I've tried a lot of different reel seat and fore grip combos in rods and still haven't quite found the perfect setup for me. Specifically, I place my entire hand in front of the spinning reel. Would like whatever seat/fore grip gives the best sensitivity and it light weight.

Currently the best setup I've found is to use one of the contoured American tackle aero seats BACKWARDS, or up locking with a CFX fore grip. The only problem I've found with this is the surface the reel feet sit on is not parallel with the rod. Using it backwards puts the spools axis at a low angle away from the blank. I've noticed slight issues with line slap on the stripper guide on the rods I've built this way.

I've kinda liking the Fuji TVS "V" reel seat and the CRB EXS exposed seat. Just not quite sure the best way to finish out the foregrip. It's just always seemed like you'd lose some sensitivity with those hidden thread pieces. Kind of the reason why I've done a lot of up locking reel seat.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2018 12:41AM by Sean Mitchell.

Im not really that experienced enough to answer this question, but i have to say one of the rods i built is also with the aero, and cfx grips.. And oddly enough, i also put my hand above the reel.. But i put mine on standard, or downlocking.. And its very nice.. One of the best grips ive felt so far.. I used the microwave line control system too.. Helps with line slap i feel.. I used the 2 1/2" cfx for the foregrip.. So basically im not holding the reelseat at all.. If your looking for comfort.. I say stick with the aero, try it downlocking.. If your looking for lighter weight, and since you really dont hold the seat until you have too, maybe make a skeleton seat.. Ive been meaning to try one myself.. But i hear they can be a bit uncomfortable with a full day outing..

A really comfortable setup is like what i have on my fenwick, not sure what it would be called, but its cork.. It runs foregrip through reel seat.. The threads are cased in cork as well, so when you lock your reel in, it creates a full cork reel seat if that makes sense... Ill add a link to a pic..
[www.fishusa.com]

Not sure if this helps, but the aero, or cork handle in my opinion is the most comfortable, but whats comfy to me, probably isnt to you.. Just keep trying diffrent options..

Any foregrip material that provides a level of comfort is going to hamper sensitivity, but I see this argument all the time and believe the "loss" of "feel" due to handle material is negligible at best. I'm sure many will disagree but for me, it has much more to do with weight and stiffness than how hard my arbors are. Build a comfortable handle and then choose a light, stiff (as in fibers of sufficient modulus) blank and load it with good braid.

Back to the question. The HPS thread cover is large enough for the entire hand. Choose cork or EVA. Extremely comfortable any time 3 or more fingers are ahead of the stem.

Sean,
Try this grip and you won't look back.
Build yourself a hidden hood spinning rod handle.
It is made by using a size 16 Fuji, or Pac Bay skeletal reel seat.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Put as may cork rings in front of the front seat as you wish - I typically use either 2 or 3 rings.
Then, take one ring and cut out the interior so that the skeletal front reel seat fits inside the ring tightly. Then, take the ring that is just in front of the front reel seat and cut out the interior slightly so that the edge of the reel seat that sticks through the riing holding the front reel seat can sit nicely into the depression that you cut into the back side of that ring.

Then, place three rings on the blank that will serve as the base of the reel seat. I use the sander to trim down these three rings to be just a bit higher than what the finished sest will end up being. This means less sanding in the final project.
Then, place the back reel seat that has the threads and the reel holding nut. When this is fitted to the blank, you will use foam arbors on the inside of the seat for a nice fit.
Also, use a foam arbor on the front skeletal seta that is fitted inside the front ring just in front of the reel. Finally, put on an appropriate number of rings to form your rear grip and butt.

I glue up the three pieces separately on a mandrel or threaded rod. The front reel seat with the fore grip and the three rings behind the front reel seat.
Then, the foam arbor into the rear portion of the threaded reel seat.
And finally the rings for the rear grip.

I use titebond to glue the rear grip together, as well as the front rings, with the exception of the front reel seat and arbor into that ring. For that gluing, I use 5 minute epoxy for a better bond to the carbon reel seat.

After the glue has dried, turn each part of the grip to shape and when down, seup, and glue in place. The one place where you need to take the time is to get the perfect fit of the reel seat base onto the cork rings. I do this final sanding with all of the pieces clamped together on the lathe, so that you can use a spinning reel foot for the final testing and fitting of the grip to the cork.

When done and in use, you will find that this is an exceptionally comfortable grip with your hand holding only cork for excellent sensitivity and comfort. It takes a few minutes to make, but the effort is well worth it.

p.s. After cutting out the hole in the ring that holds the skeletal reel seat, take the front skeletal reel seat and use a piece of masking tape to cover just the slot where the front part of the spinning reel foot will be placed. Trim the masking tape after a piece has been stuck down to the foot so that the masking tape is covering just the reel seat foot slot and the edges of the slot. The idea of covering this slot is to avoid getting glue into the slot during the glue up of the grip which is very difficult to remove once the epoxy has set.

Have you tried our ALPS Rapid Spin seat [alpsforecast.com] , it’s quite comfortable and everyone who fishes with it loves the feel. There’s graphite, Toray (MVT) and rubberized coating versions.

Do you like split spin seats? Both our ALPS and ForeCast lines have them.

As mentioned for transmitting the sensitivity from the blank to hand a foam core with raw carbon fiber would be among the best – if you must have a fore grip. Take a look at the newly redesigned ForeCast Carbon Fiber grips - [alpsforecast.com]

James Taylor
Batson Enterprises
BatsonEnterprises.com | RainShadowRodBlanks.com | ALPSForeCast.com | Build2Fish.com

I like a longer fore grip on a spinning reel especially for kayak fishing to keep the butt a touch shorter. I think an up locking pipe seat with a dense Eva grip is fine, I can always put a finger directly on the blank for extra sensitivity.

Another thing I like is a carbon fiber tube with an attached plate reel seat. One crazy thought of mine is too attach a Fuji plate seat to a carbon skinned foam fly rod grip.

Mike at Riley Rods makes a unique grip and seat by using a Alps Rapid Spin as a dowlocker. Looks pretty comfy too.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2018 12:06AM by David Miller.

I like the Fuji VSS seat in a size 17 with a KDPS hidden thread hood. Can use it up or down locking. Can use either Fuji VSS cork or Winn grip handles.
Norm

Thanks for all the input. Need to just buy a few and see how they feel.

James,

For the Alps in casting reel seat.... how do you size them? I put a set of caliper on my blanks where the reel seat would go and I have 13.55mm down to 12.9mm. Would I need the 13.5 or the 14 size? I noticed that the carbon tube only comes with 13.5 and under.

For the spinning reel... I noticed that the smallest diameter carbon/foam grip is still slightly bigger in diameter than the size 16 reel seat. I'm using 2500 size spinning reels but could I bump up to a size 17 so the outer diameter of the reel seat matches the diameter of the fore grip? What do people usually do for the size 16 reel seat?

thanks

Just shape your grip to the size of the reel seat that you are using.

Good luck

For my hand grip I don’t like a size 16 pipe spinning seat and much prefer a 17 or 18mm . The only exception is the seats with the palm swell like the Aero. Go with the size that suits you best.

For ALPS casting TexTouch and MVT you’ll want to go with a 13.5 – always want it as exact as you can. If their a hair too small to slide where you want it then you can ream it out a little bit.

On the Rapid if you were to go with the small numbin FCFG.875-375 fore grip it matches up fairly well with the size 16 – though a hair to small on the 17. Here’s side by side photo: [alpsforecast.com]

None of the other carbon fiber fore grips will fit flush. Normally we just put a winding check there instead of a fore grip.



Sean Mitchell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for all the input. Need to just buy a few
> and see how they feel.
>
> James,
>
> For the Alps in casting reel seat.... how do you
> size them? I put a set of caliper on my blanks
> where the reel seat would go and I have 13.55mm
> down to 12.9mm. Would I need the 13.5 or the 14
> size? I noticed that the carbon tube only comes
> with 13.5 and under.
>
> For the spinning reel... I noticed that the
> smallest diameter carbon/foam grip is still
> slightly bigger in diameter than the size 16 reel
> seat. I'm using 2500 size spinning reels but
> could I bump up to a size 17 so the outer diameter
> of the reel seat matches the diameter of the fore
> grip? What do people usually do for the size 16
> reel seat?
>
> thanks

James Taylor
Batson Enterprises
BatsonEnterprises.com | RainShadowRodBlanks.com | ALPSForeCast.com | Build2Fish.com

Thanks James,

That response and picture was exactly what I needed.