Building a freshwater trolling rod as a retirement present for a co-worker and he uses a downrigger with the rod holder attached. I just got finished reading the article in Rodmaker (vol 8, issue 1) on the trolling rods of the Great Lakes by Tom Kohl, and while reading the section on handle material, it is obvious that the grip has some pretty good pressure placed against it . I've used plenty of the exotic burl that Andy sells, and it seems pretty dense and durable, but do you think it would work on an application such as this? Thanks for any help.

Carrington Tate
Durango, CO

Carrington,
Hopefully Billy Vivona will weigh in on this...I think he has asome grips out there made from exotic burl that are being used in rod holders like you describe.

Andy Dear
Lamar Fishing Products

Carrington, I have one rod with Andy's cork which saw about a dozen trips on Party Boats with various rod holders (PVC, steel, and/or aluminum). Please note that we were NOT trolling, they were just holding the rods on the way in and out and between fishing spots. Tehre were no issues at all with the cork, but to be honest, there wouldnt' be any issues with regular cork...UNLESS it were a split grip and the taper of the front of the split grip rested on teh lip of a holder, or the rod got banged around a bit. I cannot offer any advice how it would hold up under teh conditions you are faced with, btu I do know I'd feel a lot more comfortable using Andy's cork instead of regular, but a wide margin.

Carrington,
I'v built a few boat rods using Andy's cork, it's very durable and beautiful. It's much denser and doesn't peel off the handle when taken out of the rodholder under tension, as least not that I've noticed. All mine are also finished in a couple coats of Tru-Oil which may also help.

Thanks for the response fellas...have a great weekend.

Carrington