WTB - Pistol Grip Graphite Rods

It's now official that I am the last person on Earth who prefers a pistol grip baitcasting rod, and nobody even makes a decent one these days. Everything has a long handle and is intended for use while standing on the deck of a bass boat. I have to sit, and the long handle models are just too difficult for me to use.

So since they are obsolete, who wants to get rid of your worthless pistol grip graphite rods? I prefer a 6' model, but would consider a 5'6" if it's a good quality rod. I like the Fenwick rods, but there were some good ones made by other manufacturers too. I mainly use the medium heavy models, but might take a medium.

What do you have that you want to get out of your way?

I had one of these and it was a decent rod for the money. https://www.amazon.com/Berkley-Lightning-Rod-Casting/dp/B077BXGM4K I handled one of this series in a 5'6" with an A type handle which is a pistol grip, but was too cheap to buy it. It is a nice rod though. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/st-croix-premier-series-trigger-rod

Thanks for the info. I had found the BPS rod, but decided I didn't wanna pay $150 for a 5'6" rod.in medium action. If it were 6' and MH I might try one. I had not seen the Berkeley rod; I will check it out. But hopefully I am gonna be flooded with offers for good quality Fenwick rods dirt cheap. Come on guys - you can't show up at the bass club with a pistol grip rod; they would laugh you out of the boat. Sell it to me and avoid the embarrassment.

Thanks to wew3006 for selling me a couple of good rods. I'd still be interested in a good quality 6' pistol grip rod if anybody wants to sell one.

Have you seen these at BPS? Not MH but M, only $10.99. Might be worth at try at that price.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-classic-200-casting-rod

wow. I hate I just saw this. I found two older ones while cleaning out my dads boat house and I just tossed them. We probably still have at least 30 rods/reels up there so I'll see if there are any in that stack this weekend.

Dr. B

I looked through every rod at BPS and there must have been 1000 rods there and not a one that I wanted. Most of the junk rods have a pistol grip and none of the decent ones have it. Nobody even makes one; 100% of the good rods are marketed for those who want to fish from the deck of a bass boat while standing up. I talked to the BPS salesman and he said I wasn't the first to complain about this. Another guy had bought a nice rod for his wife the day before and he was planning to take a hack saw to the handle to make it usable for her.

It isn't really the pistol grip that I've got to have; it just has to be a short handle. The 12" handle they all have now forces my hands out away from my body too far and I couldn't fish but a few minutes before my upper back gives out. Adult Scoliosis limits what I can do, but I can still fish a few hours with a pistol grip rod.

I have enough for fishing now, but I won't turn down the chance to pick up a Fenwick or something similar. It looks like the rod manufacturers plan to focus on tournament fishing from now on.

Tell me you didn't just throw away a good quality graphite rod?

They still make pistol grip fiberglass rods like you would see paired with a zebco. They just don't make decent quality graphite rods with any sort of short grip. The industry is probably correct that the $400 rod market needs to be focused on tournament fisherman, but I think there are a lot of folks like me who would buy a $100 rod for fishing from a seat. I guess they think there aren't enough of us.

I think Falcon made a med or med/hvy 5’-6” version at one time. Maybe still do. I have/had one. I may have loaned it out, but can’t recall for sure.

If you have any custom rod builders close they should be able to build one with any lenghth and action you want.
Try Greg Hughes in Gardendale if you don't find any local he can build it any way you want 205.901.4405

PCP, I don’t know what they were. Just pistol grip rods me and my brother got back in the 80’s for a Christmas present. 1st time I’ve seen them in 30 years. Covered in cobwebs and had a cheap reel on them. When I’m back up there Sunday, I’ll see if they got saved.

Dr. B

Thanks for the info; I don't know of anyone who does that. There were millions of rods made in the 70s and 80s and in to the 90s that would work ok for me. If I can't find enough, I may call the guy.

Here you go preacher.
https://www.mudhole.com/search?keywords=Pistol%20grips

Lew’s has a line of pistol grips also. Fairly inexpensive

Thanks, I have looked over their site, but I don't know how hard it is to build one that would be decent. Have you ever bought one of their kits and built a rod? Any idea if their graphite blanks are any good? I got the feeling from looking over their stuff that I could spend $100 to build a rod myself and end up with one of poor quality. But that site is the best option I have found on something new. I would rather buy a Fenwick rod from 1980 if I can.

The only Lew's rods I've seen with a pistol grip were really cheap fiberglass rods. BPS had a Berkeley graphite rod for $40 but it looked and felt cheap. But the good news is I have several usable rods now and can get by ok with these. Caught fish today with both of my new to me rods. Thanks for all the help and comments.

This thread got me curious..... I was surprised to see that there are lots of good vintage rods on eBay.
Including my favorite the old 5’6” daiwa samurai

Their HMX line of rod blanks are pretty good.
What you might want to do is just buy a pistol grip and change out an existing rod you like.
Their warehouse is only about 15 minutes from me, if you want me to get or look at anything for you let me know, I’d be more than happy to.

Thanks for the offer! I have changed handles before, but I found that it was sometimes hard to get a good fit when trying to make a handle fit a rod that wasn't designed to fit it. I have a good Fenwick blank that had a broken handle and the handle I was able to get has never felt right.

The part of rod building I don't know how to do is installing the guides. It isn't clear in the description of their kit if it includes everything I need to build it. I think I would have to buy an installation kit in addition. Do you know if that's right?

Steve my dad switched from all pistol grips to strait a couple years ago. I think they are sitting in drum in his shop. When I get down there next I’ll look.

Great, I'll bet he has some good ones.

Here you go preach.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F274023495820

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F193131656062

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F183969769867

Thanks, SC53, all of those would be rods I could use.

I really liked these myself and thought you might.
Go get em!

I’m fixing to get my old Shimano Bullwhip out and fish with it.
I do it every time one of these threads comes up and I decide I hate it.