The Daiwa Dave Harrell tourny float rods have a mix of cork and eva handles. The eva ( if that is what it is) is fitted where you hold the rod and is shaped nicely and very comfy in my hand. The shape of it is my favourite out of all my float rods. It does seem to be standing up to usage ok but has gone a bit smooth and kinda shiny despite me keeping it as clean as possible during use and wipeing and drying it off after every outing.
I've always been fine with rods of no longer than 14ft but I had an underlying desire to get a daiwa tourny pro bu 15ft float rod. I don't like the usual tourny reel holders as i've had issues with them damaging reel feet due to the way they screw around the reel foot and tighten as they go, but, the tourny bu has a normal fuji reel seat which looked nice. Anyhow, last March I managed to get hold of one and took it out fishing within a day or so of getting it. If i'm honest the rod did feel a little wierd to me but after fishing for no more than about 10 minuites I had got more used to using it and was glad i'd taken it, as there was a downstream wind and the extra foot of length on top of my 14 footers did make controling the line easier. The handle on the bu rod is a mix of eva and cork, the screw down forend is eva, directly behind the hand where my hand rests is cork and below that is a longer length of eva with a nice flat arm lock and the handle feels very nice in my hand. The rod grew on me so much on that one session that half way through the session I phoned the shop up and asked if they could get me another one.
They got back to me and told me they had got two sections but would daiwa would only be able to get/make me the missing section for July. Since there was no deposite I ordered it and only got it a couple of weeks back!
So, from never likeding a rod over 14ft i've gone to having two 15fters now lol.
For myself a 15ft rod is usefull if im wading in a wide section of river, especially if there is a downstream wind, and also if fishing off the bank on a wider river. If fishing a deeper stretch the extra length makes casting easier also. A15ft rod has the bonus of being able to reach over bankside and marginal undergrowth on smaller rivers. So I think it is well worth having one in your rod room.
