It may be a dumb question but I am building a MH saltwater boat rod for stripers and blues. I am using EVA grips and an AT Aluminum reel seat with 2 locking nuts. I have never been able to find any hard info on the best way to install these types of seats....with the threads against the fore grip or down against the butt. I always look at production rods and in brochures and there seems to be about a 50/50 split. I have tried both and there doesn't seem to be much difference in handling.

What is the common wisdom around here?

Thanks in advance for all your input.

Joe

Hey Joe,
I personally don't like laying my fingers on reel seat threads at all. Towards the end of the day my fingers start to get uncomfortable and I don't fish as well. Usually the threads on my reel seats are towards the butt of the rod. I would find a similar rod that you are comfortable fishing with all day long and orient the reel seat of your current build the same way. Just my opinion,
Matt

There's really no right or wrong answer here -- either way will work -- but I'm with Matt on this one: I don't like my fingers, or anything else (my palm, for example) touching the locking nuts. This is partly for comfort/ergonomics, but mostly because I don't want the nuts to loosen during fishing, and the more you touch the nuts, the better a chance there is that you can inadvertently loosen them. And if you do this, of course, you'll find out you did this when a good fish is pulling drag, and you pick up the rod and the reel falls in your lap. (I should note, also, that so far -- and for me, this is amazing -- I've resisted the urge to make a sophomoric joke about how many times I used the word "nuts" in this paragraph).

There's an easy method for testing this, something that will take you five seconds. Put the reel seat on the rod, about where it will be after you install it, put the reel in it, and put your hands where they'll be while you're fishing with it and (if applicable) casting it. You'll probably see that on conventional rods, your right hand will sit, when casting, just below the reel; this is especially true for baitcasting (conventional reels that will be cast) setups. So for conventional rods, I usually put the nuts above the reel (downlocking). On spinning rods, if you hold the rod with the reel stem between your index and middle fingers, the base of your palm will probably sit on the reel seat below the reel stem; because of this, I put the nuts above the reel to get them out of the way.

Again, there's no right or wrong answer, and sometimes there are oddball situations (like when a guy holds a spinning reel between his ring and pinkie fingers) when you'll want to do something that might seem unusual. But this is worth paying attention to: a small amount of thought about which way to orient your reel seat will pay dividends later. It's attention to small details like this that separate the good, conscientious rod builders from the mere rod assemblers.

You hit it on the head Chris,
I'm the guy that holds a spinning rod with the reel stem between my ring and pinkie fingers. I cannot stand it when the fingers I depend on for my casting accuracy and feeling the lure are on the threads. Hence, why I cannot fish as well at the end of the day with a spinning rod with a down locking seat. As such, all of the spinning rods I've built for myself have up locking seats. That is the most comfortable setup for me.
By the way, it drives me nuts when I fish with a particular buddy who always holds a spinning rod completely below the reel stem. But, that works for him, and if he wanted me to build a rod for him, he'd get a down locking seat. I'd say that if you build a rod with your fishing style and comfort in mind, you'll probably end up with a rod that you quite enjoy fishing with.
Matt

I like the nuts upward A lot more comfortable Try it both ways and see how you like it

Bill - willierods.com

Up for me.

Thanks guys for your help and Chris....I am still chuckling as I agree ..."the more you touch the nuts the better"...:)

This rod is a conventional boat rod for me and I have a bit of a unique problem.....I will be using it for drifting bait and chunking while anchored. In both instances I always end up holding the rod in my right hand from just below and behind the reel....then while fighting i have my left hand above the reel and crank with my right. I get the threads one way or the other and I am much too old to change.

I am going to go with the threads down as I think it bothers me less while fishing than while fighting a fish.

For a spinning rod though I can clearly see that threads up would be the ticket.