If you were to have 2, 11wt rods of the same make and model, one with a fore grip and one without, how would they compare? Is there a sacrifice in casting ability for fish fighting ability? Is there only added weight but no loss in casting performance? Please enlighten me.
There will be no difference in casting performance. There is no disadvantage to having a foregrip. It does provide an advantage in that it creates a safe place to place your hand farther up the grip to reduce the leverage advantage that a fish has. Some people will argue this but they ignore the physics. The farther up you move a hand on the rod, the less force you need to apply to pull with a given force compared to having the hand closer to the rod butt. This is why people often just naturally move a hand up the rod blank when fighting a fish - it is instinctive to try to use less force to apply the same amount of pressure. The foregrip helps by distributing the pressure apply to the rod over a larger surface area than just dripping the blank, and it is much easier on the hand. The added weight is insignificant on a rod that size and the grip does not affect the flex of the rod. If you have the grip you don’t have to use it, but if you don’t have one and decide you need to move your hand up the rod a bit you may be asking for trouble. Jerry Siem from Sage made a posting on Dan Blanton’s website back in 2005 (March 2 to be exact) addressing just this thing. His point was there was an advantage to having the grip and no disadvantage. I have foregrips on all my rods 11wt and above and am pleased to see that some companies (TFO and Albright are two) have added foregrips to 10wt class rods.
There is only one major disadvantage to having foregrip on a fly rod.
It makes it easier to break the rod. Since you have more leverage if you pull higher on the blank, you can thus apply more stress to the blank.
That being said, if you can control the presure you apply and count on a properly set drag, then that issue is handled and the wieight/casting issues are, as Tailingloop points out, not an issue with a rod of this weight.
Buddy
Buddy,
According to Jerry Siem’s comments if the rod blank is designed properly for a foregrip, and the foregrip is properly placed (not too high up) , then the blank is not compromised. Moving the hand above the foregrip can lead to disaster. Most foregrips are only 2 -3 inches above the main grip. Its becoming more common to see heavyweight rods with just a long single grip instead of the foregrip. If you put enough pressure anywhere along the blank, even at the butt, it will fracture. Most people are not strong enough to apply this sort of pressure in the lower section of the rod - its much more likely to break the rod in the mid through tip sections due to use of a poor rod angle.