I think the reasonable prices for Orvis sections kind of dried up with Ron White retiring from the head rodmaker position. What Battenkill is it? Perhaps I may be able to find you a tip......

Your Orvis rod....
 

Hello Sir,I agree with Bruce, Orvis has a great customer service and repair department probably the Oldest fine Bamboo rod company in the country in continuous service, in both building rods and repairing and refurbishing bamboo rods. They will fix it right and for a reasonable price. Best,Paul

If Orvis can't do it, try Bob Summers in Traverse City, MI. He apprenticed with Paul young many years ago. One of the great american craftsmen, and a generous supporter of conservation and the NRA.
http://rwsummers.com/index.html

All this talk of fly fishing and fine tackle has made me think of all the wonderfull times I had as a kid on the North East river in Maryland with my fly rod and hand tied flies.I still collect rods and reels but just cannot bring myself to cause discomfort to a fish anymore.Same thing with hunting and I know it is a little strange but I just cannot bring myself to take a life anymore,even the spiders and bugs in my house get a pass.I don't object to eating game collected by someone else though.I miss hunting and fishing but I guess I have had my limit of killing.I still like to read about others doing these things though.

Robert, you should "hunt" with me.

I hunt but seldom kill. This year, all I did was take a gun for a walk; but to tell the truth, I wasn't all that interested in harvesting, just hunting. I was in the woods deer hunting just to be there IF my brother's grand-daughter shot her first deer (she is 16). I even joked that I wasn't going to load the gun.

I bird hunted a week, bear hunted a week and deer hunted part of a week, all on the same trip to PA....... nothing. Rained (actually it more than rained) for bird hunting, bear season... only 3 were shot within walking distance of camp but I never saw them and deer (I saw three..... shhhhhh) didn't get shot either.

I still like getting in the woods and talking to other hunters. This year was unusual in that I came across seven youth hunters in the woods. They were not together, just happened to be on the same mountain. It has been a long time since I have seen that many young hunters in the woods or fields! The sights and especially the Fall aromas are wonderful. And, I get some much needed exercise too.

Some of my tree hugging friends give me grief about hunting but I explain to them that hunting isn't killing. I am almost to the point of hunting with a camera but there is something about walking with a fine old gun that makes the "walk" even more enjoyable.

When I was young, I guess I was a meat hunter but now its more about the experience and the memories of days gone by. I can't help but remember all the good times I had with friends and family that are no longer around. In a few years when I am not around, maybe my grand-niece will think back fondly to the times she hunted with me, I can only hope.

re: Parker-Hawes Fly Rods

Bruce Day please contact me regarding these rods.

www.niemieraflyrods.com
john@niemieraflyrods.com

For those who are interested, John is a younger rodmaker of growing reputation and is doing some fine work. He has a relationship with Eric Clapton, who is a sportsman of some renown and sometimes plays a little guitar. Besides, John is an Eagle Scout and a Parker shooter.

Like the Parker Reproduction and the Parker made by Connecticut shotguns, we may not have seen the last of the Hawes or Parker-Hawes rods.

The cane rods on Johns website look very nice and seem very reasonably priced. Good to see more people making fine cane rods.

UP for all this fly rod discussion.

I just came across this post. I am a collector of fine vintage split bamboo fly rods and a fanatical fly fisherman. Forgive me for saying this Bruce, but the Parker Hawes rods do not command a high price on the market. They are generally considered somewhat below a good Granger or Wright and McGill which were production rods and semi-hand built. Those that I have seen for sale usually sell for between $300 and $400, far below collectible fly rods by Leonard, Dickerson, Howells and others.

I have never owned or cast one so I can't personally say one way or the other, but the market hasn't been kind to them. I consider the Leonard the Parker of the split bamboo fly rods and have a fine collection of them. I fish them almost exclusively.

I don't know how the marriage of Parker and Hawes came about, but Parker did not choose a top maker in my opinion. The only claim to fame is the association with Parker. A fact that the vintage fly fishing market cares nothing about.