The first three are from a 7'6" for DT-5; his version of the Dickerson 7613 (1952 taper), 2/2. Jack has a numbering system to his rods (XXYY - where the XX is the last two digits of the year and YY is the rod number he built that year). This rod was built for me by Jack in 1995 (#9502). I used this rod almost exclusively for 8 years, fishing the San Juan and the Frying Pan Rivers in summer and winter at temperatures in execss of 100F (the San Juan in July), and at just above and just below 0F on both rivers. After 8 years, I had Jack refinish the rod (hence the R.03 designation he added to the rod at that time; this may be the only example of this designation). It is a magnificent rendition of Dickerson's original taper, crisp, fast, accurate, as comfortable at 10' as a 50', and able to handle trout over 20" with ease (well, with the "ease" that any 20"er is handled). I love Jack's cane work and attention to detail. Like Dickerson, and also Garrison, Jack tends towards the sparse, efficient finish. I had to plead with him to put on a hook keeper. I now also own an original Dickerson 7613 (1951 vintage rod), and Jack gives up nothing to the Master in terms of a casting tool, and IMHO is better at attention to detail. Jack used the Garrison technique spiral node construction on this rod and the tips are identical in node placing.
The next three are of Jack's 7'9" for DT-5 made for Scott Nichols in 1994; 2/2. This also was constructed using the spiral node concept. This was actually the first rod of Jack's that I ever cast. Scott wanted a rod somewhat slower than the fast taper 1952 7613, and a little bit longer. At the time Scott told me that Jack made him this rod by extending the 1970 Dickerson 7613 taper (slightly slower than the 1952 taper) an additional three inches [I've never confirmed this with Jack, but that's about how it feels when casting]. Scott moved to Kansas and sold me this rod because, as he said, "there aren't a lot of trout in Kansas". Of that I'm not sure, but I'm really glad he sold it to me. If the rod above is the allegro movement in Jack's bamboo symphony, this is the andante movement.
The last three are photos of Jack's version of Payne's Canadian Canoe taper, for DT-6/WF-7, 8'6", 3/2. This rod is an absolute canon, able to hold 60' of line off the water in an aluminum fishing boat on the God's River, Manitoba. It's also pretty darn good at 15-20'. (By the way, there really is nothing like a 5 lb. God's River brook trout on bamboo in heavy water - that's the definition of a fair fight). I got this rod from someone who just didn't want that much rod for the trout streams of New Mexico and southern Colorado. I couldn't disagree with him, but I was glad he was willing to let it go for whatever the reason. Note that Jack's signature on this rod was a simple JH written as 1 letter up near the first female ferrule. Also constructed using a spiral node pattern, matched tips. This would be the bass drums and canons of the 1812 Overture.
The last photo is the of the trio all together, reeled up and ready to go. I used several musical analogies in this thread. Jack is a professional clarinet player, who has played for the New Mexico (Albuquerque) and Auckland (New Zealand) Symphonies (maybe more). I think he would approve of such descriptors. I hope you enjoy them. Sorry if there seems to be some curvature in the photos; they are all dead straight. Clearly I have better fly rods then cameras to take macro pictures. If by some chance, someone has one of Jack's rods that he no longer wants, please let me know. I'd be glad to take it off their hands.
maker, already making his mark on that community. Now I have shifted to rod making from