MASSIMO TIROCCHI: PROFILE OF A RODMAKER. Interview by Giorgio Cavatorti

This Article has been published on H2O Magazine - Number 2 summer 2016

Introduction

In Italy there are a loto f people keen on bamboo rods, but just a few can boast of being professional manufactirers, one of them is Massimo Tirocchi. His rods are most appreciated by lovers of wooden rods al lover the world. I have known Massimo for several years, but it wa not until the Somerset Fly Fishing Show (USA) that i realized ho much his work is appreciated
Giorgio: Well, then Massimo, an International reknown bamboo rodmaker based in Abruzzo. It sounds like a joke, isn’t it?
Massimo: Yes, actually it does Giorgio. It makes me smile everytime I think of it, and if you had said it ten years ago, i would have thought you were crazy. Joking aside, I considered it as a new starting point, after 10 years and many many hours spent in the Laboratory among planing forms, chips and dust . Don’t get me wrong. It’s worth the time and I really enjoy it. The rest was the result of a mix of imprudence, sould searching, my wife’s immense patience, that makes me so grateful, and the desire to keep learning. Learning and comparing oneself with the best: these are the main motivations that led me to reguraly attend rodmaking exhibitions especially here in the USA.

Giorgio: How this bet started?

Massimo: it started tanks to a magic mix of fun and passions. The passion for fly fishing and wood working have accompanied me since the early years o! my adolescence. ln 2006 I went fishJng in Tuscany (lt was November and in Abruzzo the trout soason was already closed). Just that weekend, in Tuscany, the first rod making course held by IBRA (ltalian Bamboo Rodmakers Association) was underway. A glance at the room where the course was being hold was enough to make me understand that I would participate by all means the following year. I had mounted blanks of graphite rods before that meeting,however my true rodmaker path began  thanks to IBRA. The first 3/4 years were nothing but apprenticeship, above all in the definition of the type of action I wanted to achieve. Then, in 2011,a fly fishing trip lo Patagoni gave me the chance on one hand; to really check the result of the work I had been done in my first years as a rodmaker hobbyist, and on the other hand to got lo know people that have since then enriched my thecnical knowledge in many ways (one of them is Steve Hoye, who is, in my opinion, one of the masters in the finishings of a fishing rod) and have given me the necessary stimulus to make up my mind and participate in 2012 to my first Somerset Fly Fishing Show. That year Ieft my old job and decided 10 take up the bamboo rodmaking profession. Giorgio, rather than a bet I would call it  a passionate love story that has really changed and, I hope, improved my life.
Giorgio: which of your rods are most appreciated abroad?
Massimo: Just a short introduction useful to understand my approach to taper projectation. I basicly started to develop tapers suitable for the fishing conditions that i have always practiced and known. Living between tha Appennins Mountains, I have always fished in small streams for brown and raimbows Trouts. This choide led me to make fishing tools of variables lenghts from 6’ to 8’ (rarely 9’) for line weight range from 2 to 5. For istance i have never built two haned rods for salmon fishing which i have never done.
Moreover I personally design my Tapers with the goal to carry out progressive fly rods with a middle or fast actions. All results in rods that are in some way well adapted to the tecnique of modern casting, but able to keep the pleasure of fishing with a Bamboo Fly Rod. Most of the orders i receive are order on commission. I talk a lot with my clients in order to understand their expectations, their fishing tastes, their tecnica expertise. Then I suggest them the type of the rod that, in my opinion, best meets their needs. The same could be said for the final dressing of the rod, which can be choosen by the client. Regarding the manufacturing of the fly rods, it’s totally handmade. I only use manual tools and this of course it a choice that doesn’t allow me to make a great number of rods. Each year few pieces come out of the Lab. They are really unique piece each of them is one of a kind. Mostly of the my rods are sold in the US or Nothern Europe
Giorgio: How do you see the wooden rods market?

Massimo: It’s a small market. Also considering the fact that “small” is a relative concept. Let’s take as example the US. There are 11 Milions of persons passionate about Fishing. Among them, those who use classic tackles are a very small minority, but on that big number also a small percentage make a remarkable quantity of potential customers. That’s make of the US market one of the richest one. If we came to Europe numbers get dramaticly low. In any case the Split Cane Fly Rods Market is for sure a niche, and this is also the reason of my choice to work on carrying out few unique pieces each year guarantee high quality work. When I think about.applying machines or standardized labor method to the Split Cane Rods making process, it’s a non sense to me. Nowadays after the great Renaissance of the Bamboo Fly Rods, the number of the Makers skyrocket in few years. The famous book of Garrison/Carmichael has played a major role in this Renaissance. Today in this market we can desume that there is no a big space.
Giorgio: Let’s talk about Fishing; I know that not only you travel a lot abroad, but you often Guide foreigners in Italy. Let’s talk about this activity of yours.
Massimo: Actually I started to travel for fishing only in the last few years. I have always fished in Italy and most of my fishing time was on my local waters in Abruzzo. Some years ago, a client, who then became a very good friend of mine, organized a trip to Rome for his 10th wedding anniversary; being Rome quite close to Abruzzo, he wanted to spend couple of days here for some fishing. So we spent 3 wonderful days in Castel di Sangro, fishing the upper and lower Sangro River. This visit gave rise to a grapevine and every year i accompany some people from abroad to discover not only the fishing here in Abruzzo, but also to discover the hidden jems of this beautiful region. Unfortunately, unlike what happens in other countries.the fishing guide concept is not widespread at all here in Italy. In the Anglo­Sax on world, instead,.it is quite normal looking for a fishing guide. If you add to this the lack of organization on the territory in terms of tourist fishing services, the picture is not encouraging. Of course I’m. talking about Abruzzo, which is the region where I live. Yet local opportunities would not be lacking. Like other regions, we pay the price of our insullicient attention to the preservation of waters and this often implies avoiding to take tourists on the rivers which have now assumed the aspect of drainage channels, if not worse. Fortunately Abruzzo has got potentially execptional rivers such as the Sangro, the Tirino, which is considered by many people one of the most beautiful Chalk Stream in Europe. We have got beautiful Lakes as well. Lake of Scanno, Lake of Villetta Barrea, are among the most famous. Abruzzo also preserves some small streams which still today show their wild orginal appearence like the Giovenco or Aventino. Furthermore, the ltalian Fly Fishing School (SIM) is going into the right direction for starting such processes aimed to start.a touristic process development of the Fishing sector. At the moment the big "sbirkers" are politicians and unfortunately the actual opportunities of developing this tourist industry in Abruzzo in the next years will depend on their choices.
Giorgio: do you think there is any hope for the fishing tourism market in Italy?

Massimo: Definitly Yes! Our country is a considerable touristic destination. Regarding the fishing tourism segment, the Politicians and Local Administrators should change thei approach about this theme starting some politics with the goal of develop a good waters management.What we have said before about Abruzzo waters, is more or less the same on the majority of the National territory, with some exception like Trentino Alto Adige.
Compared to other italian regions, about fishing tourism, Trentino is in the forefront also if it needs to solve some critical issue such as the managing of purifiers, the managing of the dams, as well as to educate people living near this waters, to consider them as a potential vector of development and wellness and so to respect and protect them. If we don’t take this kind of actions aimed to cure our water stream, any effort to develop naturalistic tourism around the water re source, will be without any result. Foreigner have tons of good reasons to come visiting Italy. Cultural, Food, History, Religion.
A good fishing touristic system could be the cherry to put on the cake. I’m sure it would be greatly appreciated especially from nothern americans and nothern europes. Countries like USA, Canada, Norways, Sweden and more, have taken actions on the water management, starting actions aimed to restore the original wildness of their rivers. Dams are being destroyed after evaluating the cost and benefits of this monster. All this it means that Americans, Canadians, Norvegians and Swedish are used to fish on rivers where the quality of water is very high (poor pollution, cured banks and services). It would be a no sense to bring these people fishing in Italy where the rivers show a lower quality level if compared with the places they are used to fish. It could be a kind of boomerang. So the development of fishing touristic sector should walk at the same time with actions aimed to re-naturalize the local streams. Time to go Giorgio. Thank you very much for this beautiful interview. See you next time.