Herb:
I agree faster is better, in cars, dates,and fly rods. I fished Cape Cod Bay flats for over 30 years, most recently with a rod I built on a TFO-BVK 9wt. blank and a 10wt. Lee Wulff Triangle Taper line - waded out a mile or so with the tide among schools of eager bluefish in the #10 - #15 range. Three years ago after a late-afternoon wade we woke to T.V. helicopter footage of two 10'-12' great whites cruising the flats a half-mile BEHIND us when we were fishing. Now I sit and watch the seals on the back side.

Phil,
Hope Reed doesn't mind us pirating his post - But i'm tempted to ask where you were exactly when the whites were behind you. The only places I know where you can walk that far is Brewster and the PTown flats. I also used to wade out about a mile to the PTown drop off. The big bull seals of 800 pounds would break water 20' away - like a VW beetle was dropped into the water. It made me uncomfortable because they do have big teeth. But I never worried about sharks. Now I wade up to my knees and back-up as the tide fills in. On the outer beaches where I spend most of my time I stay pretty much hi and dry.
Google the video of the white shark that beached on the Cape itself trying to eat a seagull.
My son says that if I wade over my ankles - I am part of the food chain.
Regards,
Herb
PS - maybe i'll see you on the beach one day. Rita and I are in PTown for May and June every year.
PPS - the Wulff BT Floater has been my go-to line for many years to cast large gurglers. Last May and June I discovered the Bermuda Triangle SHORT and haven't gone back.

North Eastham - We waded off North Sunken Meadow Beach towards Billingsgate. Boston news helicopter took footage off Cook's Brook Beach, about 1/4 mile south.

A venture like this without the use of objective testing before cutting will most likely turn out like Ron Zimmerman's project. I also agree with Roger that cutting much of anything off the tip of modern blanks will have major detrimental effects.

It is not that hard to make a CCS testing rig that will allow measuring any blank whether uncut or simulating the cut whether it be tip or butt. By doing that it will be possible to pretty accurately determine before cutting what one would end up with. It's also pretty easy to weigh the first 30 feet (or more) of fly line so one can correlate the right line with the blank CCS numbers. These objective measurements will take most of the risk out of this project.

I'm not sure a short salt water fly rod of any power or action makes much sense. What are the disadvantages of length for a salt rod?

Reed,
In addition to the other comments on this post, is the possibility that if you have a 3-foot blank first section and you want a shorter rod, you might consider cutting 2 feet off of the butt section. This will still give you the more powerful butt section to handle the reel seat, but your rod will be 2 feet shorter.

Good luck

But Roger, that is a crap shoot. Yes, it could work. But, it could not work. And you won't know until you have made an irreversible move on the blank.

But Roger, that is a crap shoot. Yes, it could work. But, it could not work. And you won't know until you have made an irreversible move on the blank.

Michael,
Actually not.

You can tape the reel in place on the rod where you want to end up with and then tie the guides onto the rod. You don't need to put any coating on the guides, just take the rod out - without cutting off the butt of the blank and go catch some fish.

If you find that it works for you, you can trim up the butt, put on the reel seat and complete the rod. If you find that it doesn't work, put the reel on the end of the rod, and place the guides where they need to be and fish with the longer rod.

Good luck

Got it Roger. thanks

Norm, on which line weights I have used, six, seven and eight weight. makes a fun little stick.