Post by Chee Yung on Oct 28, 2007 15:13:29 GMT 8
Rod Story #9: Jenkins GA70L 7’ 2/2 3-4wt
Hi BOBs,
I first read about Charlie Jenkins about 5 years ago in Ron Shanaver’s site and that the Jenkins rod model GA70L won 2nd prize in a bamboo rod competition ( the winner was a Carlson Four quadrate… but that’s another story). This was followed by a John Gierach story describing a bamboo rod themed fishing trip with Charlie Jenkins. After that, I was distracted by other makers but time and again, the name of Jenkins kept popping up as all time favourites. To relieve the itch, I dropped a note about 3 years ago to Ron saying that should he received a Jenkins, I’ll take it.
3 months ago, I had a heads-up from Ron saying that he will be receiving a long awaited Jenkins rod soon. By now, Charlie’s health had failed and his son Steve has taken over the rodmaking and was making great leaps in the aesthetics department while keeping the Jenkins action intact (Charlie was a very practical rodmaker and did not bother too much about finish). I immediately said I’ll take it and requested for upgrades to agates and snake brand guides. From then on, it was the wait that felt longer than the previous 2 years… more so when items shipped from Ron, for some strange reason, always takes more than a month to arrive!
Anyway, the rod finally arrived in perfect condition and I quickly tempted Uncle Wong out for a moonlit casting session in his jammies (again!). The rod was heavenly on the lawn… even catching the targeted ‘palm-sized’ quarries and a few ‘tree-vallys’. Later, Uncle kindly brought me dry fly fishing and we had a great time tempting zebras. We fished the local ( for lack of a better term) yellow-belly-vibrating-shorttail ephemerella aka ‘YBVST mayfly’ hatch which meant matching the YBVST mayflies that make circular tangos before getting smashed by excited fish. It is really great fun but the fish are getting smarter and have been showing our flies the fish-finger recently… anybody knows how to tie a micro-vibrator fly??
Here are the pics… Golden blonde oven-tempered rod with clear transparent wraps, red agate, bright NS hardware and signature Jenkins cherrywood insert. This rod literally casts itself with nice tight loops…. A little zebra conned by yours truly with a skimming mayfly of Uncle’s invention … finally, pics of the vibrating temptress.. enjoy!
Cheers
CY
Hi BOBs,
I first read about Charlie Jenkins about 5 years ago in Ron Shanaver’s site and that the Jenkins rod model GA70L won 2nd prize in a bamboo rod competition ( the winner was a Carlson Four quadrate… but that’s another story). This was followed by a John Gierach story describing a bamboo rod themed fishing trip with Charlie Jenkins. After that, I was distracted by other makers but time and again, the name of Jenkins kept popping up as all time favourites. To relieve the itch, I dropped a note about 3 years ago to Ron saying that should he received a Jenkins, I’ll take it.
3 months ago, I had a heads-up from Ron saying that he will be receiving a long awaited Jenkins rod soon. By now, Charlie’s health had failed and his son Steve has taken over the rodmaking and was making great leaps in the aesthetics department while keeping the Jenkins action intact (Charlie was a very practical rodmaker and did not bother too much about finish). I immediately said I’ll take it and requested for upgrades to agates and snake brand guides. From then on, it was the wait that felt longer than the previous 2 years… more so when items shipped from Ron, for some strange reason, always takes more than a month to arrive!
Anyway, the rod finally arrived in perfect condition and I quickly tempted Uncle Wong out for a moonlit casting session in his jammies (again!). The rod was heavenly on the lawn… even catching the targeted ‘palm-sized’ quarries and a few ‘tree-vallys’. Later, Uncle kindly brought me dry fly fishing and we had a great time tempting zebras. We fished the local ( for lack of a better term) yellow-belly-vibrating-shorttail ephemerella aka ‘YBVST mayfly’ hatch which meant matching the YBVST mayflies that make circular tangos before getting smashed by excited fish. It is really great fun but the fish are getting smarter and have been showing our flies the fish-finger recently… anybody knows how to tie a micro-vibrator fly??
Here are the pics… Golden blonde oven-tempered rod with clear transparent wraps, red agate, bright NS hardware and signature Jenkins cherrywood insert. This rod literally casts itself with nice tight loops…. A little zebra conned by yours truly with a skimming mayfly of Uncle’s invention … finally, pics of the vibrating temptress.. enjoy!
Cheers
CY
;D
.... you gotta hold n cast them 
