Does lengthening the grip negate any of the added casting distance of a longer rod? (all else being equal)

Hi Mike,
I presume your talking about the rear grip. If you are able to handle the length comfortably then adding to the rear grip length should increase your casting distance. At some point in length each person will get a diminishing return and then any extra will decrease the distance. Each person is different so that length will be different. You need to find what the best length is for your style and ability for each type of rod. Once the length of the rod is not ideal for you, ie too long to handle comfortably, then grip length won't make a lot of difference.
At some point the rear grip length will also become uncomfortable to fight a fish with so the rear grip length may need to be a compromise between casting distance and ease of fish fighting.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2013 01:52AM by Col Chaseling.

Mike,
Of course.

Basically, the casting length of the rod is the distance from the center of the reel seat to the tip of the rod.

Longer rear grip - shorter effective casting rod.

Be safe

Mike,
I used to be concerned about this, but not any more.
I just basically assume that you can subtract a foot off the real length of the rod, to get the effective casting length of the rod and go from there.

Over a lot of different rods, the typical grip and reel seat is going to be in the area of a foot, so I just round them all off and call them a foot.

Thus a 7 foot rod, is really a 6 foot casting distance more or less and I just go from there.

Some rods will have a bit shorter grip, some a bit longer grip.

The one thing that a lot of folks miss out - if they want to maximize their casting distance is to cast two handed. For years and years, I really never ever cast with other than one hand. Then one day, I was fishing with a friend, both using similar rods and lure weights. He was consistently outcasting me by a significant distance. I also noticed almost the crack of a whip sound that his rod had whenever he cast. I also noticed that he was always casting with both hands. So, I inquired about his two handed casting. His reply was simply this, "Try it, you might like it."

Certainly after adopting a two handed casting pattern, my casting distance increased by many feet. The key thing is the increased speed of the rod tip that one gets by casting with two hands. Hence the sound of the whip crack as the lure and tip speed is getting so much faster than one ever gets by casting with one hand.

Be safe

Rear grip length all depends upon what type of fishing and casting you are going to do, as well as how you are going to hold the rod while fighting the fish. Both have to be compatible. If you build for one of these alone you will be dissatisfied with the rod.

Thanks guys. That's about where I was at on this but affirmation by you all is always good. Thanks again.

It seems that some clarification is needed regarding effective rod length. It is the distance from the tip to the butt when the rod is loaded. Hence, the effective rod length will be different for various people using the same rod and different rods of the same physical length.

Here's a reference:

[macbrownflyfish.com]
Scroll down to Effective Rod Length.

On a similar note, understanding the class of lever is useful. (2 handed casting)
Fishermen may cast class 3 with the left remaining low on the butt while punching forward with the right.
Some cast class 1 with the right acting as a pivot while the left pulls the butt into the chest.
And of course there is Punch & Pull. Punch forward with the right and pulling with the left.

[www.technologystudent.com]

Don Becker

Hello Folks

Are we talking Spin, Cast, Lob, or Fly?

Randolph seems to have it right to me, but I am not sure of the context.


Tight Wraps & Straight Casts.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

I could be way off, and if I am, somebody may correct me and we both might learn something.

Consider the guys that mount the reel low and thumb the spool with their weak hand. They have no butt grip to speak of. Now where do they place the strong hand when casting? I'm going to suggest that the greater the spread between the two hands the more strength/torque one can develop. The opposite would be the closer the two hands, the more speed one develops (assuming they can handle the weight of the blank and payload).

I suppose you could consider the effective length the distance between the strong hand and the deflected tip of the rod. However I don't think that paints a clear picture as to effective casting distance. I think anyway of looking it must consider the weight of rod and payload combined with the ability of the caster to accelerate it.

Suppose we consider extremes. If you have an UL rod with a 1/16" ounce lure I doubt it would matter the spread between your hands. In fact I'd suggest there would be little difference between using one hand and two. The rod and the payload is so light in this case that you can accelerate it easily with one hand. Therefore you might as well keep the butt grip short. On the other extreme we have a heavy 14 foot surf rod throwing bait and eight. Now two hands are certainly required. I' could see wanting a spread of upwards of three/four feet between weak and strong hand.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Russell ,
I agree with your completely.
But I will go further by suggesting that for my definition the effective fishing length of the rod is the distance from the face of the reel to the tip of the rod.

Then, the length of the butt needs to be sized to make the rod a good one. But, I personally don't feel that the grip behind the reel is part of the effective fishing rod. Sure you need it, but for hook setting and fish fighting, the significant length is from the reel to the tip.

Be safe

Roger, I would like to see you set the hook and fight the fish without a proper length of rear grip. It is there for a purpose, and it is a large part of what makes an effective fishing rod.

Randy,
I would never advocate the use of a grip that is not "correct" in length for the particular rod and the type fishing.