Curious. I've never built a pistol grip since I'm always trying to balance my rods.

My understanding is that pistol grips are used most often on bass rods which aren't exactly lightweight blanks as they need some power to haul in the bass.

So doesn't that make for a very unbalanced rod with constant torque on one's wrist?

Would someone enlighten me the advantages of the pistol grip and whether it is fatiguing to use or not? I do like the way they look.

Thanks,
Mo

They were popular, and pretty much standard, on bass casting rods for at least a couple decades. They were an offshoot of the standard straight, but short, casting handles used since the early 1900's until the late 1970's. I believe FeatherWeight may have been the first to utilize an actual "pistol" grip on their handle sometime in the mid-1970's. Perhaps a bit earlier - Gene Bullard did an article on that handle in a past issue of RodMaker.

Aside from simply being "the thing to have" they were said to allow a better grip (ergonomically speaking) than the straight handled models of the say and their short profile allowed all sorts of casting angles and techniques to be employed as there was nothing to catch on your gut, clothing, etc.

The 2-handed grips found on the Lew's Laser Rod handles of the early to mid-1980's pretty much spelled the end for pistol grip casting rods. A few of the 2-handed rods still featured a pistol grip swell in that area, where the first hand held the rod just behind the reel seat. The Laser Rods had this feature.

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Mo;
I can’t give you all the rationales for them, but here is a couple more to bass type fishing

When using twitch type jerk baits and some top water plugs were you predominately work the rod in a downward position the pistol shape help to keep the end off the handle from slapping the inside of your wrist or forearm. Eliminating soreness that comes after hours of repetitive strikes of the handle against them.

When working in close to your targets (boat docks, brush, over hanging limbs ect.) the shorter slightly off set in the handle provides some extra room for wrist movement when side arm and roll casting. Longer straighter handles tend to get in the way even hanging in your clothing some times

I think that part of the reason that the pistol grips were used was because the casting rods then were really really short because the rods were so limp. Those super short, limp, light rods could easily be casted with one hand. I am just thinking out loud.
James

Many very, very stout rods featured pistol grips as well. But back in the 60's and 70's, the general length was 5-1/2 to 6 feet. Even shorter in the preceding decades.

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I have built several 6' rods with pistol grip that guys are using for jerkbait rods mostly at Lake Erie. That's all they will consider using. Has to be rough on the wrist as they will catch 75 to 100 smallmouith a day per boat.

Mike Thompson
Thompson's Custom Rods

It is impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious!

I like a pistol grip on a short rod I use for throwing small crankbaits in and around cover. It allows me to make very accurate casts and so much easier to hang onto the rod with one hand.

It's not as bad on the wrist as one would think. If you think about it the wrist is really in the same position. Most guys palm the real anyway. But I agree with the jerk bait comments the short pistol grips work great. I have also built several pistol grip rods for young kids. The idea is they are less appt to let the rod slide through their hands when learning to cast.

I came up with a neat little idea to turn the pistol grip rods on my rod lathe. I used two stiff pieces of wire (blow dart wires from my kid) twisted loops in the ends and glued them to a 4 inch piece of rod blank. The wires extend beyond the piece of blank on one end with the loops facing outward on the other end leaving one inch of the blank exposed. I stick the two wires into the end of the pistol grip on the center axis, and wrap rubber bands around the pistol grip and connect them to the loops. When your done simply remove the contraption and fill the two small holes with filler. It works great.

Uh, I think what everyone is speaking of is the word "pistol grip". The actual one hand grip has been being used pretty much since fishing with a bait casting reel was began I would guess in the 20s. Myself , I can remember using a shakespear direct drive to cast with and could cast it just as far as the then new ambasadors. As to the comment of " it must be rough on the wrist" I have never heard of anyone say that before. This subject matter causes me to remember a time when at a fishing trade show I happened to be speaking to a fellow by the name of Al Clark . One would have thought that being one of the two men who started the rod building business in the 70s people would have known who he was.. But while I was there noone came up to speak to the rod building guru. Which basically brings us back to the subject of grips for a bait caster. The only time that one needs a butt section on a level wind is when they are casting 4 ounce pyrimid sinkers. Any other time stick with what people are calling a pistol grip and you will learn the correct way to fish a level wind.