Introduction: Established in the late 1940s by Charles and Ronald Chapman, the family firm of R.Chapman & Co. has been synonymous with the manufacture of bamboo fishing rods and blanks for over fifty years. Throughout the 1950's and 60's the Company introduced many innovative rod designs such as the Peter Stone Ledgerstrike and the Fred.J Taylor Roach Rod both of which have become part of angling history and much sought-after by collectors and traditionalists. The Company was also one of the first to introduce five-strip bamboo fly and coarse rods to the British angler. Today we are in our third generation of family members and still practise the traditional skills of the bamboo rod-maker.
For more see R Chapman & Co - Split Cane Blanks by British Craftsmen
R Chapman 500 De Luxe, three piece rod, two lengths of cane and a detachable handle. This particular rod is in terrific condition. It was fully restored by Watsons in the late 90's and has not been used since. Even the original Chapman bag is mint. Full length is 10 feet, with maroon whippings and widely spaced intermediate whipping. The rod is perfectly straight, ferrules are nice and tight.
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This is a very rare fishing rod, it was made by R. Chapmans & Co, Ware, Herts, the rod is called the "Bayford",it is 13 foot long. Whole cane middle and bottom sections, with a split cane top, the rod needs a varnish has patches where the varnish has peeled off a bit, the rings are all fine.
From R. Chapmans of Ware, The "BEANE" cane rod. Gold early label with no chips and the name "Beane", a Hertfordshire stream made famous as housing Dick Walkers LILY PAD HOLE in Favourite Swims by FJT. It is 10ft 6 inches long with exquisite light action and in cracking condition and new old stock bag.
Chapman Roach Rod Green Whipped Original Condition. A rare Chapman Roach Rod complete with all original green silk whippings and in very good clean condition. The Chapman oval gold label has a slight chip but the letters are all intact. The white mark visible on the pictures above the gold oval label is the residue from some kind of tape or similar, possibly a retailers or name label. The rod is unusual in that it is of whole cane /split cane combination and has a traditional roach style action. The bottom and middle joint are all whole cane and the top joint is 1/4 whole cane - 3/4 split cane. The split cane section has intermediate whippings in green silk. The majority of Chapman rods are all split cane such as the Walker MkIV type rods the 500 and 550. This rod has its original rings throughout and has not been restored or otherwise fiddled with. The butt and tip ring are red agate lined and have no cracks or chips. Perfectly usable the other interesting thing about this rod is that it has no model name. Normally Chapman rods have the model name hand written in indian ink along the blank but not this one, just the oval gold transfer. It is similar to the all split cane and very rare Chapman Arun and may be a variation on that rod. The rod is 12' long in 3 sections, full length, straight, has plain bronzed suction ferrules that fit perfectly, a 19" cork shive handle with turned alloy reel bands and a screwed alloy butt cap. All in all an excellent rod and teams perfectly with an Allcocks Aerial for a spot of trotting. With its original cotton rod bag.
