I have a friend who is short they want a 5' jerk bait rod. By personal one is a MB662 that i did years. I cannot find a 5' or 5'6" rod. I was wondering if I cut 6" to 1' off of the butt section how much it would change the action. of if anyone know of a Blank already.

Have you looked at the NFC SJ545-1?

Cutting from either end will make the action slower. Action is where the rod initially flexes. Six inches will make a large difference. Also remember that cutting from the butt will reduce the rod's power.

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For that specific rod I would use an old rod and strip it down, cut it and build it back. What do you really have to lose? It seems to be an experiment anyway.

I certainly understand wanting a shorter rod for jerkbaits, as it is a bait that is more easily worked, tip down, but 5' is an awfully short rod. I'd have to ask if they are certain that they want a rod that short?

Are they fishing out of a boat, or from shore? If out of a boat, is it a deeper boat where they're fishing from the floor of the boat, or are they fishing from a deck in the boat? How high are the gunwales?

I'm a touch under 5'8 and the rod I built for jerkbaits is 6'1" long. I fish from a bass boat, but as it's an older boat, the gunwales are taller than they are on today's bass boats. That length rod works out very well for me. It has enough length that coupled with the reel I have on it (a Shimano SLX 70 MGL) I can cast as far as I want, and still be able to effectively hook a fish if it were to hit near the end of a long cast.

I built my jerkbait rod on a Rainshadow REVS68ML blank, that I trimmed 7" off the butt. Biggest baits I throw with it are Vision 110s and Pointer 110s. It also makes a dandy little top water popper rod.

Anyhow ..... before I'd build a 5' rod, I'd make sure they actually want a rod that short.

Get Bit offers many of United Composites' Dual Helix blanks in the 5'6" to 6' length

Kyle,
Go for it.
I have built a lot of rods over the years that needed to be shorter.
I simply chopped the length from the butt of the rod and finished the rod.
Never had a rod that didn't work well.

The key thing is to take a potential blank, hold it where the reel will be placed and then do a flexing test on it and verify that the overall action of the rod, when held in that way, will meet your requirements for the rod.

I virtually never trim a rod from the tip. For the type rods that I build for the fish that we target here, removing anything from the tip of a very sensitive rod, essentially converts it into a poor resemblance of a pool cue.

Note, the previous comments about cutting a blank will change the action and power of the rod are right on. So, as I said earlier, hold the rod where you want the reel to be, then flex the rod and see if the then flex, action, and power will work for you for the new rods purpose.


Best wishes.