The pistol grip

My father was a farmer in Arkansas and loved to fish when he had a chance to go. One day, my older brother and his best friend were catfishing on the Mississippi next to where the barges unloaded. Dad would always come around and see how us boys were doing whether we were hunting or fishing. He hollered over at them and told them to come and get him so he could catch some fish. When they pulled up they asked him if he had a pole or did he need to borrow one of theirs. He said, oh no, I went to wal-mart and bought me a brand new 808 with a pistol grip! He was so proud of the pole and bragging for the boys to take a look. They got him loaded and boated back over to one of the barges and tied up. Dad was still bragging about the pistol grip on his pole. He baited up the hook with a catalpa worm and on his first cast the pole flew into the mississippi river and left him with only the pistol grip in his hand! My brother said he yelled out a few choice words before they had to take him back to the landing because he had lost all ambitions to catch any fish!
My Dad passed away a few years ago and we have so many fond memories just like that one of the zebco 808 with the pistol grip!

Nice story.

I miss the pistol grips. I still have two old rods that have them. Both rods also have the offset reel seat designed for spincast reels. Made it very easy to "palm" a spincaster.

That's hillarious and heart-warming. Also the kind of memories I hope my son will tell his son (or daughter) about me one day. Although I prefer it to be about me catching some kind of world record.....but it won't, it'll be about my tipping a pirogue in the honey island swamp or trying to fish speckled trout on lake ponchartrain... in that very same pirogue...more than likely.

Adam

Thanks for the laugh. Something similar happened to my brother when we were fishin' one time. I really belly laughed at him, much to his angst!

aj

This brought back a fond memory I had of my brother-in-law. He was always good about taking me along on his fishing excursions when I was a teenager. The pistol grips were all the rage then... and I remember him fishing with a rod that had a wooden pistol grip and a fancy bait caster reel. I can remember using the lowrance.... eg the "green box"... so that tells you how long ago it was . It was march and quite cold out. My BIL went to make a cast and the pistol grip slipped out of his hand just as he made the forward cast. That rod made a perfect arc that any geometry teacher would be proud of. I can't remember all the words that came out of his mouth, and there were probably some I had never heard of before. We sat dumbfounded and looked at each other for what seemed an eternity. I ended up digging thru my tackle box and found a big swivel and tied it to my line. I then grabbed a whole bunch of different size hooks and put them on that swivel in different directions until it wouldn't hold another. After adding a weight to the line , I started casting. To my brother-in-law's surprise and delight...I managed to snag one of the eyes on the rod and got it back for him. That was one unbelievable catch.

HHD

Good story! I remember the old pistol grip. I thought that they wer gone by now, but my partner came up with a new one last year. he was as proud of that thing an a speckled pup. I know that WM has them on the shelf, just didnt know anyone purchased them.

Thanks for sharing.

My brother and I fished from jon boats in the Orlando area for years. I love him dearly, but I think he's kinda goofy too. We usually Bass fished with plastic worms of one variety or another, and caught quite a few fish on most days. Citified lakes sometimes don't get much pressure. After catching a nice fish, removing the hook, and showing him off, He picked up the rod to make the next cast. I had turned around back to my own fishing, when I heard him cuss, an odd noise, and the 12' jon almost turned over. I looked back and he was gone. I'll shorten it up a bit. He still had fish slime on his hand. when he went to cast, you guessed it, the rod went flying. He cussed, threw his glasses on the bottom of the boat(the odd noise), and dove after the rod. And he came up with it. That happened 30 yrs ago, and I haven't let him forget it yet. Yes, it was a plastic pistol grip handle. He was in the middle of setting a record at the time. We fished 7 times, he got wet every time somehow or another. I think this was number4.