Redoing the cork grips on an old St. Croix Premier rod with components from Mud Hole. The rear cork grip was already removed when I got the rod, making the repair job a little easier. I had to get the reel seat off, strip the old arbors and cork, ream out the new cork grips to size, make new tape arbors and glue them all to the blank. Do you have any rods that could come out of retirement with some repair work? Learn how to bring those rods back to life from Mud Hole! #mudholetackle #customrods

Making Cork Grips for a Fishing Rod. Crafting your own cork handles is almost as rewarding as any step in the custom rod building process. It’s not too complicated and can yield a classic, or modern look depending on what cork rings you choose. For this grip we used 1 Spotted Rubber Cork Ring on the ends with AAAA Cork Rings for the majority of each grip. To glue the rings we used ProPaste and to keep them together we used the CRB Deluxe Handle Clamp on a CRB Steel Turning Mandrel with Mandrel W