Fashion?

A trend I've noticed is anglers swinging away from abbreviated handles and towards either full cork or full Duplon. Pike anglers have been keen on full cork for a long time but carp anglers have been asking me to cork their rods for the last couple of years. I wonder if they are realising how impractical those shrink tubed butt grips are? Far too skinny to get a good hold on for a powerful cast in my opinion. And the tiny metal butt buttons are painful to stick in your groin when giving a fish some stick. Possibly why that stupid habit of poking a finger under the rod half way to the butt ring has become common place.

Since the start of this year I have been asked to build new rods with full Duplon handles and to retro-fit them to a fair few sets of existing rods. I've never been too keen on full Duplon handles myself, but seeing them fitted to more rods is almost convincing me to give them another try. At least I'd be able to fit a Fuji butt cap, which is always my preference but which never seems to look quite right with a short butt grip.

There are the usual choices for reel seat with Duplon. I think the DNPS with stainless collars looks sleekest.

Some people prefer the all black and more traditional looking DPS with front flare.

Despite this my next pair of rods are going to be built completely against this grain in ultra-minimalist style. They'll probably look as ugly as sin, but they'll be practical for what I want to do with them. Watch this space!

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