Hello everybody. I just got me an pac bay rainforest spinning 721-2 blank and I want to keep it as light and sensitive as possible. Mr. Kirkman´s new guide concept is the best way to go with the guides, but the handle has given me some toughts. I´ve done a search on tennesse handles and came up with a lot of info but theres still a question.Mr. Kirkman said on a previous post that adding some sort of graphite or plastic disks on the place under the reel feet should make it even more sensitive.I understand and agree on that, however, on another post he said that the cork should be able to compress to hold the reel secure in place. It wont be able to do that with the graphite disks right? And yes, we are talking slide rings here, to me tape or shrinking tubes is not an option. What is your opinions? Is a tennesse handle really that more sensitive, or in the long run is a locking reel seat better? Your opinions gentlemen please. Thanks Kim

I may be wrong, but I think you are talking about two different types of tennessee handles. It sounds to me like you would want to put graphite arbors under where the reel will sit if you are using a graphite tube as the handle. If you are using a cork tennessee handle then you can ream the ID of the cork to fit the blank perfectly without using arbors.

If you really want a sensitive handle, go with the Tennessee Sensor handle that Custom Tackle sells. This is a complete carbon fiber tube and is attached using graphite bushings. Myself I finish off the ends of the handle with wood instead of the graphite parts that come with the handle. Also I have found a way to make the graphite slip rings work with the carbon fiber tube. If you cut a piece of rubber that is around .06 thick and is around 3/4" - 1" long and 1/2" wide and place it inside the ring against the tube, you can slip the rings on the reel foot and they will stay in place. As for sensitivity, this handle beats them all as far as I am concerned. Also looking into doing something with the carbon fiber tube and cork combination. This way the rubber pieces will not be needed for the slip rings.

Tennessee Handle -or- Locking Reel Seat? If you just want a straight "up-or-down" vote, with no discussion: FUJI GRAPHITE-BODY LOCKING REEL SEAT. If you want to know why, read on, and you can apply this experience to your situation.

My ability to very specifically address your dilemma is fairly one-sided. While I have handled many Tennessees in stores, I have never fished one. And here's why: I first received a Fenwick UL FeraLite 1-4# spinning rod, which had a cork handle with 2 sliding rings. So the friction of the rings against the recoil of the compressed cork or the slight deformation of the rings themselves is what generates that snug fit that keeps the rings and the reel in place.

Well, you have to decide how long you think that "spring" in the rings & cork is gonna last. If you do not expect to have to remove the reel much for whatever reason (cleaning, repair, travel, switching reels), then the ascribed benefits may favor a sliding ring hold for your reel. Or you may just prefer the elegance of that clean, simple design.

But I wasn't too fond of direct contact with the sliding rings, or the idea that the rings might "slip" while fishing, so I put cloth bicycle handle bar tape over the reel foot & rings & ~ 2" over the cork.

For me, in the long run and over the years, I wound up preferring another comparable rod with a Fuji reel seat. It was another factory rod, a LEWS Speed Stick Graphite UL 1-4# spinning rod with a FUJI (FPS-16) threaded reel seat. Graphite body, stainless hoods, one locking screw. I never worry about that reel coming loose. (And the reels on the two rods are identical - Cardinal 753). The blanks are very different because the Fenwick is that Feralite glass, and the Lews is graphite. But the handle on the Fenwick was actually bigger in diameter than the little Fuji FPS-16mm, even before adding the extra layer of cloth tape.

I don't fish where sand or dirt is likely to get in & freeze the threads, so that is not an extraordianry issue. I really enjoy the security of the Fuji threaded reel seat and I really like the feel of it in my hand. Also, I can remove the reel at will for whatever reason and not have to worry about a loose fit later, or rings gouging into the cork or rings becoming eccentrically oval. (Here's the experience of a rod REPAIRMAN who fixes these failures can tell you more.)

FYI - It sounds like you are using a broader definition of "Tennesee" handle to include all sliding-ring seats. I believe a Tennessee is has sliding-rings over a cylindrical GRAPHITE handle, rather than the traditional cork handle. The graphite would be incompressible, and possibly more sensitive than cork. But a blank with more "zing" - a higher modulus graphite, lighter mass near the tip (quick recovery), etc. - seems to add more to sensitivity than sliding-rings v. Fuji.

I think the way the rod tip responds to the lure and a tap from a hit, and the way the slack line moves on retrieve if lite jigging tells me as much as any sensation thru my hand. If my mind is distracted by my reel seat because it doesn't feel right (too cold, too bulky, too slippery), then I my mind isn't helping, however good my reflexes might be. [I used both these rods for cold weather crappie jigging or shad fishing with darts.] For me, that balance favors the Fuji reel seat over the sliding rings. -IMO, Cliff Hall, Gainesville, FL.

P.S. - Last month there was a good Thread with a hot discussion among some fly-rodders about bucking tradition and building a better fly rod. If beautiful ornate reel seats and handles was not an issue, I think the majority of the postings preferred the utility and dependability
of the threaded reel seat. (And ceramic ring guides, NOT snakes.)

Kim,
Tom may have been referring to building a grip with the plastic spacers in it under your reel's foot. You would make them slightly smaller in diameter than the cork, so the cork could compress and hold the reel in place and you would have direct contact to the blank thru the plastic or grapite.

Exactly. It's not to make the rod more sensitive (cork is very light yet very rigid and does not undermine rod sensitivity). Those hard plastic rings are only there to keep the cork from compressing to the point where you can no longer get your reel to stay put when held with compression rings.

........

Kim,

>>>It wont be able to do that with the graphite disks right?

I think your talking about graphite arbors??? (which is a misnomer)
The graphite arbors are not MADE of graphite. I call em brick foam arbors. They will work nicely and they have some give like cork.

I personally like to tape the reals on..and would rather have a locking real seat than use the "rings".

Lately I have settled in on useing what I call a "Tennessee Real Seat" on a Tennessee Handle.
Its about a three inch piece of the Sensor tube. Once its taped..it all looks cork.

See the photos by KatDawg.

Kim,

After years of fishing with light jigs in fast moving water over light-biting fish, I have found that my favorite reel seat is the one that comes factory on the BPS "Extreme" rods. Take a look at bps.com to see what I'm talking about.

What this is, essentially, is a tenesee grip that has a reel seat embedded in it. The security of a locking reel seat with the sensitivity and hand contact of a tennesee grip.

Surely one of the sponsors to the left carries such a seat, so DEFINITELY check them out before making your decision.

Happy wrapping,

TH

Hey, I live in East Tennessee where the water in South Holston and Watauga reservoirs is clear and the smallmouth get big. I don't want to dispute Tom or the others and I know you mentioned rings and no tape. I have only built 3 rods, but have 5 custom built spinning rods. All my spinning rods(that I use now) are Tn. Handle and none have any rings or plastic spacers.100% cork and Scotch Super 33 electrical tape. This is the preferred method in these parts. I myself have wondered about using brick arbors mixed with cork rings under the area where the reel will be taped ie, cork-arbor-cork-arbor etc..for the 3 to 4 inches of the reel foot, and whether it would be more sensitive. I would find it hard to believe that it could be much more sensitive than what I use already though.