Honest question.

I don’t ice fish…. Much (but do watch fishing shows). I’m wondering why the grip on the reel is contrary to the grip on the rod when open water fishing. In my mind, you have more angle in the wrist when gripping the rod for setting the hook but almost every ice fishing show I see has the angler gripping the reel with almost all of the wrist travel used up in the grip. The few times I have ice fished, I’ve tried the reel grip a couple times, and even then it didn’t seem comfortable to me, particularly in a pullover shack.
What am I missing?

In my situation I use a reel grip and the reason is all in the hook set. The hand in a relaxed position with the reel falls in to a radial deviated position or down toward the hole. This offers an ulnar deviated hook set direction from the wrist or straight upward. That amount of movement from the wrist moves the rod tip a lot and can be very fast compared to a rod grip. Th rod grip is going to use an elbow movement into Flexion to set the hook, much more movement needed for the same amount of rod tip movement. Which makes it slower. So for me the quickness is key. Good way to look at it is to hold a rod and watch how much the tip move with the wrist hook set vs the elbow moving hook set. The wrist is much faster because the ratio of wrist movement to rod tip moved is more favorable. Its also comfortable.

But, isn’t a rod grip a combination of both wrist action and elbow action, whereas a reel grip can only accomplish a wrist action and a lifting of the whole setup, effectively taking out any elbow action.

Could it be also that the difference in length has something to do with it also. Humor me here. If you were using a long rod ice fishing, would you still maintain a reel grip? Or would the leverage of the length be too much strain on the wrist?

People do what’s comfortable for them. The typical ice fishing grip gives more control and is much quicker for setting the hook. Works fine with longer rods as well.

Good question. Jason Mitchell told me one time “we like to see guys holding it like this.” I agree that a conventional grip is much better for solid hooksets; it’s physics. I believe there is a possibility that some people think it’s cool.

I used them all..LOL. I don’t super hook set, most times a lift of a foot or so is enough. I also don’t high stick. My rods rarely passes their parallel to floor.

Pencil grip for jig control and tip watching. I’m holding the rod up closer to eye level.

Pistol grip variation for a stronger hook set and fish fighting power. A lot of times the pencil grip transitions to the pistol grip.

Traditional balance for standing up and for noodle type rods. Also for the big lifts jigging movement. All the various positions in between fingers or not at all if wearing gloves.

Palming grip for baitcasting, both variation of thumb bar release spool feathering and the frame palming variation for jigging and fish fighting.

Sometimes traditional casting trigger grip. That’s cuz gloves tend to get in the way while reeling.

Palming variation grip for fly reels. Great for feathering the spool.

Traditional variation grip for fly reels but behind the reel, cuz ice rods do not have the forward handle grip.

I use both grips but after jigging for awhile the reel grip is more comfortable because it keeps my wrist straighter.