Because the search feature is still having problems, I am building a light salt water rod 9' 1-3 oz. lures but when I get the grip where it is comfortable for me the rod is tip heavy, very noticeable heavy, and no guides or finish yet besides moving the grip up is there anything else that can or should be done, bigger heavier reel, using Okuma live bait reel, very nice reel don't really want to change it, BUT.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2008 07:34PM by Tim Hurst.

MAke the butt longer. 9' shouldn't be a problem. The Okuma are quite heavy to being with, no? How long is the butt currently?

That's a tough situation. If you really need to move the balance point back towards the butt, away from the tip, I'd advise using a larger and/or heavier reel. Plenty of all metal "hardbody" reels out and around these days and some are quite heavy.

Keep in mind that any weight you add at the extreme ends will have a greater effect than what you add anywhere else. So, an EVA or cork tape wrap installed on the butt may help bring that balance back a bit naturally.

By all means, I'd use the New Guide Concept so that you can keep the guide weight on the tip area to an absolute minimum.

In the end, of course, once a rod gets to a certain length and is of a certain power, it's going to be tip heavy.


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Soemthing to consider as well.

Now available from Batson Enterprises: the perfect way to counterbalance your favorite custom rod. Modern blank materials have allowed
designers to push the overall length of blanks to lengths unheard of in the past. Long rods allow for fishing presentations that simply cannot
be done with shorter rods, but it comes with a cost, rods tend to feel tip heavy. The design team at Batson Enterprises now has the answer;
a adjustable counterbalance system for today’s long rods.

It works like this, simply glue the top section of the system on the bottom of your handle assembly in place of your normal butt cap. Then
choose the appropriate weight to screw onto the bottom of the upper section, and go fishing. Suddenly you have a rod with the correct
balance and fish -ability. In the tables below we list some general guidelines on what size weight to choose.

CBS WT 2 1.20” (30.57) Plated Brass 2 oz. Up to 7’6”
CBS WT 3.75 1.30” (30.9) Plated Brass 3.75 oz.) Up to 8’6”
CBS WT 5.5 1.30” (30.9) Plated Brass 5.5 oz. 9’.0” & Above

click here: [www.rodbuilding.org]

Karry Batson
Batson Enterprises Inc.
Ph: (877) 875-2381
Fax: (360) 683-3579
karry@batsonenterprises.com
www.batsonenterprises.com

What search term(s) did you use? When I searched on 'balance' there were 2046 results.

the butt is 12" now, I could go as far back as 10" butt, which I could live with, but it is still tip heavy. The reel is the Okuma Avenger ABF30 doesn't weigh much, I have heavier but don't want to use them for this.
Karry may have the solution with the weighted balance butt caps.

Until the rod board is fully restored not all functions for all web browsers will act the same.

How would changing the weight of the reel change the balance? The reel should be the fulcrum point so any extra weight is just extra weight for little or no balance improvement. We have been using weighted butt balance kits on our bass rods for some time, and I don’t see why they shouldn’t work on a saltwater rod. [www.rodbuilding.org]
The Batson weighted butts look pretty nice, but there are very large gaps in weight between the different sizes, my kits are adjustable in ¼ oz increments.

Netcraft has a butt cap that comes with adjustable weights that go in the butt cap, all the way up to like three ounces and it is only $3.85. Check it out. It is called a Fuji Rod Balancer butt cap. This is the link [www.jannsnetcraft.com]. Good luck.
James

Hanapa'a - Ancient Hawaiian for Hook Up!!

Shortening the handle length is going to make it MORE tip heavy. Move the reel seat further up the rod and it will balance. 12" is a very short butt length, which is why your rod is tip heavy. Try moving teh reel to 15" and see if that helps. HAve you fished a 9' rd with a 12" butt length before? Any 9' rod with that short a butt is going to be tip heavy.

What grip matrial are you using? As Tom said, you can add certain grip materials which will add teh neccesary weight, EVA weighs the same thing as cork, so you might want to look at Hypalon, exotic burl, rubberized cork or somethign of that nature which is heavier. Honestly, I just think the butt is way too short for a 1-3oz rod.

That is a very, very short butt length for a rod of that length. My 9' surf plugging rods have seats that are roughly 16" past the butt.

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I agree with Tom and Billy , seems like a very short butt length. I have several 9' ers with 16" butt lengths . My 12' has a 24" butt length, which balances fine.