First I want to thank Spencer Phipps for answering my question about origins of my Lamiglas blanks. Thanks Spencer.

Second, I need some help determining the length of rear cork grip and foregrip for my salmon/ steelhead rod ( it is 8 1/2 feet long and is medium heavy, 2 piece).
Is there any formula for determining the distance between the rear grip and foregrip where reel seat should be located? I plan to use a
Fuji graphite trigger reel seat (TCSM.... 5" length). Any better grip for this situation?

Thanks.... Sam L. Slack samnatslack@comporium.net

Rear cork length for casting rods run between 13 & 14 inches on these rods, 12 inches on spinning rods. I go with a longer fore grip on salmon rods, 4 inches, or more, 2 1/2 inch on steelhead rods. These lengths are set to be as long as they can get without hanging up in your rain gear, or coat while fishing.
Make sure you match the reel's foot size to the reel seat your using, a 16mm reel seat won't fit saltwater sized reel feet on many reels, for instance the Shimano Tecoma reels have such a foot, the Abu 6500 and my Quantum Cabo PTs do not and will fit a 16mm seat.

I know it's a lot about personal preferance, but since most of the time will be spent casting I would optimize the rod for that. I built one a few years ago and made it 12 inches from the trigger to the butt, have a little longer rear grip and butt knob (split grip) than normal, a 4 inch fore grip, and I like it. It is 8 1/2 feet long, casts wonderfully, and is fine for fighting fish. I don't think I would like it nearly as much if it had much more length behind the trigger. And I don't think a foregrip longer than about 4 inches would add anything to the function of the rod.

Sam,
The length of the grip basically needs to be long enough to balance the rod. But, in addition to that, there are a lot of folks that use longer rods like to lay the rods on their hips, and have the butt of the rod along side them when they work a big fish. If that is the case, a 15 inch rear grip is not at all out of line.

Again, a lot of rods used to work bigger fish like to have a fore grip that is long enough to easily supply a comfortable grip in front of the reel to hold the rod while working the fish. Since some of this fishing is done in cold weather, how wide a grip does one need for a gloved hand to be comfortable. 4 inch minimum, but again, that could go up to 6 inches, if the client needs it for comfort and good grip in rainy weather.

A typical salmon and steel head rod is not used in the same fashion as a rod that is used to catch smaller fish, so build accordingly.

Check out the handle lengths for the St. Croix Wild River rods for Salmon and Steel head:
[stcroixrods.com]
These rods are built this way, because a large portion of their customers want the rods to be made with grips this length. A company like St. Croix is very responsive to customer needs. If needs change, the product changes.

Good luck

[www.youtube.com]

Notice how the person using the rod holds the rod when working the big fish? He has the rear grip tucked under his arm and is using the rear grip for leverage for working the fish. This is easy to do, with the length of the rear grip. Not possible if the grip were shorter.

Be safe

Note also he doesn't use the foregrip at all. So 4 inches should do nicely in case your reach up. I don't think any practical length of rear grip will balance an 8-9 foot salmon rod. The only way to balance it is to add weight to the butt. IMHO