Parker-like...

[Kent Nickerson]

Many hours to make....by hand....good wood...skilled engineering...elegant design...not anything better in this world for accomplishing what it was designed to do....
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/bluetoon/jenkinsrod.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/bluetoon/leopard.jpg

[Dean Romig]

Great photos Kent. Looks like an Alaskan Rainbow. . . how far off is my guess?

Who made that pretty rod?

[Kent Nickerson]

The rod was made by Charles Jenkins about 36 years ago...I think his son is still making them just like his dad did...

The rainbow is from a spring creek in Idaho...here's another big boy poking his nose up at me the same day...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/bluetoon/noses.jpg

[Dean Romig]

I hope you put the camera down and sent a hopper or a dun out to him :)

[Kent Nickerson]

The great thing about this place in October is that one only needs two patterns....Blue Wings in 20 and Gray Drakes in 10. When the drakes come floating down they look like big sailboats and the big noses start poking up and sipping. My only problem is my hands get to shaking when I have to retie...I sort of like it that big rising trout still do that to me after 50 years! Don't like dropping the flybox, though...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/bluetoon/portrait.jpg

[Dean Romig]

I feel your pain - The evening spinner fall, which commences at about dusk is murder on these old eyes. I can barely see my fly drifting down the riffle (one would say "just lift the rod tip when you see a rise" but there is such a feeding frenzy that I couldn't begin to say which one had taken my fly) and it is such an exciting time that I always pop one off on the hook-set . . . then I can't see to tie one back on. I use magnifyers on my hat brim and a light too but I'm shaking so badly it is usually hopeless. Oh, did I mention I will have already released a few two and three pounders? Can we experience deep satisfaction and sheer frustration at the same time?? I think so :)

[Francis Morin]

[QUOTE=Kent Nickerson;6935]The rod was made by Charles Jenkins about 36 years ago...I think his son is still making them just like his dad did...

The rainbow is from a spring creek in Idaho...here's another big boy poking his nose up at me the same day...
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/bluetoon/noses.jpg[-- Jenkins rods are first rate, as are the R.L. Winstons (especially the Stoner-Merrick ones made in San Francisco) the Gary Howells (who apprenticed with Doug Merrick) the Grangers- both the Goodwin Grangers and the later Wright & McGill Grangers, the rods favored by writer John Gierach made by various Western makers-- some one once said that if Winstons and Grangers had been made in the Highland Mills-Central Valley upstate NY area instead of out in the Western areas, they would have had the 'cachet' ascribed to the pre-fire Leonards and the Jim Payne rods-was your rod refinished over the course of its 36 years? It looks very clean with impeccable wraps and varnish?
Do you alternate the tips when out for a full day's fishing? rotate it 180 degrees to spread the load stress of a heavy fish against the spline of the rod shaft- the late Paul Young advocated doing that I believe- what reel and type of line do you use with this fine rod??:bowdown:

[Bruce Day]

I have a new rod made by C W and Steve Jenkins, same quality workmanship as always. I'll post photos when I get back.

[Kent Nickerson]

My finest friend, the late Art Carter wrote about this Jenkins rod in his book Sporting Craftsmen many years ago....it went something like "my friend has seriously used it and frankly abused it....". yes, I do alternate tips, I have waxed it infrequently, I have cast shot with it, I have double hauled big wet muddlers with it... dredged big nymphs with it. I have never turned it backwards to reel in a fish. It has never been refinished. No sets. Only one hook gouge in the double burgundy tip....just a little one. (I am older now and do not do any of these abusive things anymore). I fish hardy lightweight reels...nothing sounds like a Hardy when a good fish takes off..and they look like trout reels to me. I am confident that when I die my daughter will fish this rod. She is infatuated with Winston now. Plastic ones. I think she'll get over it. She did manage to settle in a place I like...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/bluetoon/roadto.jpg

[Dean Romig]

A friend brought a cane rod to me to try to put a value on it. When I removed it from it's tube and looked at the name on the rod I jumped up and went to my library and returned with a book by John Gierach wherein he ascribes the value of this rod as "worth about the same today as when it was new . . . less than $100." Yup, you guessed it - a Horrocks-Ibbotsen . . . but a very nice one :rolleyes:

[David Lien]

Kent: Next time that you are on those HALLOWED WATERS in October you should bring your Parker. You are only 30 miles from some fair Chukar hunting (wild birds) big walks, but you can find them most of the time. You can come in September and find Sage grouse only 50 miles away. Two lane roads and few people, and few places to stay. That is most likely the reason for the hunting opportunities. Silver Creek has a special magic that I find no where else in the area. Maybe you found it too???? That fyl rod might enjoy the south fork of the snake river also. Is That Caribou Mountian (east of Soda Springs) in the background of your photo??? Good Luck David

[Kent Nickerson]

David....alas, it's not the fabulous Silver Creek....but a very wonderful place nonetheless....which I promised my daughter's friend who first took me there I would not blabber on about...location wise anyway! I too love the South Fork...in my next life I think I'll live in Swan Valley and fish dry every day.
I have taken my Parker out west...but the birds on the flats and in the hills near my creek are grouse of several kinds....including the Ruffed kind ...in numbers. Maybe I'll change my next life venue and shoot grouse every day and learn how to hit them more often than miss them!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y298/bluetoon/tetoon.jpg

[David Lien]

Kent: You keep that secret with your daughters friend. That is important in this part of the world. You should know that there are "creatures" that live in the south fork that will try to do serious harm to that old Jenkins. They hang out up by the dam. The last time I stepped into that water I had my steelhead rod and came out second best. Fall creek, any time after July a grasshopper right on the surface, about a #8. Locals will fill in the blanks. Lots of fun. I first fished the South Fork with my father when they were building the dam (Mid 50s). The dam made for the big fish. Now we have Cheney and the Rockefellers and all the black Suburbans.YUK! When there you are 2 1/2 Hrs. from the Beaverhead River near Dillon Mont., and fall fishing is a real experience, and I will bet that old Jenkins would have fun too. A very good fly shop in downtown Dillon. Hand tyed flys # 18 & 20s, these guys know fly fishing and gear.
Sage grouse numbers are up north of Idaho Falls, 3 week season in Sept. Chukar and Hun seasons over 100 Days, and the locals can fill in the blanks. Eat what you keep and throw back the big ones. Good Luck