I am about to start building a Batson RX7 9' 10wt 4pc blank for use at Christmas Island . Are there any issues or problems with adding a fore grip to this blank?

My last trip there the Giant Trevally wore me out trying to single hand them!

Phishin Phool

The tendency when using such a long rod on very powerful fish is to reach up on the rod to reduce the leverage advantage the fish has on the angler. If you reach too far, you go past the most powerful part of the rod; the part that should be bearing the brunt of the fight. At that point you effectively put the load on a section of blank that wasn't designed to handle it and the result will be a broken rod.

If you decide to add a foregrip, I'd suggest something such as the RodMaker grip shown in one of the grip templates from the magazine - add a 4 inch integral fighting grip onto the standard 7 to 7-1/2 inch grip. This allows you to cast normally but regain just a bit of leverage in the fish fighting mode by sliding your hand an additional 4 or 5 inches forward when needed.

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Phil,
One of my favorite fishing destinations in the world is Kirabiti, Christmas Island. I've spent about 3 months there fishing for everything from bones to Black Marlin.
I have found that a 10wt. is good for the GT's that are under the 40 pound class anything over that calls for a 12wt or larger blank particually if fishing from a boat over deep water. A 10wt just doesn't have enough guts in the butt section to get his head up if he's under your feet and you are forced to fight the fish straight up and down. You'll end up losing flylines and tippets or breaking the rod.
If you want to add a fighting grip do not split the grip from the casting portion of the grip, if you do you will end up putting your hand in the section between the two. The overall length of the grip that we use on our 12 wts is 12.5 inches. For a 10wt a grip of 11 inches is about right. The diameter should be 1 inch or more to reduce stress on the hand, those fighting grips you see on most big game fly rods are useless.
Another way to measure the right size for you is to measure from the end of the fighting butt up to where you feel comfortable gripping the rod without locking your elbow out. Mark the space between your ring and middle finger and add two inches. If you are of average size that distance should be around 16 inches or so. Therefore the overall length of the fighting butt, reel seat and casting/fighting grip will be 18 inches.
Hope that's not too confusing.

Michael A Taylor
Bluewater Fly Tackle

This site may give you some info on rods to handle those hefty ones - [www.meiserflyrods.com]

Bill - willierods.com

Thanks to all for their responses. I have fished Kiribati numerous times always wading (don't like fishing from a boat (maybe because I get sea sick) and have found a 10wt adequate for the Trevally found in the surf and flats.

I am interested in Tom and Mike's suggegstions for actually just lengthening the grip. Sounds logical.

The grip that Batson uses for their switch rod blanks, looks very much like the grip Tom discribed and the part number makes me believe that saltwater rods was it's original intent. The part number is SW 1175S-300.

Thanks again to all who have responded, I'm going to go with the extended grip rather than a separate fore grip. As I build all my own grips, I can do some experimenting before the final.

I think this is what Tom is referring too, it works really well....

[www.beulahflyrods.com]

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information,which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance--that principle is contempt prior to investigation."
- Herbert Spencer

The grip we introduced wasn't shaped quite like that, but is at least similar. Everything is made together so you don't have 2 separate pieces.

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