I purchased a TF39 a little over a year ago from tenbum and while it is a really neat rod I (and most reviewers) noted that the handle is not great. Really thin and straight cork that looked good but made the rod fairly uncomfortable to fish with for long periods. Plus I have big hands which compounded that. At 390cm the original rod weighed 2.6oz on my scale and some tip heaviness. After seeing that Riverworks rod co was doing custom carbon fiber handle replacements on Oni rods I reached out to owner Jeff Lomino to see if he would be willing to try something similar on the Tenryu. He told me the carbon fiber swap is exclusive to Oni rods but that he could a fiberglass/carbon handle of which he also had in red! Ive since received the finished product and could not be happier. It’s really uograded the rod. It feels much much better in hand. The grip brought the weight up to 3.7oz and moved the balance closer to the hand so the rod feels better balanced to cast. Ive fished it a few times and i’m very happy with the decision to have this done. It’s givin the rod a new life and it wont just be sitting around looking pretty and collecting dust. The attached pics are by Jeff right before shipping the rod back.
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That looks amazing! Congrats! Jeff at Riverworks does great work. Love my ZX4 tactical nymphing rod.
Thanks Jeff! I also have a ZX-4 and I really like the handle which is what led me in this direction.
Ryan, you have excellent taste. The rod is great but you made it even better with the new handle. I also
had the same complaint about the handle. I took lacrosse tape and fixed the problem but your solution is way better.
Thanks Mike. I couldnt be happier with how it turned out. Its a joy to fish it.
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