Pistol Grip Rods - What's Your Opinion Of Them?

[dave]

There is a tackle shop down from my office that has a St. Croix pistol grip rod.

[FloridaFishinFool]

1 minute ago, dave said:

There is a tackle shop down from my office that has a St. Croix pistol grip rod.

Right now on ebay is a pair of St. Croix pistol grip rods I was looking at today:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TWO-ST-CROIX-PREMIER-2403-ML-56-PISTOL-GRIP-CASTING-RODS-MADE-IN-USA-/172042909482?hash=item280e8e772a:g:S44AAOSwo3pWgDq5

Wish I had one- or, both!       

 

[FloridaFishinFool]

I think one of the most interesting pistol grip rods ever made was made by Shimano, their Magnumlite Fightin' Rod series. Shimano made a rod and the handle one piece by basically cutting the handle out of the rod blank itself. To my knowledge I don't think anyone else ever made anything like this shimano pistol grip rod:

It was a uniquely shaped all graphite rod blank with an unusually large diameter base that the handle was carved into.

[Maxximus Redneckus]

Fenwick made a rod similar called a hooksetter i have 2 of them not pistol grips though short handled 5'6"

[Wayne P.]

There was another rod series made that way too to go along with the Spiderwire reels. Spinning and casting versions--straight handles.

[FloridaFishinFool]

I could not locate any spiderwire rods, but I did find a couple of Fenwick pistol grip rods on ebay with one being sold for $175!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fenwick-HMG-graphite-pistol-grip-casting-rod-GFC-556-Fuji-handle-/291652329517?hash=item43e7d5602d:g:7FEAAOSwLN5WiaEU

I also found this interesting old Grizzly Fenwick rod with a really cool featherweight pistol grip I'd sure like to get my hands on just this handle:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Grizzly-Fenwick-Model-CA-624-Rod-Fishing-Baitcasting-Original-FEATHERWEIGHT-GRIP-/131677036978?hash=item1ea89021b2:g:RiQAAOSwbdpWZxDS

And while scoping out some old pistol grip rods on ebay tonight I found this neat old Quantum pistol grip that is designed to look like the shimano rod I mentioned above in another comment:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Quantum-Magnum-Plus-graphite-fightin-rod-style-pistol-grip-casting-rod-/291652300373?&_trksid=p2056016.m2518.l4276

 

[contium]

Every now and then I break out with one of my 5'6" Phoenix boron rods from the 80's. I keep threatening myself to go back to them. I am extremely accurate with them. I have no issues with distance. I really don't see my longer rods casting any further. I think because of the short rod and handle, you can whip it easier which generates a lot of tip speed. I fished with them for decades and never had an issue with hooksets back then. They just feel a more natural extension of my arm and actually easier on my arm. And the shorter handle doesn't get in the way. I like the angled Fuji Speedgrip type handle over what St Cruix offers on their pistol grips. There is just something about the way it feels.

[Wayne P.]

6' Medium

[*Hootie]

Bass Pro Stick

Eagle claw

Sears Tuff Stik

Hootie

 

[Wayne P.]

Along with several other pistol grip rods I have, this one is twice as good.

Custom S-Glass cranking rod:

[corn-on-the-rob]

22 hours ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

I think one of the most interesting pistol grip rods ever made was made by Shimano, their Magnumlite Fightin' Rod series. Shimano made a rod and the handle one piece by basically cutting the handle out of the rod blank itself. To my knowledge I don't think anyone else ever made anything like this shimano pistol grip rod:

I just started using baitcasters 2 years ago after using my spinning rod all my life. So my dad started me off on the pistol grips with a simple, no-fuss reel to get the hang of it.

They were the 5' 6'' Shimano Magnumlite Fightin' Rod and the 5' 6'' Shimano Bull Whip Fightin' Rod.

Great little rods, especially to learn on, but I have since moved on from them. Really my biggest issue is that I use the butt of a rod very often to leverage during hooksets and fighting a fish and you really can't do that with these rods.

[Bass newb]

I like them and the short rods for fishing in a small narrow creek that I'm drifting down. Lot's  of laydowns and precision and size of a small rod work well in that circumstance, but not many others.

I hate that you can't get a good hookset with one.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Some nice rods showing up here! Many I've never seen before so keep 'em coming! I'm making a list and keeping an eye out for some of them when they come up for sale...

Below Tommy Martin wins in 1974 using a pistol grip rod on Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas and can you believe it, Rick Clunn was there too- he is that old! I'd bet most pro's back then were using these rods... 

Tommy Martin shows the Rebel Super-R that he used to take his first BASS Master win on Beaver Lake. Photo 1974 BASS Master Magazine July-August Issue.

Beaver Lake – A Different Martin

After two full 200-contestant events, the Arkansas Invitational would only draw 170 anglers. That may have had to do with the weather, though, as April brought snow, sleet, hail and 30 mph winds to the event.

Despite the adverse conditions, a new Martin debuted in his first-ever B.A.S.S. event and won by a three pound margin.

Tommy Martin, one of the Hemphill Gang as they’d eventually become known, won the third event of the season with 48-05. Martin had paid attention to Don Butler’s winning tactics the year before and developed a pattern on rocky points and shallow coves using a Rebel Super-R crankbait – the same bait Butler had won with in ’73. Not only did Martin use the Super-R, he painted a fluorescent red stripe on the bottom of it just like his predecessor. To add insult to injury, Martin lost his last crank on the second day of the event and had to borrow another one from – you guessed it – Don Butler.

Ricky Green (AR) placed second with a cumulative weight of 44-15, while Loyd McEntire (IN) placed third with 43-08. McEntire had the heaviest string of the event at 21-07 but that’s not all he tried to weigh. He also caught a 15-pound striper that Harold Sharp wouldn’t allow to be weighed in. From the sounds of it, there were a bunch of laughs to be had by that escapade.

Lanny Verner (TX) took fourth place with 42-06 and Bo Dowden finished in the fifth spot with 41-13.

Danny Dick (OK) won big fish for the event with an 8-04 largemouth, which netted him a Ranger TR-3 boat and accessories.

By the end of the Beaver Lake event, anglers had weighed in 1,460 bass of which only 33 weren’t released. This yielded the highest release rate ever recorded in a B.A.S.S. tournament at the time.

The top 35 anglers are shown in the table below.

Bass Master Trail 1974 Beaver Lake Results
Place	Angler, State	Weight, lbs-ozs
1	Tommy Martin, TX	48-05
2	Ricky Green, AR	44-15
3	Loyd McEntire, IN	43-08
4	Lanny Verner, TX	42-06
5	Bo Dowden, LA	41-13
6	Stan Sloan, TN	40-12
7	Hugh Massey, KY	38-10
8	John Powell, AL	36-07
9	Russell Cook, MO	36-06
10	Danny McCain, LA	35-14
11	Roger Mhoon, AR	35-08
12	Bobby Meador, LA	34-10
13	Elmer Pickens, TN	34-03
14	Bobby Murray, AR	33-04
15	Jimmy James, LA	32-04
16	Butch Stroud, AR	29-05
17	Joe Kennedy, TX	28-08
18	Bill Dance, TN	28-02
19	Heb Adams, OK	28-00
20	Jim Fudoli, MO	27-14
21	Jerry Owens, OK	27-08
22	Herman Gettlefinger, TN	26-10
23	Dwight Keefer, MO	26-05
24	Bob Schultz, MO	26-03
25	J. B. Warren, AR	25-08
26	Rick Clunn, TX	25-03
27	Bob Tyndall, MO	24-12
28	Steve Mitchell, IN	24-02
29	Elroy Krueger, TX	24-00
30	Forrest Wood, AR	23-15
31	Jerry Williams, AR	23-11
32	Jerry McKinnis, AR	23-06
33	J. D. Skinner, AL	23-01
34	Roland Martin, OK	22-12
35	Paul Trefz, GA	22-12

Martin won the Bassmaster Classic in 1974, the stone age of bass fishing.

Ray Scott and Tommy Martin

Tommy Martin today...

[Maxximus Redneckus]

18 hours ago, Bass newb said:

I like them and the short rods for fishing in a small narrow creek that I'm drifting down. Lot's  of laydowns and precision and size of a small rod work well in that circumstance, but not many others.

I hate that you can't get a good hookset with one. Its all about the angler and the sharp hook .a quick wrist will set anyhook in any bass .i still dont beleive in the bionic hookset of some.bass are fun but only take less then a minnute to bring in .i wouldnt use a pistol grip for catfish or stripers though.

Fenwick made a rod similar called a hooksetter i have 2 of them not pistol grips though short handled 5'6"

[FloridaFishinFool]

19 hours ago, Bass newb said:

I hate that you can't get a good hookset with one.

This has not been my experience with them. I don't think I have ever had a problem with hook sets that I would blame on the rod. I have 6' pistol grips, 6' spinning rods, 6' modern style baitcast rods. They all work. If I don't get a hook set I can't honestly say it was just the rod's fault only. I gotta consider other factors too.

 

 

[WIGuide]

I grew up fishing pistol grips. Loved the accuracy of them, but hated the lack of power you had while fighting a fish. Bass weren't usually that bad, but if you hooked into a big northern you felt like you were holding on for dear life! haha That being said, I retired my last one a few years ago.

[FloridaFishinFool]

I have been watching an auction on ebay for a G. Loomis pistol grip rod I was interested in, but bidding is going through the roof on this one. It is at $129.50 and climbing. (This price includes $15 shipping)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351637729715?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Since I began this thread, I have already picked up several new to me used pistol grip rods including a Lew's for a sweet deal of like $10.00.

To me, this old Lew's is an awesome rod! And it has a graphite rod blank through the handle to the butt of the rod too.

The rod blank can be seen just above the trigger going through the entire handle:

I got it so cheap from a pawn shop because it remained on their rack for 6 months and they just wanted it sold, but it did not sell because it had 2 broken guides on it, but the rod blank was in perfect condition. I am going to strip all the guides off this old rod and turn it into a spiral wrap with micro guides. Looking forward to using this one real soon. Which reminds me, I gotta go to mudhole today for some new guides...

I also picked up an old Berkley Series One pistol grip rod for $5.00 too. I am finding that demand is so low on the old pistol grip rods they are hard to sell and anyone who has one really has to drop the price to sell them. So this is to my advantage...

Now as to the comment above about pistol grips not having the power to handle fish??? I have to disagree with that. The rod does have the power, sometimes not the length some would like, but they were good enough for the pro's 30 years ago and were the standard.

What is kind of funny, if you look at this image taken of Tommy Martin today, look at the rod he is holding in his hands.

How is this really much different than an old pistol grip rod? Just because the rod bank extends past the handle a few inches changes the perception of the rod and now it has more power?

I think the pistol grip rods do have the power, just not the ideal grip situation. I compensated by using my left hand to support the tip under load of fish by holding the rod just past the reel. It is not much different with more modern rods too, especially for salt water fishing where putting one hand on the rod beyond the reel is common when fighting a big fish. And, in salt water rods, a lot of them are short rods too and for huge fish much bigger than bass!

I plan on using the old pistol grip rods a lot more this year!

[0119]

I use a pistol grip rod every fishing trip I take. I prefer small waters. Even when fishing big lakes like Istokpoga I work the shoreline under cypress trees. I'm always skipping under mangroves or Brazilian Pepper with them. People think they are useless today but everything is made for bass boat fishing. If you fish a Jon boat or canoe it has lots of uses.

[MRG]

On 1/5/2016 at 4:42 PM, FloridaFishinFool said:

I think one of the most interesting pistol grip rods ever made was made by Shimano, their Magnumlite Fightin' Rod series. Shimano made a rod and the handle one piece by basically cutting the handle out of the rod blank itself. To my knowledge I don't think anyone else ever made anything like this shimano pistol grip rod:

 

It was a uniquely shaped all graphite rod blank with an unusually large diameter base that the handle was carved into.

 

 

The Shimano Fightin' Rods made a big impact on the fishing industry in the 1980s. Following the success and popularity of the Fightin' Rods, many rod manufacturers including Fenwick, ABU Garcia, Quantum, Cabela's and others soon came out with look alike fat blank rods. Most competing rods were poor imitations of the outstanding Shimano rods.

I still have two pistol grip and two spinning Fightin' Rods. I still use the spinning rods fairly regularly, and they still hold their own in some applications. The pistol grips see less action, though I do take them out every once and a while just for fun. I can tell you first hand they still catch fish.

[papajoe222]

I recently sold my last two;  Both were BPS Bionic Blades.  I loved fishing Spooks and most top-waters with them because of casting accuracy and the handle never got in the way.  Most guys now will work a walking bait with the rod handle up out of the way, so handle length is moot. Whenever I hooked into a big girl, I'd end up putting my cranking hand on the rod above the seat when working the fish in because I couldn't take the strain on my wrist. I just tuck the handle under my forearm now.

[Mumbly]

On 1/5/2016 at 6:42 PM, FloridaFishinFool said:

I think one of the most interesting pistol grip rods ever made was made by Shimano, their Magnumlite Fightin' Rod series. Shimano made a rod and the handle one piece by basically cutting the handle out of the rod blank itself. To my knowledge I don't think anyone else ever made anything like this shimano pistol grip rod:

I

 

I still have that rod. Actually I had two of them but gave one away to a friend back in the day. Might have to dig it out this season.

On 1/7/2016 at 2:17 PM, Maxximus Redneckus said:

Fenwick made a rod similar called a hooksetter i have 2 of them not pistol grips though short handled 5'6"

 

I had a Hooksetter in both casting (5'6") and spinning (5'9"). Not sure what happened to the casting rod but I still have spinning version.

[0119]

10 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

I recently sold my last two;  Both were BPS Bionic Blades.  I loved fishing Spooks and most top-waters with them because of casting accuracy and the handle never got in the way.  Most guys now will work a walking bait with the rod handle up out of the way, so handle length is moot. Whenever I hooked into a big girl, I'd end up putting my cranking hand on the rod above the seat when working the fish in because I couldn't take the strain on my wrist. I just tuck the handle under my forearm now.

Yeah they do but it's only good when you are standing. Those of us in small boats are kinda ignored by the manufacturers who only make products like we are all tournament anglers standing on a big deck and fishing a tva reservoir.

[Maxximus Redneckus]

Dont matter where u put the handle its gonna be in the way .any.poppin or walk the dog lures get the best action with pistol grip.been there done that ..all jokes aside this aint a matter of who has the longest rod its who can.make.the most.waves lol 

[FloridaFishinFool]

On 1/29/2016 at 11:47 AM, FloridaFishinFool said:

I have been watching an auction on ebay for a G. Loomis pistol grip rod I was interested in, but bidding is going through the roof on this one. It is at $129.50 and climbing. (This price includes $15 shipping)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351637729715?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

This G-Loomis rod just sold for $126.51 + $15 in shipping for a total of $141.51! Not bad for a useless old pistol grip rod! Must just be a wall hanger but I doubt it!

I just found another rare shimano pistol grip rod on ebay made of boron.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPER-RARE-EX-Shimano-BB-1552-Japan-Bantam-Boron-5ft-6in-Casting-Rod-/381535312139?&_trksid=p2056016.m2518.l4276

SUPER RARE EX+++ Shimano BB-1552 Japan Bantam Boron 5ft 6in Casting Rod

Buy now price $250.00 plus $11.35 shipping.

Double foot guides all the way to the tip, which has an angle to it more extreme than what I am use to

I wish I could afford to add this one to my collection of pistol grip rods!

 

 

[0119]

That old Loomis has the old Weibe reel seat.  For a time pre shimano, Loomis put them on all his average sized casting rods.  Much sought after it is extremely comfortable especially in casting round reels.  I spoke to Mr. Loomis at a show a year ago and he told me he still holds the patent for it and puts them on his new Edge rods.