What is your favorite grip

[Huckfinn38]

I have been down what feels like every grip option from cork to carbon sleeving only to realize most grips outside of cork and Winn Grips are uncomfortable to fish for hours.  I feel by going with cork or Winn Grips Im sacaraficing sensitivity for comfort but working a jerkbait on anything else is uncomfortable.  What is your preference 

[Skunkmaster-k]

My preference is cork . 

[Jig Man]

Full cork covered with shrink tubing.

[MikeK]

Cork over Winn Grip.  Firmer, more durable, lighter, and can be custom shaped.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

So little of my hand contacts the actual grip most of the time, grips are largely driven by aesthetics and definitely shape for those other instances. The portion where the grip sits is least critical as far as weight goes and the different materials aren’t worlds apart in the  weight department. The best of all worlds imo are the AmTack G3 carbon tube grip followed by cork for specific size/shape applications. 

[Catt]

20 minutes ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

So little of my hand contacts the actual grip most of the time

 

Two or three fingers touching the rod.

 

 

[Bird]

As long as the butt is long, I really don't care. 

Definitely no pistol grip, look at tactical bassin, composite really plays no role..... under the armpit leverage. Lol

[KP Duty]

On 12/13/2023 at 4:51 PM, Jig Man said:

Full cork covered with shrink tubing.

I was using the shrink tubing, but have gone to using silicone tape.  It's great stuff.

[spoonplugger1]

This gives the benefit of blank contact, is easier to install, faster and will always give you a stronger glue bond to the blank. The Castaway full exposed seat is shown here, we cut them up for testing skeleton seat designs long before there were commercial models, we found that blanks under 12 mm at the seat were uncomfortable to fish when cut up and that the larger the better as far as comfort. I have made skeleton seats to 18 mm.

[dv616]

Can you buy the Castaway reel seats?  I modified a couple ESCM reel seats to be similar to that and may end up going that direction on future builds.

 

I like how light some of carbon fiber casting reel seats are like NFC offers, but they do not come in a variety of diameters so you would need to use the carbon fiber tube to fill the the gap between blank and reel seat.  I have not measured to check if adding the tube offsets the weight savings from reel seat design compared to a trimmed ESCM reel seat, but I would prefer direct blank contact.

[bowhunter63]

Full good old Cork 

[KCFinesse]

11 hours ago, dv616 said:

Can you buy the Castaway reel seats?  I modified a couple ESCM reel seats to be similar to that and may end up going that direction on future builds.

 

 

I found some on eBay a few years back. I know tacklezoom had a supply of them fairly recently.

 

-Jared

[Susky River Rat]

I love the way a new cork handle feels.

[Reel]

For me, diameter is more important than material.  I like a small grip.

[Woody B]

I've never really paid much attention.  Now I'm going to have to start deciding if I like a certain grip or not, and buy more rods.  

[dv616]

17 hours ago, KCFinesse said:

 

 

I found some on eBay a few years back. I know tacklezoom had a supply of them fairly recently.

 

-Jared

Never heard of Tacklezoom before.  Any issues with the quality of those seats compared to Fuji reel seats?  I just started modifying the Fuji ones, but that may be a better option.  

[KCFinesse]

2 hours ago, dv616 said:

Never heard of Tacklezoom before.  Any issues with the quality of those seats compared to Fuji reel seats?  I just started modifying the Fuji ones, but that may be a better option.  

I've never ordered from tacklezoom, but based on some of the rod building Facebook groups I think they're reputable.

 

I haven't had any issues with the castaways!

 

-Jared

[spoonplugger1]

Depending on how your rod is configured grip preferences change for me, spinning I steer toward Fuji NPS seats and the old Lew's reverse taper grip style, or a large diameter grip like the Fuji IPS/VSS, AmTack Dagger, or the old Wiebe style that does pretty much the same thing. Add a Fuji HPS thread hiding fore grip and oversleeve of various designs and you have about as smooth a grip as you can have short of a Tennessee style. A casting split grip of the right design and length is hard to beat, many are to long and designed for looks over function. Anything that goes in a rod holder I like to put on a straight carbon tube or a slick butt, makes removal with a big hot fish on the end so much easier. On kayaks I don't know what goes in and out of rocket launchers, rod holder, etc. faster and smoother.

[Huckfinn38]

On 12/26/2023 at 6:54 AM, Woody B said:

I've never really paid much attention.  Now I'm going to have to start deciding if I like a certain grip or not, and buy more rods.  

LOL my bad

[S Hovanec]

Cork Tennessee grip with slip rings for spinning and full cork with ECS seat for casting.  I've tried those skeleton seats (Minima and SK2) and they're the most uncomfortable things I've ever held.

[Alex from GA]

Spinning, CRB comfort palm swell.  Baitcasting anything with the blank exposed since all I touch is the reel.

[PaulVE64]

On 12/25/2023 at 2:23 PM, bowhunter63 said:

Full good old Cork 

St Croix ASFSMLF2 for the river - every day

[RB 77]

Cork. Always. 

[spoonplugger1]

I spend more time not holding any grip material in my hand fishing, I'm holding the reel seat and reel more than anything.

[Munkin]

On 12/25/2023 at 12:10 AM, spoonplugger1 said:

This gives the benefit of blank contact, is easier to install, faster and will always give you a stronger glue bond to the blank. The Castaway full exposed seat is shown here, we cut them up for testing skeleton seat designs long before there were commercial models, we found that blanks under 12 mm at the seat were uncomfortable to fish when cut up and that the larger the better as far as comfort. I have made skeleton seats to 18 mm.

 

Want to try one of these where can I buy one?

 

Allen