Foam Grip Rods

[TrippyJai]

How is the durability of foam grips? Do they start to smell after while from fish, sweat, plastics, etc?

[0119]

In the old days they did. I think they use a denser foam these days, maybe they wont pick up fish guts as easily. I fish out of a jon boat alot and notice that the eva on my Vendettas, Veritas and Cumara rods do get burnished in the spot they rest across the bench seat. I wont buy more rods with foam. ALso I was looking at the weird foam on the St. Croix Rage at bass pro and found two with cuts in the foam.

[buzzfrog]

fish guts, are we catfishing lol, my first foam grip rod was for cattin and abot a year, of liver and cut gill, it was the rod i didn't take in after fishing, it was bad now days i beleive it is better, though all my bass rods are cork except my carrot

[smalljaw67]

I have no problem with foam, the new foam is much more dense and I doubt it is any more absorbant than cork. My earliest rod with foam is from '07 and it is still in great shape but it wasn't cheap either so I know for a fact a good grade of foam will last a good while.

[retiredbosn]

I'm traditional, I like cork, although my newest two rods have the high density stuff and they are not wearing weird or anything, comfortable enough. Ima Bass Ninja who is a member here replaced some of the foam on his rod with golf club handle material, they are very comfortable.

[Tony Monticelli]

the new foam handles are more durable and less absorbent than cork and will be allot more durable of a materiel.. its denser than cork thats for sure, you will loose more sensitivity threw the foam grip compared to a good fitted cork.

i like both equally depending on the rod, all my trolling rods and etc have foam except for one of my lead core rods that i use with flys and that was more for look than anything, its still a trolling rod so if you cant feel the fish bite then well the grips not the problem LOL, its a trolling rod. for surf i like cork tape and for bass, fly rods, etc where i want to feel nibbles better threw the handle itself i use cork plus i like the look better...

[Tony Monticelli]

as for skeleton handles reel seat stuff and etc, i personally would rather have a grip and a reel seat nice solid one piece reel seat, if i was to put the skeliton stuff on my own rod im sorry but id just tape the reel to blank put a little piece of felt or rubber etc under the the reels foot to protect the blank a little and call it a handle all day LOL

[Packard]

the new foam handles are more durable and less absorbent than cork and will be allot more durable of a materiel.. its denser than cork thats for sure, you will loose more sensitivity threw the foam grip compared to a good fitted cork.

i like both equally depending on the rod, all my trolling rods and etc have foam except for one of my lead core rods that i use with flys and that was more for look than anything, its still a trolling rod so if you cant feel the fish bite then well the grips not the problem LOL, its a trolling rod. for surf i like cork tape and for bass, fly rods, etc where i want to feel nibbles better threw the handle itself i use cork plus i like the look better...

If the EVA is more dense than cork, wouldn't it have greater sensitivity? Same reason why tungsten is more sensitive than lead.

[Tony Monticelli]

honestly don't know if its denser or not as for scientific scales..... but it will dampen the vibration more over cork... but eva is a better grip in general though feels better doesn't get slippery no matter how gutty your hands are and is more durable so for what you loose in sensitivity you gain allot on the other end. the eva is a good work horse handle..

cork looks better though i think, so either way you cant win...

[Tony Monticelli]

depends on the fishing really, i mean your on a nice bass boat with rod locker storage etc only have to grab the fish by the lip,, fishing nice lures etc etc etc hands are pritty clean and girly like then you might go with fancy cork handles and stuff like that..

but if your digging crawlers out of worm boxes, minnows out of buckets. gutting fish as you catch them, not being gentle and trying to save them tossing them on stringers and in coolers working with bait chunks and eels in the ocean.. eva / cork tape...

[SirSnookalot]

None of my freshwater or inshore rods are foam, every one of my offshore rods are, I think the overwhelming majority of them have foam. We use bait offshore, sardines, ballyhoo, squid, that stuff stinks and it's messy. At the end of the day the rods are none the worse for wear and don't smell, just rinse them down. I do take a lighter spinning rod with cork grips, I may do some drifting and jigging so the combo gets the same workout as the foam offshore rods, there is no difference in sensitivity. The bite from bait is totally different than from a lure, fish can strip you clean without ever feeling a thing and these are not always small fish.

Braided line makes more of a difference than the rod as far as bite detection.

[Ima Bass Ninja]

Here's a pic of a new rod with foam grip, a rod with foam grip that's been used for about 2 years so you can see the difference. It doesn't smell or anything just a little dirty. I can't really tell a difference in grip between the 2. I also threw in the rod I put a golf grip on as retired bosn mentioned. I did this on my crank bait rods cause the cork grips were to big to hold comfortably. The golf grip have worked outstanding and above my expectations and since I've been holding a golf club for 30 years of my life it was real easy to get use to. I probably wouldn't use it for techniques where you need to feel bites but for cranks it works well.

[Tony Monticelli]

that golf club grip looks cool...

[TrippyJai]

Wow the golf grip looks cool. Thanks for the replies. I'm going to pick up the new Crucial flipping for sure. It was such a light stick, but the foam grips held me back.

[Pinoy_Basser]

Wow the Golf Club Rod looks wicked indeed.

FORE !!!

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

The price of cork, especially high grade cork is expected to continue to rise. Fortunantely there are several good alternative grip materials and good EVA is one of them.

[Crookedneck]

The price of cork, especially high grade cork is expected to continue to rise. Fortunantely there are several good alternative grip materials and good EVA is one of them.

I hear you on that price of cork statement! $1-3 for Flor grade cork. That is per 1/2" ring. There is a reason people ask for split grips. That can get pretty steep for a 10" rod grip. I myself put eva on a majority of my rods, if you can find the high density stuff it is pretty good.

[A-Rob]

My dad's 20 year old ugly stick is still going strong, doesn't smell either! haha

[hatrix]

I just got a shimano convergence for $40 a few weeks ago and I like it so far. I wasn't fond of the foam handles at first but after using it I don't even really notice. For the most part my hand never really touches the foam or cork since I palm my reels but we will see how it hold up after this year.

[WookieeJedi]

I never liked the way foam grips feel in my hands, so I wrapped hockey tape on the foam parts. I even did a wrap over a twist to give it some relief. So far, so good.

[Hi Salenity]

I personally just don't like EVA. I have noticed they get a little slick if you get fish slime on them.