H, thinking of dropping the butt section on my Dan Craft FTL 904/6 and was wondering if anyone here as tried this and their thoughts on the finished rod.
I always thought the 9' 4wt FTL was better with a 3wt line in my opinion. What effect does losing a section have on this? Would it still be a 3/4wt? Blank feels crisper in my hands without the butt section but obviously it doesn't even have any cork on it at this point.

This problem has arisen from damaging the butt section while rebuilding the rod (slight splintering while shaping a cork grip). Thought at the time I would rebuild it minus the last section. Since then ive trimmed the damage back with a dremmel 1/2" and got the ferrule fitting fine again. Still tempted though to build the rod with out the butt section.

Was considering building a new 9' 4wt from a quicker, faster blank anyway, probably a Pac Bay quickline. Any thoughts on this particular blank would be appreciated too. I'm familiar with the Dan Craft FTL, FT and Sig V 3 ice range, plus Sage XP and TCR rods, and Scott S3.

Sorry for the long post but eager to get some experienced views before moving on.

Cheers
Dan

The proper line weight has a great deal to do with how much line you're holding in the air. A 3-weight and 4-weight line weigh the same, albeit at different lengths.

Yes, people do sometimes drop the butt section on longer multi-piece rods and with good results. Keep in mind that your rod's action will slow noticeably.

Best thing to do is just mock up the rod without the butt section and go cast it. Depending on the distances you're fishing, it may turn out to be just what you want. If not, at least you know before you went to the trouble of completely building it out.

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Go over to the CCS database, top left, Stan Grace years ago did an extensive bit of work with Dan Craft blanks dropping one section. Might give you an idea what your up against, if I remeber correctly some of the FT blanks didn't change much dropping the butt section as far as power and action angle.

Thanks Spencer, just checked the database out. You are correct with your comment. Looks like the ERN and AA remain pretty much the same when dropping one section on the FTL. Think I'm gonna build it as a 7'6" and buy myself a new 9' 4wt blank.

Any thoughts on the Pac Bay Quickline? I like the look of the CCS numbers and blank weight but have zero experience with pac bay blanks. I'd like something not similar to Dan Craft FT but not quite as high ERN.

Interesting looking at the database, the 3wt FT has a higher ERN than the 4wt, which itself has a higher ERN than one of the 5wt's tested (8.52 v 8.35 v 7.9) all tested by the same tester. This has to be an error right? Or is there this much variation between rod blanks?

Cheers
Dan

Keep in mind that fly rod manufacturers do not rate their rods for the same line lengths. Yes one company's 4 weight rod may be much more stiff/powerful than another company's 5 weight rod. It has to do with how much line they expect the caster to hold in the air and the distances those rods are intended to fish.

Often you hear somebody say that they find company A's 5-weight rod better with a #6 line while another person says they find it better with a #5 or even a #4. Then you ask about the distances the two guys are fishing - the first one is fishing in close while the second one is fishing long distances.

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Dan,
I fished a few Quicklines, a 5, 8, and a 10. They are very nice, light, straight and well finished. They all fished well, as well as many blanks I've tried costs much more.