What is a fishing rod "handle"?

[Steve Arnold]

handle noun [C] (PART)​

a part of an object designed for holding, moving, or carrying the object easily:


So many rods (mostly carp) have hopeless handles. It's a great pity as so many carp rod blanks have a good action which would be useful when fishing for other species and situations. But those skinny butts and uncomfortable reel fittings make actually holding these rods a less than satisfactory experience.

Basically, the slim "bare-bones" style of rod handle on a skinny carbon blank is not designed to be held.......but matching sets in rod holders do look so pretty

The bottom three rods in that photo came courtesy of Mikench, Thanks Mike, they will find some good fishing here on the Lot!

The partial cork handles are on Agility barbel and feeder rods, so lower price point does not mean lowering standards of practicality and comfort (ergonomics).
With a fixed spool reel attached the duplon is comfortable in diameter and texture and the rod can be held for a lengthy period without strain. With a suitable size reel the rods balance point is just above the top corks, where my index finger usually rests when feeling for bites. Whatever rod I use that has become an instinct now with me!

These two Agility handles are finished with a large rubber butt cap. When you are fortunate to hook a big fish that is comfortable to place on your thigh and play the fish with an almost straight right arm. The distance from reel stem to end of butt is correct for the average arm length to achieve that. That butt cap is also comfortable for the left hand to slide against and grip when casting, particularly if you use a "punch" with the top hand and "pull" with the lower hand to achieve effective tip speed with minimum effort.

So why are the other two rods handles built differently? In my opinion it's simply fashion (and cheaper production!) winning out over practicality and good fishing sense.

The only other type of fishing rod I have found with such minimalist handle builds are beachcasters. But even there it's the larger diameter blanks that have the shrink tube finish, even sea anglers know thin blanks and cold hands are not a great combination for gripping!

Many spinning rods have some cleverly designed and comfortable handles. Fly rods have so many shaped cork handle designs, depending on their use and users hands/casting style. Sea fishing boat rod handles are built to hold and exercise control/power when playing big fish. ETC, etc, etc!

Anyway, thanks again Mike for the rods, The Chub 11' 2.25 lb fills a niche for me and I suspect it will have a great deal of use soon (well, as soon as I have recovered from covid!). Before the Lurgy kicked in I had already added a short duplon grip above the reel fitting and a rubber butt cap to the end......and painted the last few inches of the tip white! It might be my summer roving rod now, I am desperate to get down the river!

 

[mikench]

I hope they serve you well Steve. Get well soon. I hope Sally didn’t get it.

 

[Keith M]

The fashion of uncomfortable to hold abbreviated handles is not the only thing that I don’t really like (but can be sufferable); there’s also the latest trend to have butt rings of 50mm and larger; together with a minimal number of rod rings.

A study of this showed that smaller butt rings are actually better for casting purposes than the larger 50m plus butt rings. (See link)

https://www.harrisonrods.co.uk/Fuji%20New%20Guide%20Concept.htm

Keith

 

[Steve Arnold]

The fashion of uncomfortable to hold abbreviated handles is not the only thing that I don’t really like (but can be sufferable); there’s also the latest trend to have butt rings of 50mm and larger; together with a minimal number of rod rings.

A study of this showed that smaller butt rings are actually better for casting purposes than the larger 50m plus butt rings. (See link)

https://www.harrisonrods.co.uk/Fuji%20New%20Guide%20Concept.htm

Keith

100% with you on that!

I have been rattling on about variations of the Fuji Concept arrangement of guides for decades. The theory is fine, in practice it's just the guide sizes that need tweaked for practical fishing purposes. i.e Some of the really tiny running guides on some spinning rod setups would not be practical on a barbel rod used in flood conditions.

Probably, for manufacturers, it's cheaper to fit fewer large guides than a whole set of Concept style guides. But it is possible to arrange almost any guides following the Fuji Concept principle........here I have set up an uptider with Minima guides but using the Fuji Concept method.....

 

[Aknib]

Personally I just see it as a sign of the times, eventually we reach a point in evolution which is agreeable to all of us and some are reluctant to accept it can't be improved further.

In some cases it can, in many others it can't.

Enter the tackle industry, they're not gonna sell much new gear if we all think we're using the best already... I will cite mid to late eighties and early nineties match rods as prime examples.

Hard to even find these days let alone surpass although that has much to do with what I consider to be another industry driven change in habits, a couple of pints of maggots for 10lb of Roach ain't gonna cut it against twenty five quids worth of bait for a 150lb bag of commercial Carp and that's before we even move onto the tackle itself.

Fair play to 'em though, these guys are smart but it's as transparent as clingfilm for me and I ain't buying into it.

As for Duplon and abbreviated handles in general...

Sorry, it's not for me i'll stick to me two pints of grubs and a few Roach.

 

[nottskev]

All my favourite float rods have full cork and sliding bands. Beautiful look and feel.
I've even had reel seats removed and cork fitted eg on Carbonactives.
But some species do try to pull your reel off, and my barbel rods have reel seats.
I used to think that palm-swell types, a little fatter, were nicest to grip, but I've met comfortable and uncomfortable ones in all designs, thicker and thinner. I think you have to try them and see how they feel.
It matters whether you use whichever type with fs or pin - how and what you grip is entirely different.
For instance, I just bought a rod despite its abbreviated handle and found it's just right with the pin I plan to use. The only drawback, believe it or not, is a badly placed hook retainer positioned immediately above the grip that gets in the way and sticks in your finger and will have to be moved.
Duplon is always regrettable and to be kept to a minimum; unfortunately few rods feature cork-wrapped screw seats. One of my Torrixes has one - the bloke who had it built to his spec had good taste. He got if for barbelling on the Nene, but gave that up and I benefitted.
If I didn't fish for barbel and carp, all my rods would have plain full cork handles and I wouldn't entertain screw seats and foam rubber.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

I have a trio of Greys X-Flite carp rods that I had fitted with full cork handles as soon as I got them.

To me it just feels right in a fishing rod.

 

[The Sogster]

Cork is best all the way.
I find it interesting that nowadays rod handles are much shorter. As a kid in the 70's they were often about 33" especially on float rods.
I recall buying in the mid 90's a shakespeare rod (aerial c.t.b) which was marketed as having a shorter handle, the advantage allegedly allowed the rod to be passed across the body more easily. From memory I think it was about 26".
I hated it at first.
But now I look at my favourite rods and the handles are about 22"

 

[Steve Arnold]

I hope the tackle trade pay attention to the comments on this thread!

MORE CORK, please!

I don't mind Duplon, it's better than shrink tube anyway. But, you cannot beat a good cork handle!

....and hook retainers should never be placed just where a tactile finger will feel the blank for the first tremors of a bite.

Butt lengths are difficult, they vary depending on the anglers build and the use the rod is put to. Probably the first job I do with a new rod, lost count of the rods I have taken the saw to or added a few inches. There have been various attempts at sliding screw reel fittings on parallel handles, mostly for the beachcasting brigade. I have one on a Greys Triad 13' surf rod that actually does work well, maybe it's time the tackle trade looked at this again?

The photo I used in my first post on this thread, the top rod has a nicely formed reel fitting that is well shaped for the contours of your hand. It was a cheap rod, such reel fittings are not expensive......on the right rod, get them fitted, I say!

With carbon blanks now being so slim, it is more important than ever to pick a material that gives a comfortable grip and diameter for holding.

Any rod that is built to catch big fish should have a rubber butt cap. Even if a rod is simply left in a basic rod rest this part of the handle is subject to wear, get protection!

 

[@Clive]

When coarse rods were made using built cane they often spigotted something more solid under the cork to prevent that part flexing. Some rods have beech dowells under the cork, others alloy tubes. There was at least one rod with a reverse taper under the cork handle to stiffen up the butt section. Rods that were designed to be held; spinning rods or float fishing rods for example often had longer handles than were necessary in order to act as a counter weight. This continued when fibreglass rods became popular. The glass rods were lighter than cane ounce per foot, so they could be made longer and still required the counter balance. When carbon became the norm there was no need for extra stiffness or a counter balance.

And then there is the fashion aspect. I do not trust people who sleep in camo' jim-jams inside a camo' shelter, cast 150 metres into the dark and then leave the rods to fish for themselves to come up with a useful idea regarding fishing rods.

 

[Alan Whitty]

I prefer cork,but it's more a pleasure for me than it making any difference fishing wise,Cadence rods have a small amount of cork but as a fishing rod they are great,for me sliding reel fitting are a pain in the butt,and on other rods have had them changed,Mark Wintle changes his reel seats,puts an odd looking Cork 'snood' over the screw fitting saying they are more comfortable,but making the handle fatter makes it more uncomfortable to me,it's that personal preference thingy again,lol.

 

[The Sogster]

When coarse rods were made using built cane they often spigotted something more solid under the cork to prevent that part flexing. Some rods have beech dowells under the cork, others alloy tubes. There was at least one rod with a reverse taper under the cork handle to stiffen up the butt section. Rods that were designed to be held; spinning rods or float fishing rods for example often had longer handles than were necessary in order to act as a counter weight. This continued when fibreglass rods became popular. The glass rods were lighter than cane ounce per foot, so they could be made longer and still required the counter balance. When carbon became the norm there was no need for extra stiffness or a counter balance.

And then there is the fashion aspect. I do not trust people who sleep in camo' jim-jams inside a camo' shelter, cast 150 metres into the dark and then leave the rods to fish for themselves to come up with a useful idea regarding fishing rods.

Cheers for this, I was aware that modern materials made the possibility of a smaller handle to counterbalance the tip/ length.
But it's also oddly in favour of the manufacturers profits, cheaper materials/ production costs (carbon) coupled with shorter handles means they are saving even more money by using duplon/ shrink-wrap instead of an ever smaller amount of 'expensive' cork.
I blame Henry Ford. Grrr

 

[The Sogster]

Oh and whatever happened to burled cork? It was the dogs danglies.

 

[@Clive]

During lockdown I converted an old built cane fly rod into a gudgeon rod. The 9' 6" rod was built in the 1940's / 50's by J Forrest & Son of Kelso. I bought it at an estate auction in the late 90's for £10 plus commission and used it for 8 or 9 years fishing the Wharfe for grayling. In France I had no use for it, but during covid I had a lot of time on my hands.

After consulting someone who had done the same sort of conversion I opted to cut 15cm from the top of the lower section, and re-seat the ferrule. That left the butt section 15cm shorter than the top section. As the rod has a compound taper much like a Mk. IV Avon I didn't want to spoil the action by removing anything from the top section. To achieve equality of length on both sections I had to extend the handle downwards.

When removing the reel seat I found a hardwood dowel had been spigotted to the cane under the cork. It extended below the cork to allow the reel seat to be fixed to it. I used that to mount a length of whole bamboo that I had cut from a customer's garden. The section of bamboo was dried in our BBQ and then flamed using a blow torch. It was then glued to the dowel and a short pre-formed cork handle added. That was further shaped and sanded down to to fit the original butt cap. The whole cane gives the handle the rigidity required to handle any hard fighting gonks.

 

[Keith M]

Just a thought for those who decide to replace their sliding rings (reel fittings) on the rod handle with standard screw reel fittings:

I used to have an older rod that had a ‘sliding screw fitting’ ie: It was a ‘screw fitting’ that also slid up and down the cork handle until the reel was tightened up into it.
I think it was made by Fuji however I’m not 100% sure.

Do they still sell this type of reel fitting?

Keith

 

[nottskev]

Was this the kind of thing you're thinking of, Keith? On a Daiwa rod from around 2000. Works fine.

 

[Keith M]

Yes it was very similar; only it was not as cool as that one

Can you still buy them from rod making supplies ? If so I’ll probably get them fitted to a couple of my older rods.

Keith

 

[nottskev]

I've only seen them on Daiwa's. There are probably a good few on defunct rods in sheds etc if only one knew where.

 

[sam vimes]

Preferences in rod handle/reel seat configurations are entirely personal. For years, I've shied away from anything that resembled the Duplon of my youth. However, in the past few years, I've grown to love rods that have full EVA shaped handles. The EVA used may well look like the Duplon of my youth, but it does not share the same properties. Once upon a time, I'd have definitely had a preference for a full cork handle, probably with the flattened Daiwa Armlock shaping. These days, I may well prefer a well executed EVA handle. Possibly not as easy on the eye as good cork when new, but far easier to keep clean and looking good in the longer term.

As for carp rods, I suspect that the modern naked handle was largely born out of the use of abbreviated Duplon handles of the 80s/90s. Duplon being terrible must have played its part. It didn't take long before it compressed, went slick and shiny, tore and scuffed and generally looked manky. As many carpers don't seem to like cork, the naked/shrink wrap look was born. I'm not sure why carpers tend to have a cork aversion. However, I doubt I've seen a carper under fifty that owns cork handled rods. My only aversion is to cork used on abbreviated handles. I've always found that look to be slightly ridiculous.

Reel seats are another significant difference between the coarse/match and carp/specialist markets. The latter usually prefers screw up reel seats, the former tends to prefer screw down. As I rarely do anything but float fish, usually with the rod in hand, I won't tolerate a screw up reel seat. That's far less of an issue on a rod that spends the vast majority of its time sitting on rests. Another reel seat development that I can't quite get on board with is the gradual increase in the use of metal.

My personal preferences are full cork/EVA and down locking Fuji reels seats. However, I'm only really particular about float rods.

 

[Keith M]

When I used to make many of my own Carp rods (and specialist rods) I used to always build them with full cork handles which I still much prefer; however nowerdays I just make do with abbreviated duplon and shrink wrapped handles and because they spend most of the time sat in rod rests It’s something that I’ve just got used to now and it no longer bothers me that much.

Keith