I will be building a rod in the 8-9' length range and in the medium heavy - heavy action category. It will be cast repeatedly all day long and held in hand most of the day. Almost like a extra large casting rod.

Would you all feel it best to add additonal weight to the butt of the rod for balancing properties?????

Ive never tried it but it seems like a possibility.

thanks

I wouldn't but that's me.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Nope....if you are going to be holding it all day I would keep it as light as possible. IMO

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Super Tight Lines......Don

Make the handle like you want it- preferably a bit longer than normal to helpa bit with the balance.Keep every thing in front of the reel seat as light as possible, with as few and as light as guides as possible.

Go fishing.
Roger

Make sure the ergonomics of the rod are correct, make the guides and anything in front of the reel as light as possible, then build it. If you want to experiment with balance do it with parts that can be added. I think you will come to the same conclusion I have that balance is less important than mass. The ergonomics I mention mostly are associated with the length of the butt in back of the reel. If that dimension gets too long the butt will hang up on the clothing or biceps, and you really don't want that. But a long butt is where priority on balance will lead you.

Casey,

Can you tell us a bit more about your presentation, the technique used, and target species? Do you need to lift and drop the tip repeatedly to present your lure or bait? Will you be chucking your bait out and leaving it sit? A MH-H rod can mean a lot of different things, depending on whether it is a bass rod, salmon rod, surf rod, etc.

If the presentation requires constantly lifting the tip, then balancing the rod will help with wrist fatigue, and you will thank yourself. If you just hold the rod stationary, particularly near vertical, then I would shoot for the lightest rod I could build and still have the correct ergonomics. Also, on a particularly tip heavy rod of that length, the amount of weight to balance the rod may be substantial.

Joe

A balanced rod feels lighter in hand than a light, but tip heavy rod. For example, the last flyrod I built was a 9' 6 weight. I made every effort to keep the tip of the rod light, but it was still tip heavy. The balance point of the rod was in front of the grip, balanced that way with a fully loaded reel and a bare blank, (except for reel seat and grips). I fixed that issue by putting lead core trolling line on the reel underneath the backing and fly line. Now the rod balances perfectly, fishes all day, and feels lighter in hand than it did prior to the addition of weight.

Adding weight may make sense for some builds but not others. Only my opinion,
Matt

If you want to add some weight, look into the balance weights from Baston. They have 3 different weights that simple screw onto a threaded piece on the butt of the rod. They can be left on or removed easily if the weight is not needed.

Mike Sledden Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you want to add some weight, look into the
> balance weights from Baston. They have 3
> different weights that simple screw onto a
> threaded piece on the butt of the rod. They can
> be left on or removed easily if the weight is not
> needed.


I had not seen those before but thats kinda what I had in mind... My first thoughts were that light weight was the way to go but then after messing with one of my rods found that a balanced rod had its benefits. I may just build with the weights as you described

Casey, as some have hinted it all depends on how you are fishing. Some techniques require a "tip down" presentation while working the lure. Bottom fishing and live bait are almost always "tip down" as well.

Bill Stevens has posted some very good info on all of this. Give proper thought to the lure (and how it is worked) and then reconsider the notion of how the rod needs to be balanced in light of that info.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Good points... I was messing around today with one of the rods I use just to see what position I typically hold it at. I believe that 75% of the time its tip down....

I actually taped some extra weight to the rear and thought it helped balance and the overall feel of the rod..

What I want to do thought it build the rod and use it as is.. Then use some interchangeable weights in the rear to see if the added balance is better or worse than no weight after a day of fishing...

I'm with ya Casey, it is a tough call depending on how you like to fish. Ultimately it comes down to which you feel you 'fish' better, not so much about what the rod weighs. I balance quite a few of my rods with the batson weight system. [www.getbitoutdoors.com]

Tight Lines and Bull's-eyes,

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I'm a bigger fan of how a rod balances and feels in hand than what it weighs. A light but uncomfortable rod is tougher to fish than heavier but comfortable rod.

You can add some weight to the rod but I don't think you will ever be able to balance a 9 ft rod unless it is already real light and there is a time when to much weight my be need to balance a 9 ft rod as it might get to heavy to even use and that is not to good.

Glenn McMurrian