Putting together my first rod and made the mistake of gluing the butt plug in before balancing. I am thinking of wrapping copper wire down near the butt for weight any thoughts on this?

Balancing the rod may only be needed if it is really far off. Coincidentally, most rods are close enough to balanced for most users without any further tinkering. It's all up to you. How you fish and how it feels to you. And everybody is a little different, even with the same rod & reel and lure. This may be one of those times when, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It's all up to you. Just use a typical reel with the spool loaded with line. If it's an empty spool and you are striviing for perfection, that might throw your adjustment off IF you choose a balance point that is not at the spool. ... See below . ... -Cliff Hall+++

balancing ... Andrew White ... March 12, 2006 ... 06:47PM
[www.rodbuilding.org]

Most of the time, I don't even consider messing with the whole "balancing" thing. I use split grips and the lightest guides I can afford at the time, and on most typical 6-7' bass casting rods, the balance point naturally lands within 3" of the front hood. And, if the rod is for any sort of cranking or topwater application--even for Carolina Rigs--(i.e. tip down), you definitely don't want to move the balance point any further back. Rods dedicated solely to bottom bouncing applications are a little different, as the post mentioned by Cliff will show.

If you're definitely going to add weight, here's an idea. Use fly-tiers round lead wire, and wrap between the split grips. Coat with a coat of your finish, then wrap decorative thread over the top of that. You could even wrap just a little lead wire against the rear grip, and a little against the mid-grip, then finish over it, then decorate with thread, and re-finish over that.

Have you tried balancing the rod with the reel installed?

Just drill out the butt plug !!??