Made in America Since 2005

Three rubber industry guys. One small shop in Ohio. A grip that doesn't slip.

How it started

The original Reel Grip came out of a workshop in 2005. Mark Shull — a serious bass angler who'd spent his career in the rubber industry — had been tinkering with the idea of a flexible, slip-proof grip that would slide right over a baitcaster handle and give you something to hold onto when conditions turned wet, hot, or messy.

He brought in two more rubber industry veterans who happened to be anglers too — Dan Broadbent and Angelo Savakis — to help develop the product and get it in front of the right people.

The "right people," it turned out, were standing on the docks at the 2005 Bassmaster Classic in Pittsburgh. The three of them showed up with a pile of sample grips and handed them to every angler and half the spectators they could find. Twenty years later, those samples are still out there on reels all over the country.

How it's still made

Every Reelgrip product is manufactured at Raydar, Inc. — a small rubber molding firm in Wadsworth, Ohio. The whole operation runs with nine employees. Our material suppliers are all American, most of them within a couple hours' drive in the Northeast Ohio region. No overseas factory. No subcontracted production. Same shop, same crew, same way since day one.

The lineup, over time

The original Reel Grip was built for low-profile baitcasting reels. The Rod Grip followed soon after — same silicone idea, sized for rod handles instead of reel handles. In 2014, we introduced Reel Grip-X at the ICAST Exhibition in Orlando — a tactile, textured grip for anglers who wanted extra feel. A year later at ICAST 2015, Reel Grip Fly came out for fly reels, in both small arbor (freshwater) and large arbor (saltwater).

That's the lineup. Five products, all silicone, all made by hand in Wadsworth.

What's next

We're always looking at the next thing — new colorways, new sizes, the occasional new product line when an angler tells us something they wish existed. If you've got an idea for a grip we don't make yet, or a problem you've been working around with electrical tape and duct tape, send us an email. A real person reads every one.

Get a grip. Made in America since 2005.