[stumpstalker]

This has been a fascinating thread for me, on a topic I know so little about.

If I can distill, and possibly reconcile, what Paul N. and Tom F. have said about the Parker-Hawes rod, then it seems like it would qualify as a fine, but affordable, vintage cane rod to actually fish with.

Kathy G. and I just got back from a North Maine Woods fishing trip, where my guide summarily dismissed my no-name Japanese fiberglass rod, which I had received as a birthday gift in 1962.

He did say good things about my “poor but honest” Pflueger Medalist and old Ocean City reels, and employs his own of both brands.

Once we were in the canoe he put in my hands his Fenwick and Orvis rods, and being avowedly unskilled, I went with the flow.

But, I continue to consider the relationship between carrying a Parker gun afield and fishing with a fine, old cane rod. Even if I'm not planning to get involved, it is easy for an inveterate accumulator of vintage stuff to feel entrained by yet another delectation.