The pup, a cork handle, and my local fly shop

Last August the pup was four months old. I kept him him gated on the deck while we at the place in th U.P. One evening coming in from the lake after doing some popping for bluegills I brought the rod up on the deck to clean it, set it down and turned away for 30 seconds to get a drink and in that time the damage was done. The all cork reel seat handle on my custom built out Sage LL 9 ft 4 wt was chewed. I'm not a gear collection guy. The rod was one of two that I have and fish. A bit irritiating and mildly problematic.

4 month old Grif and the damage done

The rod had been originally been built out by Eric at Coren's Rod Reel. Coren's is my neighborhood fly shop.

The store

Eric is really skilled at fixing any fishing equipment and has the shop nicely appointed with equipment, predominantly fly stuff. So I toyed with the idea of doing something about it myself. Cork Filler ? Sand it down ? Finally decided to take it back to Eric and show him the damage to his handiwork. He took a quick look, and said " ah - no problem. I''ll take this section of the handle out, split three cork rings, cement them back in, shape the handle, no problem."

And it turned out just like that.

The repaired grip on my Sage LL 9 ft 4 wt

The man himself ...

Need a fly shop on the North Side of Chicago ? A rod or reel repair ?

Corens Rod & Reel Service

6001 N Nina Ave
Chicago, IL 60631-2411
Phone: (773) 631-5202