Help with Fish Poison options

[Virginiaducks]

New here, first post, so please have patience. Caught my first saltwater fish out of an old rental boat in the Shark River. Moved south, haven't been back for many years. I'm now in a position to come back to the area to fish the party boats. I have been in touch with Kevin Bogan to build me a blackfish rod. I would like to solicit your opinion on 2 specific upgrades to the fish poison tog rod : a cork grip and/or a composite blank. For those of you who fish them, what are your thoughts?

[shrimpman steve]

I'm a die hard cork guy. But that is purely a personal preference.

[SplitShot]

I prefer my glass rod for blackfish and the handle is whatever you like, not going to catch more fish either handle you choose

[frugalfisherman]

I bought two 7 1/2 ft blackfish rods from Kevin last fall. I got the fiberglass because it is less likely to break than a composite and they are only a few ounces heavier.

[jlrotary]

I personally like cork and composite blanks. I even had some fish poison ones. Great rods for the $. Kevin stands behind his products and the rods are very durable.

[RussH]

I have a 7' composite with foam grip. I love it. If I get another one though I'm gonna upgrade to cork.

[Virginiaducks]

Thanks for the advice. Sounds like the grip is pure preference and doesn't affect how the rod fishes. The E-glass/composite question looks like it's generating some differing opinions. Wish I didn't live 5 hours away so I could handle them. At some point soon I'm going to have to decide. I think l talk to Kevin this week.

[Gerry Zagorski]

I prefer cork too. Just a personal preference.

[Mike S.]

You will need to bend the blanks yourself to really decide. 50 guys will tell you composite is best for tog and another 50 will swear by glass only. I personally like both. Depends on the day!

[Virginiaducks]

Originally Posted by Mike S.

You will need to bend the blanks yourself to really decide. 50 guys will tell you composite is best for tog and another 50 will swear by glass only. I personally like both. Depends on the day!

This is exactly what I was worried about, although I suspect it's very good advice....5 hours is just too far for me to go bend them. One trip to pick it up and fish it the same weekend is about the best I can do. It's also why I picked a fish poison-sounds like they are all nice, functional rods and I won't go wrong no matter what I pick.