Split Grip spacing

[Lucas Cooper]

How do you know where to put the reel seat on a split grip.

[SWVABass]

I’m pretty sure it’s going to depend on the length, power, and what you intend on using the rod for. Might look into similar rods and see the spacing on those. Somebody with more experience will hopefully chime in to help you more!! Good luck with the build!

[Angry John]

You put the reel seat where the total handle length is where you want it.  On a jerkbait rod close to the end of the blank.  On a swim bait rod 12-14 from the end.  Use rods you like the feel of to moc it up.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

The reel seat goes where it belongs and the grip, regardless of style goes behind it. A split grip is nothing more than a full grip with a piece taken out. If you need help placing a reel seat in general we can help you out with that too

[Lucas Cooper]

3 hours ago, Angry John said:

You put the reel seat where the total handle length is where you want it.  On a jerkbait rod close to the end of the blank.  On a swim bait rod 12-14 from the end.  Use rods you like the feel of to moc it up.

I am going to be building the rod for froging.

[Angry John]

I like a 12" handle on a frog rod so I can have it along my fore arm and not poke me in the tummy.  I am a long handle guy, might be because I am tall.  My lamiglass excel 735 I used for frogging before had a 11 inch split handle.  I can post a pic of that if your interested. 

[grub_man]

Grip length is personal preference.  I'm short at 5'8" and have a pretty stalky build these days.

 

I typically determine where I want the trigger on a casting seat or the reel stem on a spinning reel to be and go from there.  I hold both between my middle and ring finger, so the measurement is the same.  For me, on rods 6'6"+ that means putting the trigger or reel stem at 9.5" - 9.75" from the butt of the rod.  It's basically at the length of an 8" full grip with a 1" butt cap or 9" behind the reel seat.  If I go an inch longer, it pokes me in the gut in the gut and drives me nuts.  It also means that many of my longer rods fish a bit longer than most comparable factory rods.

 

For rods between 5'6" and 6'3", I'll bring the trigger or stem down to to 7.5" - 7.75".  Which effectively eliminates the split grip for me on casting rods, but leaves a small split on spinning rods.

 

I typically like a 3.5" grip behind the reel seat, enough to support the palm of my hand without it falling onto the blank, and a 3.5" - 4" grip at the butt, a bit longer than most factory rods.  Again, enough to support most of my hand.  The way I approach split grips is that they offer all of the support that a full grip offers, but remove the unnecessary material.  The split grip also promotes proper hand placement for casting.  I'm a two-handed caster the vast majority of the time, which is why I swap over to the full grip on the short casting rods.  For one-handed casting, where the extra material is not needed, you could certainly keep the split grip design.

 

As mentioned, find a grip length that you like and use it as a template for the overall length.