Grips you like and don’t like..

I’m with Matt on this. I thought reverse half wells would be with the bigger side up on the blank and the tapered edge towards the reel seat. A half wells would be the bigger grip at the reel seat and tapered thin edge towards blank.
 
Anyone: What is the difference between the "Fenwick" grip and the Reverse Half Wells grip? If the grip Skyrise labeled a Fenwick grip is different from the Reverse Half Wells it must be a subtle difference.


The primary difference lies in the placement of the thickest part (swell) and the taper. A Fenwick grip has a forward swell (shifted toward the rod tip) with a thinner, tapered back, while a Reverse Half Wells is thickest in the middle and tapers toward both ends, featuring its widest swell near the reel.

I have internet, so an AI bot told me...after I asked...so I don't have to think about how to phrase it.

After about 10 casts I've never heard anyone comment on a grip then ois all about 'swing weight'...
🤣
😁
 
@Chucker : Thank you!

Anyone: What is the difference between the "Fenwick" grip and the Reverse Half Wells grip? If the grip Skyrise labeled a Fenwick grip is different from the Reverse Half Wells it must be a subtle difference.
So subtle that it doesn’t really exist? I would have called that other one a reverse half wells, unless it was on an actual Fenwick rod!
 
@Matt B my forum name is skyriver. Poor skyrise is innocent here. 😁

Here is how modern fly rod makers label the grips these days. No offense @Chucker but those are friggin ancient. 😁
All these grips are presented as if the rod it pointed up. So reel seat down, rod tip up.
Here we go... pay attention! :)

Reverse Half Wells-
Reverse half wells.webp

And...half wells isn't really a thing. :eek:

Full Wells-
Full Wells.webp

Fenwick-
Fenwick grip.webp

Some might say this is the opposite of reverse half wells...which would be regular half wells. But it's not. :)

Cigar-
Cigar grip.webp

Ritz-
Ritz grip.webp

Torpedo-
Torpedo grip.webp


Randy is right, you're a lazy Googler...😁 Now go build a rod!
 
And...half wells isn't really a thing. :eek:

What?! This makes no sense. But that might just mean it’s true.
Randy is right, you're a lazy Googler...😁 Now go build a rod!
No, I’m not. I looked at a bunch of sites, many said different things, and not a one said that half wells isn’t a thing—they said that what you call reverse half wells is half wells. And none had pictures like you show, that I could find. Thanks for that.

I figured I could get the scoop from you all and when a fly rod aficionado like Porter shares my confusion I feel vindicated.

But I guess I have to just trust you because “half wells doesn’t exist” is a minority opinion from what I can tell, jus’ sayin’s all. Anyone care to back Skyriver up on that? Maybe it’s like how “flammable” wasn’t a word, “inflammable” was the word but people thought that meant “non-inflammable” so “flammable” became a word. Because people used it like that, and it was the most commonly understood meaning.

My bad on the name.
 
Haha! I'm just giving you a hard time.
It is confusing and that's the reason I say "half wells isn't really a thing". What I mean by that is this-
Try and find one to buy. It is very hard to find anyone that sells a "half wells" grip or a rod with a half wells grip. Most makers of cork grips or rods would just install a Fenwick grip in order to have what would be a "half wells".
Now, I suppose you could buy a reverse half wells without an inlet and then install it "backwards" and you would have your half wells grip.

I think Fenwick has pretty much replaced "half wells" among rod makers and rod making suppliers. I had no idea flammable was not a word. (y)
 
@Matt B
And then you have a couple of the outliers to consider:

Wes Jordan’s (Orvis) “Comficient” Grip with a modified Thumb Drive …… google it.
Goodwin Granger Hammer Handle. Just what it sounds like. I believe Wes worked there initially.
@Dave Westburg can fill you in on those.
 
Isn't a half wells just a reverse reverse half wells?

Seems logical to me...
 
Another thing that muddies the water, is dealing with grip inlets. Your grip and reel seat must be a match. Most modern reel seats are up-loading w/ a flange for the grip inlets. The builder needs to know the reel seat size and match the grip inlet accordingly. Sometimes the reel seat and desired grip just won’t work. Sometimes no grip inlet is needed at all, as in my personal rods. I only fish stillwater and the beaches. My rod tip is always down, on or in the water. Hence, I prefer a down loading reel seat to balance to rod. They take a grip with no inlet. To muddle things even more, if you use a down loading reel seat with a fighting butt (spey rods) many times you need to find a butt or bottom grip with a proper inlet…oy vey…
 
Hooded reel seats and they have flush (non hooded) reel seats too. Now the new Asquith ii has a flush mount reel seats of a unique style.

IMG_0255.png
 
Last edited:

Well…Helps make the point that there seems to be widespread confusion and/or disagreement about the whole half wells/reverse half wells/Western/Fenwick thing.

But I’m impartial to these….

View attachment 187152

Yeah those are sweet. But are you partial to them or impartial? 😉 😹
I figured those hot rods are something that inflames your passions for woodworking and fishing craft. Or maybe they flame your passions, hell I don’t know anything anymore.
 
Well…Helps make the point that there seems to be widespread confusion and/or disagreement about the whole half wells/reverse half wells/Western/Fenwick thing.



Yeah those are sweet. But are you partial to them or impartial? 😉 😹
I figured those hot rods are something that inflames your passions for woodworking and fishing craft. Or maybe they flame your passions, hell I don’t know anything anymore.
I’ll change my wording……
 
Hooded reel seats and they have flush (non hooded) reel seats too. Now the new Asquith ii has a flush mount reel seats of a unique style.

View attachment 187150

To my eyes, it seem they’re using reel seat/ grip styles taken from the spin/cast world of fishing rods. Spin/cast reel seats work perfectly well with fly reels. I’m suprised the 2-handed fly rod world hasn’t incorporated spinning systems into their fly rods..

 
Last edited:
Well…Helps make the point that there seems to be widespread confusion and/or disagreement about the whole half wells/reverse half wells/Western/Fenwick thing.

Yep, I remember having this discussion around 40 years ago (around the time when my ancient rods were new 🤪). Which direction is forward and which is reverse for a half wells grip? There was no definitive answer then, and not much seems to have changed.
 
Back
Top