I recently built a 9 ft, 4 wt fly rod with a carbon fiber handle. Turned out it's one of the nicest fishing/casting rods I've ever used. My question is does the fiber handle actually shorten the 'effective' rod length? I'm guessing the rod does not flex thru the handle, so is the rod really an 8 footer (approx.).
Also, if the rod does not bend thru the handle, would this type of handle be suitable for hard fighting species like false albacore? I fish for these fish a lot and regularly bend my 10 wt 'through the cork'. I would hate to snap a rod at the end of the grip!
Thanks!

TJB

No, it doesn't shorten anything. The point of effort remains where your fighting hand is, regardless of handle material. To shorten the lever, you move your hand forward. To lengthen it, move it towards the butt. The short section of grip material is of no practical consequence in terms of the lever you're using.

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Thomas,
I have always considered the "effective" rod length to be the rod length as measured from the top side of my hand, to the tip of the rod, as that rod is holding the rod in its normal fishing position.

Be safe

Hi Thomas,
At the recent SEARBS get together we had a new builder, Tony Davis, who builds some wonderful leather grips for removable butt game rods. He was impressed with the foam cores and thinks they would be a good replacement for the cork he is currently using. I had a 14 inch core from a mould and we put a lot of bend in it to see what happened, nothing, the core stayed intact and did not split despite putting a lot of effort into the bend. That was 6lb foam and you have the option of 8lb but it may or may not be better. I was toying with the idea of using a foam cored grip for a 30lb game rod rebuild and after seeing the amount of bend the core tolerated I have no hesitaion in using it. The blank I've got doesn't bend anywhere near what the core did.
I'm with Tom and Roger on effective length

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

In the case of a spinning rod for example, I think of the 'effective' length or' fishable' length, as the length of the rod in front of the reel seat. Most often for a standard spinning rod, that length is varied by changing the length of the rear grip.

Dale

Hobart, TAS
Australia

Tom is right, it is the distance from the hand, which is where the "effort" is applied. Consider an infinitely rigid rod, stationary, but with a force pulling on the line, and do a "free body diagram" of it. A free body diagram shows where and how large the forces on a object are applied. The object, the rod, has to have all forces balanced or it will move. As the distance from the hand increases for longer and longer rods, the reactive torque and force applied to the rod will have to increase AT THE HAND. There is no other place to apply the reactive force and torque to the rod than through the hand. For two hands it gets more complicated, but for a single hand fly rod, its effective length is from the hand, where the reactive force and torque are applied.

Dale's example is correct in that it is at the reel that people grip a spinning rod and that is where the torque and force is applied. But move that single hand forward or back, and the effective length changes.

When it comes to casting the "effective" length of a spey rod or a surf rod certainly includes the length of the handle behind the reel.

If you also apply effort at that point, yes.

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With a spey or switch rod about 1/3d of the casting force is delivered from the far butt end of the rod. It is a combined a casting stroke from both hands.