So after googling switch rods I found a couple of interesting videos. In one of them the fisherman showed a telescoping rod butt on the switch rod. I thought this was clever. Anyone ever seen these before? Any comments on these? I would be concerned about strength and possibly wobble.

John
God bless the troops and USA

They should be just as stable as telescoping bass flipping sticks. A quality telescoping blank isn't going to wobble nor be weak. You are dealing with a much longer rod, of course, so the leverage on that part is going to be extensive. Go with a quality make and you'll be fine.

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So the telescoping fighting butt is actually part of the rod. I thought it might be an accessory you could add.

Now that I don't know - I made the assumption this was the same type blank that is used for bass flipping sticks. If it's just the fighting butt I'd have to defer to someone that's actually used that sort of thing. If it's well made there shouldn't be any problem. Any issues with "wobble" will be a matter of how well it's designed and fitted.

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been using an integral telescoping fighting butt on my S/W flyrods for more than 20 yrs.
SOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier than using a detachable fighting butt,
First one was fibreglass the latest one is C/F.
The taper on the fighting butt extension needs to be a reverse taper to the rod blank to give it a tight lock when you pull it out.
They are fiddly constructions................but worth the effort IMHO.
You need to increase the diameter of the OD of the tube under the entire grip area to give yourself room for the construction.
so you need to use a lge diameter reelseat & a carbon tube under it with max OD.
you need to marry that to your flyrod blank after cutting off the appropriate length of butt of the flyrod blank
under the rear end of the reelseat you need a piece of tapered blank about 2 1/2 - 3" long that will suit the taper of your sliding butt extension as the female half of what is effectively the same as a back to front tip-over-butt ferrule join
The thick end of the butt extension needs to be 1" longer than when it locks in the female taper above............this is so you can construct a soft EVA bushing that will stop the end of the butt extension rattling inside the rod when casting ( with the fighting butt telescoped inside the grip )
when constructing your actual button on the fighting butt you need to also construct infront of it a slightly tapered hypalon or hard EVA section that will jamb on the aforementioned female half of your ferrule for the fighting butt, when the extension is telescoped in.
This last bit is a high wear item .............so the best construction is a fit & fiddle exercise to make an undersize taper here and put some shrink plastic on top of it to mitigate the wear when it jams onto the rear end of the female ferrule.
BTW..........I have never had the fighting butt pop back in during a fight .............taper match is important if you want this to be a success.

Job done................when casting looks like a std S/W flyrod with a button at the reelseat......................fish on, grab button & a sharp tug rearwards & you have a fighting butt of the length you want.....................fish landed , a sharp bump with the palm of your hand directly on the end of the fighting butt & it can telescope back up inside your reelseat & grip..............ready to cast again.

As you can see , this is a fiddly job as indicated at the start of this post.

If you are real keen & serious about having a go at making one , I will post photos & diagrams on request.
Over the years I have provided this design to a number of S/W flyrod addicts.
( its been a while since I have used the file so I will have to find it.................. I think Andy Dear was the last person images were sent to )

Some poor quality images I quickly found

[www.rodbuilding.org]

[www.rodbuilding.org]


DenisB