Friends -

I am trying to locate some demensions and suggestions for the bottom and top grips on a rod I plan on building. It will be on a Calstar GF765L. I will be using an Avet HX (2 speed) with a top shot of probably 50 or 60# mono. I plan on primarily casting live bait to moderate sized YFT and a few wahoo. It might double and throw the occasional jig or bomb for 'hoo.

I don't fish the rail. It will have a gimble but will be fished capped until I hook a big fish. I'm about 5 11 with normal length arms.

So I'm thinking a 10 inch rear grip and a 12 inch foregrip above my aluminum reel seat. Darn hard to get demensions of grips off most of the nice pictures of rods!

Thanks for all sugestions and reflections,

John Esler

Hi John. Guess I will give you my method and see if it works for you. Please understand there is a lot of room for differences of opinions here and mine is just one. If you are leaning more towards the Stand up and fight a big tuna or a tuna of size keep you on this gear for a long time I would think about it in terms of you and your tackle. When I size someone for with the rod and real you are specifying for a long battle with a yellowfin I first put them in the pad and harness type they will be using. Position the pad how you like to use it. Most long rangers her in CA like to wear in about mid thigh. Now take the bland and slip a gimbal on it and insert it in the pad. Here is where I do a little test and sometimes help the angler discover a more efficient way of battling brutes. I ask them to gram the rod where they usually hold it to fight a big fish. Usually this in about 10 to 12 inches above the reel seat. I then Pull on the blank pretty hard which usually almost pulls them off balance. Next I start inching up his forehand and test it a couple times til I find a place that the fisherman feels more powerful and comfortable. This is frequently 16to 18" for someone your height and nearly leaves the arm at a 90 deg. angle to the body. Then is also a good time to show the fisherman the benefits of fighting the fish by bending the legs and winding every a part of a turn as the legs unbend. If you get the timing right big fish can be brought to the boat much quicker and for the marlin guys this is extra important because so many practice catch and release. Now that being said if this rod is more designed for jig fishing and hoos you really dont need the extra long foregrips and a 12 or 14 inch will do nicely. If I didnt explain this good enough just drop me an email and I will try to eplain better. I am lousy with words, more a show and tell type.

The length of the foregrip depends entirely on the type harness you will be using. You cannot factor what that length will be until you decide on your harness.

Once you have the harness, you can put the rod butt in the nock and see how high you can comfortably reach up on the rod blank. The grip should be that long and no longer. You can grasp the grip anywhere from the reel seat up to the top of the grip.

I speak from the experience of having built over 1200 stand up rods for satisfied customers around the world.

I don't Offshore fish, and amnot disputing what was just posted by Mike & Doc - its' SOLID info. I am wondering if this rod is being built for a party boat, specifically an East Coast PB where most guys are not using a harness?

Thanks for the comments so far. I probably need to provide a bit more explanation of my planned use for this rod. James and Mike are absolutely correct that sizing a big stand up rod requires an appropriate fit to the harness that will be used. That's what I did when I made my larger stand up rods like a Calstar 755H and 755XH.

I am thinking of this rod as a kind of "transition rod". I won't be fishing with this rod for (or at least I don't plan on hooking) the big YFT we often get on the longer fall and winter trips out of San Diego. I'll fish this rod when the tuna are mostly schooling size (50-100 pound fish). I can usually boat these fairly quickly with only my small "day belt" (the reel is NOT clipped in) rather than the big stand up harness with a plate down on my thighs.

So the "dilemma" for me is design this to be reasonably "cast-able" with live bait (never trolled), and reasonably good for using without the big harness, by just tucking it up against my belly in a "day belt", while not being impossible to use in the big harness should a cow tuna grab my bait. So BIlly, your comment was pretty good - though it won't be used on east coast party boats, it also won't be used with a harness most of the time!

Hope that is a little clearer. All observations and considerations appreciated.

Regards,
John Esler

Since you are still talking casting bait to grumpy tuna with lighter line and a day belt then I still recommend getting your gear on and set up for the intended day gear. It will likely change the foregrip length 2 to 4 inches. Longer foregrips wont affect casting bombs to hoos much at all. In Fact I had a friend who used to throw my bombs at hoos with his short rods(5.5 Ms and Ls) with 50# and 20 or 30 two speeds. He was very effective with that gear. Of course I am also talking about back in the Clarion days.

Thanks James. I did what you suggested, and put on the day belt. Looks like a 10 inch bottom and a 12 inc top will work.

JE

Boy, that sure seems short. I make a lot of stand up rods and most are 12-14 on the bottom. I always try to put it in the harness like Doc is talking about and it may be a belt or it may be a full blown harness, but then I go one step further and have the guy , or gal, lift varying weights up to 20 or 30 pounds. By doing that you get a real quick idea of the most effecient lengths.

Jim -

My bigger stand up tuna rods use 12 iniches on the butt as you suggested.

But when I placed this blank in my day belt (which doesn't hang down to my thighs like the harness), my best arm placement for the reel and support on the fore grip suggests a shorter butt grip(10 inch).

John Esler