i'm building a 15' center pin rod 3 pcs.
my question is i'm thinking of placing my hook keep at the back of the split grip any comments would be appreciated I'm looking for pro and con on this,,,,
Thank you all!!!!!
tight lines

Be careful when you grab the rod! IMHO, place it in an area where your hand would not normally contact the rod.

Gord,
I always put the hook keeper at the back of the rod on a split grip. I generally put it about 1/2 inch in front of the butt cap. For a right handed fisherman, I put the hook keeper on the left side of the rod. For a left handed fisherman, I put the hook keeper on the right side of the rod. This way, the keeper is on the side of the rod that the fisherman has free when he is holding the rod in his preferred hand and the hook in his non preferred hand.

Be safe

Thank you guy that helps me tremendously

I don't like lures or hooks back where I handle the rod. I would consider not even having one; use the frame of the first guide. If you don't like that, a simple loop keeper just in front of the front grip on the bottom works very well on spinning rods. I'm not an expert on center-pin, so don't know if the line would tend to hang on a keeper or not. In another discussion we were considering REC snake guides for keepers because they are so c orrosion resistant, tough, and non-tangling. The main thing is that you don't want to be handling it and you don't want your line tangling on it.

Why would you use a split grip on a long centerpin rod? They always balance terribly tip heavy and are meant to be fished in a tip up configuration.
Lots of guys add weight to the butt end to ease wrist fatigue.

Same as Rick? Why a split grip on a 15' float rod.? Just finished 2 15' CTS float rods full cork on both with burlcork included and still added weight to the butt as per customers request. The 15" is tip heavy to begin with, so your wrist is going to be some sore after a day of fishing. If you are going to add weight and have a split grip that may be a different story just will have to add more weight. When we are talking weight it is 3-4 ozlead. Alos I think haveing the hookkeeper that far back on a 15' rod to be cumbersome. just forward of the fore grip is Ideal on the appropriate side.

Rolly Beenen
Rovic Custom Rods

Rolly,
A hook keeper at the butt of the rod is very convenient for those users who are using leaders that are the same length as the rod.

With a hook keeper at the butt of the rod, the hook can be put into the hook keeper and have the leader tight. If the hook keeper were 2 feet further forward, there would be slack in the leader.
I speak of Lindy Rig rods, which use a sliding sinker on a line that is held to the end of the line by a swivel. Then, the leader is connected to the other side of the swivel.
Generally the swivel is too large to go through the rod's tip, so it is nice to have enough length to be able to keep the leader tight when the rod is not being used without resorting to wrapping the leader on the rod.

By the way, when you weight the butt of the rod, how do you do it?

When I used to weight rod butts, I would use lead tape that would be wound directly onto the rod blank. Then the butt end of the grip is hollowed out to accommodate the diameter of the wrapped lead tape.
By doing this, all of the weight is located on the rear most 1 inch of the rod for maximum balancing effect.

By the way, a huge reason today to go with a split grip is the cost of good cork. If you can put on a 7 inch grip rather than a 20 inch grip, you only pay a fraction of the $$ spent for the larger amount of cork to make the grip.

Be safe

Roger
Have you ever fished with a 15" rod and a float reel attached? then you know it is a pain to reach to the back of the rod to attach the hook to a hookkeeper. I think the biggest thing was why put a split grip on a float rod??? Dont know too many people that are running 15" leads. If you are building a 15" rod with reel seat then the last thing you are worried about is the extra 40 bucks for cork. 350 for blank 100 for seat 100-200 for guides

I have lead wire that the Millwrights use and I make a rope that I insert and epoxy into the blank to add weight.. I would like to get brass weights that I could add to the butt cap but havent found a machinist yet.

Rolly Beenen
Rovic Custom Rods

Guys I think Do-It used to make a mold for casting lead weights for inserting into the blank. I have not checked in a while so they may be discontinued?