I haven't used one myself, but can any users of skeletal seats Both for casting rods as well as for spinning rods) speak of their comfort levels for long days of hard use?

In particular, I am referring to the skeletal seat style where there is no material between the front reel seat portion and the rear reel seat portion. i.e. there is clear space under the reel foot and the rod blank. The reel is suspended in air off the blank between the front and rear portions of the reel seat.

By the very appearance etc. of skeletal seats, it seems that for many folks, the seats would not be kind to your hands for a long day of fishing.

Thanks for any on the water experience.

Roger



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2009 12:27AM by roger wilson.

The initial appearance of them suggests sensitivity because so much of the blank is exposed. I find them totally un-comfortable, and the sensitivity increase so small (if there is any) I can't tell.

They seem to be a "hot" new thing, but I would rate them as un-comfortable, and use them only when a customer insists on one.

Hi Roger. Good timing for your comments. I have a thread going asking about an issue with this same design. The reel fits the rod very well. I am building my first skeleton seat rod. I have a couple different customers who are interested in one. This got me interested, and so it goes. I fish a lot, and am interested in finding out how it will fish, especially from the comfort level, and of course the sensitivity issue.
I agree. sometimes "hot" may not always be better. We shall see! I tend to palm the reel when I fish, so it will be interesting what I find out as I fish with it!
Kyle Robinson

I found the Minima spinning seat uncomfortable too so I used the rods ferrule tool to make a hump for it...
[www.rodbuilding.org]

I dont like the feel of the two piece spinning seat, just not comfortable. However the casting is not as bad.The most comfortable seats for me are;
spinning - Aero
casting - castaway

Mike Thompson
Thompson's Custom Rods

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

RodMaker Volume 10 #3 - seat and handle ergonomics.

................

The one skeleton seat that I like is the pac bay minima casting seat. I like it a ton better than my Fuji ACS(gonna get the high points sanded down for more comfort). Anyone else who's tried the minima casting seats likes it. I've never tried a skeleton spinning seat, but I don't image they would be nearly as nice with the way I hold my spinning rods.

I've never used a spinning split seat (as they didn't look like they'd be practical or comfortable at all). However, I've used casting split seats for quite awhile, and I find them quite comfortable, and I've not had any customers say any different. It seems to me that the practical difference between a typical ECSM and a split ECSM is almost nothing. Minor amounts of material are removed from the seat on the underside (so that more fingers touch the blank), and the top of the seat is irrelevant, as the reel is there. I guess it might depend on how one palms his reel? It might also depend on the o.d. of the blank.

The assumption that any reel seat fits all circumstances may prove incorrect.

Hard to fit a square peg in a round hole!

A grip is a grip is a grip for a custom builder presents opportunities not obstacles.

Size of blank (diameter at seat position)

Type of rod (cast - spinning - fly - standup ........)

Type of use (finger front, palm, splits)

Duration of use

Length of rod

Weigtht of rod

Specific customer method of holding - which hand - switch hand -

If trigger how many fingers in front and which hand -

Pitch - Flip - Long cast -

Type of reel - profile

Non forced fit to allow finger shift to prevent numbness during long duration.

N on N on N on N on!

A funny thing happened on the way to the circus - I built a heavy flipping stick for an Elite with a fully exposed Castaway seat - I was real proud of the build - his comment was that was the best seat I ever had on a flipping stick, I absolutely love it! Trying to pitch a sale on him I made the comment - those seats really provide maximum exposure and many thing they are real sensitive - WRONG WRONG - He comes back with "Bill I really don't care about seat sensitivity on a flipping stick - what I really like is that there is nothing to it in the middle - before a tournament I pass the time in the hotel wrapping all my working sticks for the next day with Rod Wrap around the blank and under the reel it get the specific shape I want to fit my hand for a comfortable day at work" - Brent Chapman

Using a Minima seat and doing everything else like you are used to is not the way to go. The way I build a spinning rod with a Minima seat makes one of the most comfortable rigs that I have ever used.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

The secret is to make the rear grip large diameter, short, and nearly spherical. The result is that it feels like you are holding a ball in your hand and it is very comfortable. The second thing I do is to make the threaded barrel as small as possible and put a nice radius down to the blank.

The other thing that nobody is talking about is that using 2 piece seats that have a lot of blank showing works much better on larger diameter blanks.

Right on Mike - filling the hand is the key to a comfortable spinning rod seat -

[www.rodbuilding.org]

I build my split spinning seats similar to Mike, but with up locking instead. It is very comfortable to fish all day, though I rarely throw a spinning reel that long. IThe split casting seats are about all I build and I have never had a complaint about comfort. In fact, I have not sold a solid seat in over 6 months.

I'm not a fan of split seats on spinning rods, I just don't find them comfortable. I am mixed when it comes to casting rods. For larger dia. blanks I will split a reelseat for weight savings, more blank contact, and aesthetics...customers have come to expect it. On smaller dia. blanks it can be pretty uncomfortable...for the middle of the road blanks I use the castaway seat...for super small blanks, or my crankbait sticks I use an ecsm....that seat is just comfortable to hold.

Scott Sheets
www.smsrods.com

I can see the weight savings - But a casting rod the only place you feel the BLANK is just before the trigger, on spinning rods maybe the top of the blank ??

But you do need some thing to fill your hand ??? That hole in the center.

So why not take the weight off where needed, yet make it feel good when using it ??

The Aero seems to be the only seat that - tends - to fit the bill.

Now if it could be made in larger sizes ???

Bill - willierods.com

I just fished one of mine all day yesterday for the 1st time : [www.rodbuilding.org]

I have to say that the rod was one of the MOST comfortable rod/reel seat I've fished in a very long time-maybe ever, it is a Castaway seat, cut and ground down, and shortened at the nose. After fishing this style for myself, I doubt I'll ever buy ANY OTHER for my rods. I have a 2nd rod in process with the castaway that I did NOT split that I am working on....I already have the seat epoxied in place and it ticks me off now that I didn't split it! I liked the split style so much I may whack this one off and re-do it. Never tried a spinning one.

DR

DR:

I've had that same experience. I love the feel of the split seats, and wish I could go back and change all the other seats on my personal rods.

But, I did have one customer who loved the split seat, but didn't like the odd little bit of torque that twisted the reel in his hand when he fished. (NOTE--this happened because I sized the seat for a specific Shimano reel, and he likes to change reels often, and he doesn't use a standard reel [i.e. he uses reels from every manufacturer]). So for him, that Castaway seat--not split--is the perfect option. It gives almost as much contact with the blank as a split seat, and he can switch reels all the time, and the reel foot size doesn't matter.

It taught me that I really need to ask my customers if they swap reels, and if they do, do they swap from Shimano to Daiwa to Abu, etc.

The spinning seats are just plain uncomfortable to me. There's no support where you need it and after casting and reeling all day my hand felt cramped and tried. Almost too treid to crack a cold one and wash the boat.
Either that or I just like the Aero and Fuji NPS spinning seats too much.

Roger

I personally don't like the feel of a rod with just skeletons. Casting or spinning.

I was recently doing a build for someone, on a heavy Bass rod, and they wanted the Minima seat. At the last minute he contacted me to change to an ECS seat. One of his other rods with a skeletal casting seat had flexed so deeply that the reel came out of the seat. Not fun when fighting a big fish.


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Better to have and not need than to need and not have.

I don't like skeletonised grips on spinning rods for that reason. They do not fill the hand. More importantly, they do not fill the PALM of the hand. Mike, your photo with the Minima has nthing in the palm, just the "ball" of the rear grip and fixed hood under the heel of the hand.

Ergonomic skeleton, IPS, VSS, SBS all pointing in the right direction in my opinion, and now I have seen the SBSS seat, I think that one might well be the most comfortable. I personally use a size 18 Fuji skeleton with a cork or hgih density EVA middle barrel, shaped exactly like the SBSS.