.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm kind of picky like it's not unusual for me to be experiencing things a little bit differently than other people because maybe I'm a little OCD or I go one more decimal place but like the plane blades were sharp, the planning forms were smooth you know what I mean like all these little details all the alcohol burners will full I mean it was just like every every aspect of everything you guys were on it and and we struggle to do a two day workshop.
[SPEAKER_00]: with like entertainment seminars not even like full hands-on instruction seminars and we literally ran six days every single segment of every day right on time we started when you said we're gonna start we ended when you said we were gonna end and we were ready for I mean it's so incredibly well orchestrated and polished.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you are personally a very, very good instructor and your team, uh, Riley and Jacob.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for you guys, you get tons of help in this class.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's sort of like show you once, let you do once with some super vision or I'll show you one more time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you do it and everybody's walking around and checking while you're doing it.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you need correction, you get general very clear read direction, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you sort of work at your own pace.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you fall behind, if you get frustrated, you can say,
[SPEAKER_00]: Riley help me and Riley will help you or Riley will patiently guide you on hey stick with it, you know keep keep here's what you need to do all you did was this one a little too much innocent too little just keep going right.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the amount of like non pressure like very.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's expert instruction, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like you guys, I've seen people that have PhDs and adult education who couldn't teach people as well as you and your team teach this class.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I was so super impressed.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so job well done on that front.
[SPEAKER_00]: It makes me, it's changed way air and I think about how we're setting up some of our events we host and things we teach and how we teach.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, man, how to build and Riley and Jacob teach us all that stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: with so few words right in like right like your y'all's ability and I know you kind of have most of it down wrote at this point you guys know what your cover and who's covering what but like there's not a wasted word and there's no extra words you don't need right and there's the time you a lot for all the tasks was right on.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was very comfortable in the shop.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're so inclined, there might be some really good beer on tap available at all times in some whiskey available time to time, which for me, yes, he's Bill's got his oyster whiskey.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know I have mine that I brought home.
[SPEAKER_00]: literally the only the only bad thing I could say about it is you have beautiful merch.
[SPEAKER_00]: I came home with, I think, two hats and two t-shirts and a long-sleeved embroidered sim shirt and four whiskey glasses and two coffee mugs and a couple of able reels.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we be warned, there's a treasure trove of wonderful things that you might be planning on bringing home that you're very likely.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that never mind what Aaron got to, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So
[SPEAKER_00]: Just hats off to you guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: You said on the last one, we didn't get here overnight.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we constantly tweak it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've been changing it tweaking it, revising it for 20 plus years.
[SPEAKER_00]: Man, it shows.
[SPEAKER_00]: This thing is like a well-oiled machine.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a very technical thing we're taking on and sometimes with customers who are not very technically gifted, sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't.
[SPEAKER_01]: You never know who's going to come through the door and we have to be able to get everybody to the end of the road.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the kind of like you said, we don't waste words and the reason for that is,
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we could talk about these things all day, like we, what we're telling you when we show you how to use a tool or do a step, we could talk about that one step all day.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I, we find that people can actually follow what you're saying.
[SPEAKER_01]: for about 25 seconds before they start to look around the right.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, say you've got to make sure that the words that you are saying are the ones that they're able to absorb and the ones are actually going to help them achieve that step.
[SPEAKER_01]: And each step being broken down to the smallest part of the big picture.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we try not to look at the big picture too much.
[SPEAKER_01]: We try to eat that elephant one step at a time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or one bite at a time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: And, and.
[SPEAKER_01]: and yeah and just like said many many years and many thousands of students at this point of refining you know people come back every year we have students that come once or twice or three or four times a year and every time they come they're like you changed it we didn't do this last time says and but we've always been that way because we're always really
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure I believe on change and haven't grown and I've closely inspected under wonderful light and magnification like some of the rods you had out front.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of which sold during that week while we were in the class but you said you've never turned one out that was absolutely perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure I agree but yeah that you get that sense from being in the class kind of the trying to make it accessible and the
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no hubris about we have this master like we're still everybody's still learning and just it's one thing to say you got all kinds of students from all kind of backgrounds with different levels of experience and technical aptitude and physical aptitude, but then it's another thing to put 10 people in a room and actually do it right and and I just right.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it is so distilled to what you need and nothing you don't and just for the audience like the typical instruction is okay, here's the next step we're going to do here's how why we do this here's why it's necessary here's how you do it here's what not to do go you know and we're going to walk around and help and then you show it you don't just say it you show it anybody you know questions when I see it again okay go you know it's a very.
[SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't matter whether you're an auditory learner visual learner learned by doing like you get a chance to do it and and and I'm the last one's going to argue with you about anything but I was a little bit shocked at how like the next step we're going to I was going to talk about is the class right so.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had two people in our class.
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked about this in the first podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess I'll just go to this point as an next point.
[SPEAKER_00]: I went into seeing focus very much on learning how to build a bamboo fly rod.
[SPEAKER_00]: And hopefully coming out at the end with something that was functional that I was proud of.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a faith accompli like that everybody did that and and your sort of description of the average class and who comes and takes these classes and how do you guys how are you signed up two years in advance at all times when you teach so many classes our class was like that it's a 10 people in a class half of our class this was their second or more class right.
[SPEAKER_00]: And of those people, so, and I'm just going to, this is how personal it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: I never expected to make these fast friends for life with the people that were in our class, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I knew for the people going, actually five of the people going in, I knew, but we have stayed in touch, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: We had Chuck and Lisa.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had Sandy and Judy, Dusty, Nicholas.
[SPEAKER_00]: Joe Steve Aaron and me and like by by the end of maybe the second day it's remarkable is just like a study of psychology when you all come in with something in common and shared goals like it's easy to get along but right the class was such a cool joy to be with like I made friends in the class and while I'm still in touch with those folks right like I'll probably be in touch with members of that class for as long as we're alive.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I never counted on that right like I never counted on but but it makes and I'd say well, we're all raw builders and we're all fishermen but like two of the ladies who came and took the class And I love these ladies.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't you I never know whether people want me to use their names or not, but we'll use code name, Sandy and code name, Judy and we'll reveal no other identifying, you know information about them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not only had never built a rod had never fly fish before.
[SPEAKER_00]: But said, hey, I have access to this stretch of the river with this new place where I moved And I feel like it's something cool for me to get into so I'm gonna try it And I remember coming looking around there and be like, well, gosh, you're kind of starting at the top of the mountain Are you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, she'd a great and then her friend who came with her was like, yep I don't do this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if it's an about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm that friend You can call who's always down to do whatever will come go with you and she wasn't joking like she just like Sign up and took the class
[SPEAKER_00]: And they did great, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, their rods were beautiful and they enjoyed it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now they're probably, they bought beautiful able reels.
[SPEAKER_00]: They got custom engraving on their rods and the reels.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was just such an interesting thing to hang out with the class.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so like I think our class was probably an example of people who've taken the class multiple times some of them others who had never taken it but had rod building experience and were anglers still others who had no rod building experience but were anglers and then we have people who had none of anything and everybody built an actual beautiful functional rod I mean that's the other thing and I think
[SPEAKER_00]: I think surprised me, and I don't mean this in any way, but you mentioned it, it's highly technical, it's a lot of work, it's at least as easy to get wrong and as it is to get right, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But you all make it so easy with such established guard rails, and let me be clear, you are building your own rod, you are doing every step.
[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't bill builds it for you, and you just sort of watch and touch and sign, and you know, have a step here and there.
[SPEAKER_00]: you're doing it and everybody in the past did it and it was I was just so impressed how well everybody did without any kind of prior experience and again to me that's a credit to you guys in your instruction and how well you structure every aspect of it, how well equipped it is and how well lit it is and how comfortable you are and the pacing and the timing like
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a hell of a lot of fun, you know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, yeah, you have all people probably know.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm sure for Riley and Jacob and you're this lovely young woman who engraves that he packs in, we could talk that engravings a whole other subject.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm sure sometimes it's work for you guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know sometimes Rod Building gets to be work for me, especially if I'm under a deadline or something, or even as we think about all the steps you got to do, there are steps I personally enjoy doing more than others.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's some that are work and there's some that like I never get tired of doing this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love this part.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I kind of assume it's kind of the same for you and for Riley and for Jacob, but in for Paxon, but man, it didn't feel that way, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels like passionate people, artisans like labor of love who love the teach and are enjoying every step of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we honestly genuinely had fun the whole time.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_01]: If you have to work for a living, this is the place you want to work.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it could be worse, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there's a lot worse places.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, worse ways to make a living, no doubt.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and your folks who work with you, I mean, Paxton, her craving is absolutely beautiful.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Riley and Jacob are very capable.
[SPEAKER_00]: They built our second tips if you elect for a second tip, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked about some of the options that people can do.
[SPEAKER_00]: You just don't have time to get it done.
[SPEAKER_00]: And really, like sitting down at the end,
[SPEAKER_00]: They're basically watching what I'm doing as I'm wrapping and flaming and every step of the way and they're making a tip.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's make it as close to where you can't discern which one was mine, which one was theirs.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't believe that's not an easy task right like making a match set is way harder than making one right right but they nailed it man.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean it was crazy like I if they weren't marked and I knew I wouldn't have I don't think I would have been able to tell which one was mine except for mine out of maybe a few more discernible noticeable errors on it you
[SPEAKER_00]: So how do you know those guys were so fascinating to me and they're both so skilled too like they're a huge part of the team right like they're they're there with us everyday they're working constantly they're both excellent instructors right yeah I think you
[SPEAKER_00]: You got lucky when you picked them trained them molded them whatever you did.
[SPEAKER_00]: How are you got to this point?
[SPEAKER_00]: And of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mission Cassie.
[SPEAKER_00]: Cassie does all the logistics along with your wife Manages the lodging manages logistics deposits finances rings you out at the end all that like it's just lovely super organized Super fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: It just the whole thing was it was like a week of vacation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I feel weird saying that because we did work hard and there was
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what equity in it, but it was so fun, like it was, it's one of the coolest things I've ever done in rod building and I, here's probably all I need to say, we're already signed up for a 2027 class.
[SPEAKER_00]: We, we signed up for another class before we left, right, and there's several of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there's like five or six of us that signed up for the same date in that class.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, oh, you're all this is so much fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's do this again, you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we end up eating lunch together and eating dinner together and hanging out in the shop afterwards together.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe some of us are through first and others are taking longer.
[SPEAKER_00]: We all just kind of hang out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I must have thrown the ball for the dog 10,000 times in the week, which I enjoyed very much, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Pepper and joy is that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, pepper, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: It takes a lot to wear pepper out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I'm going to put the shoulder in rehab after that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sit on a stool and throw the ball.
[SPEAKER_00]: She loves classroom.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's her.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I wouldn't shoot man.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a great week.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a funny picture of her.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll post it when we post this like the very first morning of the very first day.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm all just kicked up, kicked up, ready to go and like almost vibrating with energy right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Never just kind of walks out in the shot.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just just like, you know, I like it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And first thing, the first icebreaker for all of us was loving on the dog and learning the dog's name and talking to the dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Which was cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Be engraving.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was, I mean,
[SPEAKER_00]: I've watched, I have looked at lots of your engraving.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have a beautiful gallery on your website.
[SPEAKER_00]: But one of the things that happens in your shop, if you're in Blue Ridge and you want to go see or you're interested in buying a rod from Bill, you are a master engraver, packs and is a master engraver.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you guys actually will sit in the shop and work and you have these TV displays showing you do the work.
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess I sort of understood the finished project but until I get to watch you several different times over a day or two, put the face of someone's dog, you know, high relief engraving or a shape and a proportion I'm super familiar with like a red dish.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like a redfish eaten a fly in motion in deep relief, it's fascinating to watch the process of how engravers in gray, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And you guys are like open book, like you can sit there and watch that whenever you're doing it as much as you want.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_01]: You get to see it all happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot of people are surprised.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're like, oh, so, you know, what machine do you put this in?
[SPEAKER_01]: Or do you program that in my, man, we're cutting it a line by a line.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, yeah, I slice it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I, and I wouldn't have felt bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like if you somehow did like a laser outline and then you went to work on it for the relief or something like I wouldn't even have felt like that was cheating, but you guys are literally free handing it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to post some pictures from some of the work that was done in our class.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was hoping you could do my Falcon head of the my Fogner Custom Rods logo.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's child's play for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you did one of the ladies the face of her dog and it's like a it's like a was it a long-haired schnauser?
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't remember what exact sweet dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't remember what kind of dog it was but she brought a photo and the likeness is uncanny.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean and you're reproducing this
[SPEAKER_00]: on the nickel silver butt cap of a four-weight fly rod.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's a tiny canvas.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was like, right, she was like in tears.
[SPEAKER_00]: She was like, it's perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's like, Gally, it is perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like it looks exactly like, you know, like, I know what my kids look like.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not gonna fool me.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how much this thing looked like her dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, that is her dog, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't just a dog that generally shared the shape and expression of her dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was so impressed with that, and I think every single person in the class opted for engraving in our class.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's kind of given that way pretty much everybody gets some engraving.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Most classes these days, everybody's opting for the extra tip, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: The things that we offer, like the engraving, the extra tip, the different upgrades, they're not really, I mean, they're good for us,
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not a sales pitch.
[SPEAKER_01]: These are things we know for years and then people kept coming to us and they're like I saw this on your website.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want that on and for years I had to just be like I literally not enough hours in the day We can't do that, you know, that's just for our custom rods
[SPEAKER_01]: right, but it took us a long time to grow the business slowly and carefully to the point we have enough manpower now, that we can accomplish those things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and some people want everything, some people want the basics.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and the fact that whatever you want, you were able to do that during the class, during the week while we're doing the class, I mean, it's like changing the tire while the car's on the highway, like we show up the first day, and I want to be clear
[SPEAKER_00]: There is no hard sell, there is no pressure, there's no nothing.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is just like, hey, here's a high level overview of what the schedule's going to look like.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to have a few decision points.
[SPEAKER_00]: So just day one, I'm going to warn you, decision point on engraving is here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Decision point on way of the rod is here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very clear, like when you, until you have time to think about it, you have time to look at prices, you have time to do whatever you want to do, make thoughtful choices about what you
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't think of a higher endorsement than basically everyone who is in our class is going to do the class again.
[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that by the time it was time to decide on the engraving, every single person decided they wanted engraving on their rod.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you don't need to say anything else, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's strong.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's like a hundred percent net promoter score, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I'd recommend it to my friends.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was so expensive.
[SPEAKER_01]: The repates are, it's been growing.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, every year we have more and more students around in 240 folks a year, through here.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're getting more and more people exposed.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the number of repates is growing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Used to be like one in ten and then it was two in ten.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then three and now we're at a pretty average where it about half the class, like you experienced, yeah, is repeat.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's growing every year.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like the right we're going, there's hardly going to be room for new people to get in because we'll just like you did.
[SPEAKER_01]: people will pay on their way out the door and they'll deposit for their next one on the way I get it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why wouldn't you man?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's such an awesome experience.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll even get a chance since so the hardest part a hardest part about these classes is getting in it and getting in here and it's hard and I understand it is hard to take a week out of your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come and do this and it's the unknown and you have to travel be away from your family and your job and you don't have to bring your family to the class but them in the class with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't, um, yeah, it's I get why people like it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just it's it's not just building a rod and walking out the door with the finished rod.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a whole other thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an experience really it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the class camaraderie.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's getting to know you guys and your staff and I don't know you just leave feeling like a part of the family.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how to describe it other than that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what you've experienced is the thing that you only get having been here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you'll see if you look at our website, there's no mention of any of these things you're raving about really, there's no mention of it because it's not the sort of thing that you can really convince people of, you know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like the people that
[SPEAKER_01]: come here the first time they usually come for different reasons than the reason they come back.
[SPEAKER_01]: They come the first time about the rod, the technicality of it, you know, the craftsmanship, the project, the challenge of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the reality is the reason we have people that come
[SPEAKER_01]: 30 times over and over and over again.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a little here for not a month.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come 50 times Yeah, it's really nothing about that the rods so much as the experience of the look and that's just something that you just have to kind of experience for yourself to
[SPEAKER_00]: It's true.
[SPEAKER_00]: I get it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's true.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I said these things, if you told me these things, it'd kind of be a little cynical and be like, sure, but I keep it, you know, look, come on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't sit at home by myself with no friends all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't need a place to belong or a family to attach to, like, come on, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you think I'm a loser?
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you go and you look for people, like, we're like tearing up and hugging each other and exchanging contact information and like, which one of you, which class do you sign it up for next, you know?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, it's really cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was, and maybe this is just me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have spent some time back in the day when I was in college in Nashville.
[SPEAKER_00]: We would have October fest in Helen Georgia was a thing, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I have fished around big canoe and some of those areas before and fished the squee before and all.
[SPEAKER_00]: But oh my gosh, Blue Ridge is not the Blue Ridge.
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember from, you know, I don't know whether people who are there as residents think that's a good thing or bad thing, but I mean, so many sorry, so many good restaurants, such great shopping like, yeah, in looking back if I could, I might bring my spouse just because she'd have fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know having a cup of coffee watching the sun come up over the mountains every day go into town shop have a great lunch like it's it's you're not Captive you know what I mean and that was the other thing I think I didn't expect like we had very comfortable lunches every day We had real full on great dinners every night and it didn't it didn't rush the process like we had plenty of time and it wasn't
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't stressed.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: It was it was it was well in hand and under control.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the only the only time that I was uncomfortable in the class was when day one, when you take a butt section of a bamboo rod and jump up and down on it, it was like, no.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you really threw up.
[SPEAKER_00]: I look over to Aaron like turned beat red.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, oh my gosh.
[SPEAKER_00]: But but that's that's kind of the other big epiphany for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And even I talked about this and I thought I got it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I thought I was understanding, but I think so many of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: think of Bamboo as arcane and antiquated and traditional and sort of quaint and interesting in a in a technical mastery in historical throwback kind of a way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: These rods will fish.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm a little so I ended up building an eight-way which
[SPEAKER_00]: Riley and Jacob and Bill in the crew can walk you through how to select what rod you want.
[SPEAKER_00]: Essentially the short version bill is right.
[SPEAKER_00]: You'd say like fish is like one line weight lighter in a carbon fiber rod, basically.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So obviously with modern materials, techniques, machinearies, these rods produce greater and greater power.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're more fish.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now we're going back to the horse and buggy days in the class.
[SPEAKER_01]: So things just slow down a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we tend to go up a line weight in the rod we choose to take fishing then you would in a graphite of modern right so but you can either you line maybe so so even though your line maybe moving a little slower through the air it's got to carry a little more mass so you're getting the same amount of energy you're used to getting out of your rod.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're fish and rods.
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, I failed my one assignment, which is have good pictures of me with something really impressive on my rod.
[SPEAKER_00]: That has not happened yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have not been able to other fish with it yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've only cast it and stuff, but it's.
[SPEAKER_00]: I sort of can't believe I built that.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and I'm a rod builder.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like this is this is a tool.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like this thing is going to I'm going to catch some bass and red fish on this thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: No doubt.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's very capable.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like.
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess in my mind, I almost would have taken the class just so I had this artifact of the process, but I got a tool, I got a fish and rod now, and I'm going to fish it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm based on everything we learned in the class and how robust the construction techniques are.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not worried about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I'm going to take care of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to abuse it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You never should abuse your gear.
[SPEAKER_00]: This thing will fish, and I'm not scared about using it, which I think, going in, I thought, well, I'll probably sort of take it out and show it to people
[SPEAKER_00]: and it's perfectly capable of being fished hard.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just take good care of it, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, what people forget was for over a century.
[SPEAKER_01]: This was all there was.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every fish caught on a fly rod was on a bamboo fly rod for over a hundred years.
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... and then uh... graphite rods came along and uh... wonderful tools not knocking yeah later more powerful less expensive they're they're wonderful available for the masses but but that in no way negates bamboos uh... relatively as a fishing rod
[SPEAKER_01]: right you know what I mean salt water fly fishing was invented on bamboo fly right so not graphite rods yep uh you know those guys joe brooks saw those old guys out there in the keys catchers yeah yeah yeah they were fishing bamboo rods because that's all there was yeah and they work and for mice
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, for myself, I was a Fisherman before I was ever a Rodmaker, and I got a million fish on graphite rods, and I loved them, but once I started making bamboo rods, I realized this is now the, once I started the business, I was like, this is the only rod I can use now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, I can't be that hypocrite who's out there fishing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I, right, say your Orvis or Winston, right, and then selling people.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I, so if these weren't functional fishing tools, yeah, I will
[SPEAKER_01]: wouldn't do it because it's the only thing that I fish and I fish the big tarp in I fish per me fish the bone fish I fish trout obviously we have trout in our back door we can get in the car and six hours be fishing for tarp in red fish and bamboos all I use and again you have some awesome footage of this stuff if there's any doubters like go on YouTube and and just Google
[SPEAKER_00]: the these are very capable functional instruments like you said and it's so interesting to me people ask me all the time like I don't I can tell you for sure build that I get a huge charge out of waiting in the river and catching a trout on a fly I tied with a rod that I built you know what I mean like maybe even a leader I furled or tied up myself you know I don't I don't
[SPEAKER_00]: Somehow being involved in the preparation, I don't know what caveman part of my brain that scratch is, but it just increases the engagement somehow if you are a rod builder and you have ever felt that way about a fiberglass or carbon fiber or composite rod that you spun up buddy wait until you make a bamboo rod it is literally like the next order of magnitude.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean, like sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel even more drawn to this rock myself just poured out and looking at it and for a while, I could still smell the varnish from the first when I'd pulled out the tube.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's unfortunately that sort of ate it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's there's no more fumes in there for me, but the level of like investment in it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's personal.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's one.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an end of one that I made in your shop with you guys on this state.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't it's hard to explain.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not trying to sound like a silly old romantic, but like the peel of this rod to me and I've built thousands of rods.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just different.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure I fully understand why that is, but it's different in a very, very positive way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you know what, it's way that I think about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
[SPEAKER_01]: And for some reason, that's what you hang over your fireplace mantle and your originality.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's something about the traditional craft of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's it's not that it's technically better in any way.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just that it's
[SPEAKER_01]: It's got the history in it, the romance, the artistry of it, the craftsmanship of it, and to just go from taking a raw material that just grew on a hillside and then turning it into this magnificently beautiful fishing tool is just the orders of magnitude beyond the most precise thing you can make on a machine with a computer.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that's it.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's really well said.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you've ever felt that level of engagement, because you tied your own fly or wrapped your own rod, like it is that, and I'm telling you in order to magnitude it is so significant.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just have a whole new appreciation for the durability and the thoughtfulness of this solid bamboo.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good.
[SPEAKER_00]: blank assembly you know what I mean it's a very very sound way to make fish and rods right and and you kind of don't get that until you do it like I kind of described it to you in detail but it's like oh I get it now you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the worst thing, honestly, the worst thing that I can hear about bamboo rods, the thing that bothers me the most is an attitude that this is somehow of the leadist or stuffy or European and and to hear like a young guy that's just like, you know, I just, you know, I want.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like you're, this is an American invention when this was state of the art in the 1800s, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: But this was something as the American flyfisher's, this is our heritage.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is our biggest contribution to flyfishing as an American angler that this country has is a bamboo flyer.
[SPEAKER_01]: it's what was copied by all the rest of the world and was the standard and it's it's important part of our history and this is not some kind of stuffy, elitist thing
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, you know, and I hate when people think of it, like this is this is a beautiful romantic, fun way to go fishing, catch fish, take your kid fishing, go fishing with your friends, it just enhances the experience that happens about it is not about the dollar signs and, uh, and the, the leadism, the arrogance, no, there was none of that mentality, so none of that in the class either, I mean, that
[SPEAKER_00]: there's none of that none at all and I agree I think and look I mean the only thing I'd saying counterpoint is I've met some people that are in the bamboo rods and that describes them accurately and I don't ever want to be around them or fish with them ever again but that's not at all what I don't know to be around them right yeah that's nothing to do with bamboo right that's there's some other issues yeah those are guys that got into it for the wrong reason exactly that's not what we're about here
[SPEAKER_00]: No, you know, it's not what you're about and you feel that with every fiber you're being when you're in the class, I mean, I just it was so I'm still sort of I'm still thinking about the experience of trying to say, okay, how do I become a better instructor, what can we take from this when we try to teach people other aspects of rod building it was such an interesting mix of
[SPEAKER_00]: high tech and simple, complex and logical.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, you know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like it's such an interesting process.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't, and there's something to be said, even if something candy mass produced.
[SPEAKER_00]: there's something to be said for understanding and having the knowledge of how to do it with your own hands.
[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe that doesn't appeal to everybody, but how many how many guide feet have I dressed 100,000, but to do it with a diamond file by hand, you know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, is it different?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe that's part of the attachment you feel to the rod is just the investment.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as I look at every part of it, I don't just see
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't just see a note.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think of all the steps we went through to file and flat nodes and how you got the techniques you showed us to keep wine straight when you're splitting right in the wrong way.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I mean, it's just like it's all in there.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's almost like a memory instead of with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: If one is a digital photograph, this has sights and sounds and smells and feelings.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just really, I'm really glad I did it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to do it again.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would again, if you're even thinking about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what else to say other than do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Stop thinking about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Find away, pick a date, go to it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You absolutely will not regret it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just be warned.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to jump up and down on a beautiful butsection of a bamboo rod.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if that's the kind of thing that, you know, makes you cringe as it does me be ready for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be fine.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to spoiling the ending.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be fine.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't do it if I thought it wasn't going to be
[SPEAKER_00]: No, you know it's gonna be fine.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't imagine how many times you've done it, but you've probably jumped on bamboo rots, more times than I've jumped, but it's, yeah, it was, that one stuck out to all of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: That one came up in the comments when I was asking people, like, what do you remember at the class?
[SPEAKER_00]: What would you say about it?
[SPEAKER_00]: So, awesome, just awesome stuff, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you guys class next week.
[SPEAKER_01]: last week class last week so we're back to the grind now we had a few weeks break from the classes during the holidays there and now we're back to making the rods and we we we're making rods now we I think we took 10 deposits for new custom rods this morning oh wow busy day today for us
[SPEAKER_01]: considering the small number of rods we can actually get out and then yeah we're back to the class again next week we've got we've got a couple extra guys that help us in between the weeks so we didn't get the customer odds out but we had filled the rack I don't know if you saw when you were here I can't remember how full it was but
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it had three or four in there when we started and it only had a couple and they were sold, but not gone by the time we were done.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got a lot of extra full again.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, we're back down to one again.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so sorry, Bill.
[SPEAKER_00]: What a terrible problem.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've never had for the weary.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, it's not a problem.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a problem I can complain about, but nobody'd want to hear it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But hey, man, I'm here for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: The problem to have, but it's still a problem.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: You guys do a ton of work in the really elaborate and artistic and of course custom engraved Abel and Hardy and other reels too, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So again, you can put whatever real you want to put on this rod.
[SPEAKER_00]: What you do find is the feeling the balance of these is a little bit different and Bill and his crew.
[SPEAKER_00]: have a ton of experience obviously with reels that tend to balance and fit and go really well with the bamboo rods and they have a lot of that stuff available there although they had a lot less of it by the end of our class week and they started with which I think it's typical too, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's yeah, that was kind of a fun aspect of it and and look to be able to hang a specific reel on your rod and see how the balance feels, see how the cosmetics look.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, the other thing is just, the benefit of you doing this is not that you're just going to get to pick your thread color, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you get to pick how you get to pick your grip shape, you get to pick your actual wood insert, you get to pick your pick the color of your hardware.
[SPEAKER_00]: You get to decide how much you want to flame your cane.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's lots of ways from light to medium to dark or tiger stripe, the tortoise show, whatever you want to, I mean, there's so many, there's so many things where you get to decide and
[SPEAKER_00]: I knew that was the case, but I came out of it feeling like it was so much more.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're absolutely going to finish.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your rod is absolutely going to be sound, but it is not an assembly line.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, everybody built.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we had two people who built eight foot nine weights.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's where the similiaries ended.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like nothing, it is not an assembly line.
[SPEAKER_00]: We just show up and you're, because I've seen that with classes too, like everybody's going to build exactly the same rod, just out of practicality.
[SPEAKER_00]: So everything fits, we can pre-reame, we can pre-fit, we can pre-glue.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you're literally, it's a blank canvas when you walk in on day one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, and that was really cool to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was never sold as anything different to me, but I don't know if I just assumed there would be some standardization or something or some limits, but there really wasn't from from any aspect of it to the engraving, you're part, this is a completely personal rod.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, but we're starting with a big big piece of grass, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, the skies, the limit there.
[SPEAKER_01]: We just worked till we reach a fork in the road and then we all choose our paths from there and do we at the next ones?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it was awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just, I'm just so impressed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm still like processing it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was so cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, for me and Aaron, we already signed up for our next class, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think Chuck and Lisa are in that class.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Joe and Steve are committed to going to a class.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, um,
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, job well done and thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was so fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was so neat.
[SPEAKER_00]: I promise.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like such a slacker.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're sitting here and it's sort of middle of February and I don't have a fish on my rod yet, but I'm going.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to do that and I'm going to send it to you guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: I promise.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's going to be a super happy day.
[SPEAKER_00]: In a way, it's sort of like it's building.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm I'm seriously thinking about we have some
[SPEAKER_00]: There's people who will tell you you can only catch snapper and water deeper than x, but we have some places where we fish where they will come up shallower, and especially once you start catching a few fish, they'll come up and I'm like, I don't know, maybe a red snapper, trigger fish might be the first fish on the new flyer, that'd be pretty exotic that'd be the only kid on my block to do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm trying to come up with something a first catch opportunity worthy of for some reason I don't want to just go catch a blue go in a ditch by the side of the road.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I would be dishonoring the rod somehow or I don't know this is worthy of some feet of the handling accomplishment, you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I look forward to seeing when you do finally get it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll get it done.
[SPEAKER_00]: I promise, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: And just thank you so much.
[SPEAKER_00]: It has been such a pleasure to get to know you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And thank you to your wife and thank you to Cassie and thank you to Paxton and thank you to Jacob and Riley, just what an incredible experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have a very special team.
[SPEAKER_00]: Y'all do a very cool thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think you get that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you feel it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel I left feeling like when he met us at the door day one with a big smile on his face He knew exactly what was gonna happen, but we just didn't believe it until we went through it You know, so I just count myself very fortunate to have gotten to go through that and and look forward to doing it again And I just I'm out of thumbs for thumbs up, man I there's literally and I'd love to offer constructive criticism.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't suggest a single thing to make it better or to
[SPEAKER_00]: to fix it or improve it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Literally.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't, after six days, I can't think of a thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, one thing I will tell you, this is kind of cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: On the last day of your class, and I'm not ruining anything because the day you walk in, you'll see kind of a laminated card of generally what the schedule looks like and how the week goes because people are going to ask if you don't tell them.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's local, there's a local fishing operation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, that for Varnish Day, which is your last day, that's the only day where class isn't kind of continuous.
[SPEAKER_00]: You go in the morning, you go in the afternoon, you go in at night because you've got to dip the Varnish and let it dry between coats and sand, if necessary, and go to your next coat, like it's a process thing, but these guys hold open.
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't book on those days because of the relationship they have with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you can go out and fish with these guys locally and I was shocked how good the fish and was and we had tough low water conditions and it was By y'all standards and their standards it was not great fishing, but it was absolutely worth doing and a cool eight of spend your
[SPEAKER_00]: a cool way to spend your, your afternoon while you're waiting for your finish to dry literally, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So is it a blurry janglers or is that the, I haven't, I should have prep before I got on the call with you, but um, big creek, I think.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, I think.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so if you do take the class like I recommended, I, I do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was well worth the time and money and the fish and was good and the guys were great.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, and they,
[SPEAKER_00]: They know the drill.
[SPEAKER_00]: They know exactly who we are and why we're there and sort of are able to tailor what they do.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is kind of an interesting program where they've sort of wrapped this supplementary service around your schedule and your class, you know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: That was for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was two thumbs up.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had a we fish John had a great day.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was awesome, highly recommended.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you if you want to spend your time that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, as Riley and Bill and Cassie and everybody were to eat, they already know.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you can either go try to figure it out or you can just ask them from the beginning and trust their recommendations.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got a lot of great options.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's really cool down.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like we move on to say we moved here for the fishing of the Tacoma River.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... it was uh... and it was previously even better than it is these days there's not a lot of fisheries that are improving right uh... but but this is the trout capital of Georgia this this county that we're in and we've got 4,000 miles of trout streams within driving distance here in North Georgia but uh... but the town itself has just
[SPEAKER_01]: exploded in the restaurants, the shops that on a weekend on a during the week you guys are here there'll be a few hundred people walking around town later that or my 10,000 right walking through town so yeah and they all come for a different reasons than you guys are here so you guys also get to experience why everybody else comes too yeah well we were well fed and watered I was
[SPEAKER_00]: Didn't think we're at any risk of starving to death, but we had some great meals.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it was it was again, it just supplemented the experience, you know, it was I would have been happy if I had to eat fast food every night.
[SPEAKER_00]: I still would have done it, but it is far cry from that right.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was really good.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the shopping was really good.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a whole experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've got a really special thing going there.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was very cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm grateful to have been a part of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I will come back and be a part of it again.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you want to be part of it, all you got to do is Google Oyster Bamboo.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's right.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you'll go right to their website.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have done such a brilliant job of answering so many questions, all the logistics, the schedule, how it works.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the only the only urgent message I would give people is.
[SPEAKER_00]: we did December 2025, we booked first available, and I think it was April of 27, or August of 27, maybe August of 27.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they booked two years out for a good reason, get on that list quick, and just don't think about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Get on the list, book your deposit, and I promise by the time it rolls around, you'll thank me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Bill, thank you, and please, on behalf of,
[SPEAKER_00]: you get to accept the thanks on behalf of the whole team but please tell everybody i said hi and and make sure make sure Riley knows he can have he just has to call me if he wants anything food you i can get it for him we i need to follow up with him but uh i'm gonna be his guy i owe him he helped me out tremendously during the week and i really enjoyed his company so absolutely we appreciate you guys coming
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for having us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: I look forward to the next one.
[SPEAKER_00]: So thanks so much for your time and thanks everybody for listening.
[SPEAKER_00]: Please remember to like and subscribe and download wherever you get your podcast content.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to get awesome oyster bamboo shirts like Bill and I are are wearing made with the best of intentions in Blue Ridge, Georgia.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can find those on the website too.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll see you next time here on the mastering rod building podcast.
[UNKNOWN]: You