I am new to rod building but really enjoying it. Do you usually balance the rod by putting weight in the butt or the blank or simply make it as light as possible. Thanks in advance for your replies.

I prefer to simply build the rod as light as possible. I cannot see any advantage to adding unnecessary weight to a rod.

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Agree, just build light. If balance is a priority, find a reel that works best for the rod.

Some rods you would need half the weight or better of your reel to balance anywhere close, not my idea of a good rod, light as possible.

A heavy rod but “balanced”, as they say, is still more uncomfortable to me than a significantly lighter rod that may not be as balanced. You could always see for yourself by taping some weights to the butt of your rod and trying it out.

I have also found out that an ounce added at the reel seat (ie reel weight differences) only change the balance point about 1/2 inch (actually slightly less). Adding at the butt still doesn’t leverage enough to make that significant of a balance point movement, so I agree with Spencer that it would take a LOT of weight to make “balanced”.

Donald, I am going to be sounding like a broken record to many members of this site when I say, for certain types of rods, rods that will be use to feel sometimes very subtle bites. These are rods that are fished with the rod tip up, and with the line in a semi slack state, I will most certainly add weight to the butt of a rod in order to get the degree of balance I am looking for, from a rod and reel combination. There are many advantages in fishing at the very least, a neutrally balanced rod and reel combination for the type of fishing I outlined in my first sentence.

It can and does reduce hand, wrist, and forearm fatigue when you're performing the same repetitive motion, hundreds of times a day. When you counter balance a rod it makes the tip of that rod more easy to accelerate, which results in greater tip speed, which translates into greater distance and lower bait trajectory for specific presentations such as when flipping and pitching a bait. Either for bass, or any other species where you need to keep your bait low to the water in order to get it into the fish's strike zone. It makes detecting some kind of bites easier as well. And I personally would say, it makes it much easier to detect certain types of bites.

While switching to a heavier reel can and will most certainly help with slight balance issues, it is a very poor and inefficient way of dealing with a balance issue. I've done experiments and have posted them in threads on this site that demonstrate how little reel weight affects balance, versus adding weight at the very butt of the rod.

3/4 of an ounce added at the very butt of a rod, has the same affect as putting a 2 oz heavier reel, on that same rod.

You may have members respond, that advocate moving the reel seat in order to deal with a rod and reel combination balance issues. Moving a reel seat is just as poor and an inefficient way with dealing with a rod and reel balance issue, as using a heavier reel. I've experimented moving reel seats and posted the results on this site as well. Adding 3/4 oz to the butt of the rod, has the same affect as moving the reel seat 2 1/4" on that same rod.

Certainly not all rods used for the type of fishing I described in my opening, will need to have weight added to the butt in order to fish effectively. Just as certainly, there are rods that can benefit greatly by adding weight to the butt of the rod. Yes, the rod and reel combination are going to have a higher over all weight, but I can assure you, that if you've ever fished with a tip heavy rod and reel combination, and you counter balance that combination by adding weight to the butt of the rod, that that rod and reel combination will fish lighter in your hand, than it did prior to counter balancing it.

You may also get responses that say if you have a very tip heavy rod and reel combination, that you need to use a different blank, or different components. Doing such things can certainly help and even eliminate a possible balance issue, but those kind of things are most generally, quite a bit higher in price. And even if you go to say a premium blank, that alone may only reduce a balance issue. The longer the rod, or the longer and more powerful the rod, the more difficult it is to find a nice degree of balance.

If you want to explore the benefits, or possible draw backs of adding weight at the butt of a rod so you can decide for yourself, it's very simple to do. Take one of your rod and reel combinations, and tape weight to the butt of the rod until you get the rod and reel to balance the way you like, and go out and fish it.

Then instead of taking Tom's or Michael's or my word for it, you'll find out for yourself.

"The longer the rod, or the longer and more powerful the rod, the more difficult it is to find a nice degree of balance." Yup! A fact many don't consider.

Put it this way, how balanced is the rod when you have a fish on it, which is the pimary objective of a rod?

David,

Thank you so much for the response. Your answer makes a lot of sense. I primarily fish inshore and was thinking of making a balanced rod for when i am throwing jerkbaits as the twticth, twitch, pause motion is done repetitively. I like the reel seat closer to the but than most people as I am 5'7" so don't want a handle longer than my elbow. Having a neutral balanced rod would seem to be more efficient when using that type of retrieve. So far, most of the rods, i have built have been light but not balanced. This rod i ended up using a 1/2 oz. weight to the but and with the reel is more efficient for jerkbait fishing. Thanks again. This forum is a great source of information.

The beauty of building your own. You can do what YOU want!

Put it this way, how balanced is the rod when you have a fish on it, which is the primary objective of a rod?" Of course no rod is "balanced" with a fish on, and the balance, if it is an advantage, comes with the ability to get the fish on, comfort and effectiveness being the issues while "fishing." Lots of good info and opinions in this string of posts.

Donald,
I have gone both ways and at the end of years of building rods, I have gone the route to simply build balanced rods, by changing the length of the rear grip.
Just like a balance beam scale, Place the guides where you want and then, tape on the reel in the location where the rod balances - with an appropriate rear grip in place and build the rod.
For folks who say that they can not cast as far with a longer rear grip are not casting correctly. Rather than using only one hand to cast - get in the habit of using both hands. Then, take your off hand, and always place it on the butt of the rod to give you maximum leverage for casting.
Then, just go fishing. If you have a pretty long rear grip for balance, simply adapt to the longer rear grip and move on.

This method gives you the lightest rod possible, but it still will give you the perfectly balanced rod. For folks who say that the longer rear grip gets in the way - learn to use the rod in such a fashion that it does not get in the way, by making a slight change in the way that you have held a fishing rod in the past.

The light - perfectly balanced rod will be your rods of the future and will give you a great fishing experience.

Yes, you may need to adapt your casting and fishing style a tiny bit - but people are adaptable and the changes required are minimal.

But, learn and practice two handed casting, if you don't already to it and you will be completely blown away how much futher you can cast accurately by always casting with both hands.

Best wishes.

By thinking about the rod as a lever, it seems to me that making the rear grip longer is counterproductive to lightness and balance. It means the reel (the heaviest part) is further towards the tip in effect making the rod and reel combination more tip heavy. Moving the reel more towards the butt as is practical results in the balance point further towards the butt with the least total weight as posible involved. However, an understanding of physics has never been one of my best attributes.

If you move the reel forward (establish a longer rear grip) to achieve the desired balance you might as well have bought a shorter blank to begin with. The longer the rod the more useless becomes the exaggerated length of the rear grip, other than simply to achieve balance.

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Ross,
Wouldn't your hand be the fulcrum point if you are palming your reel? The rod would then move on either end of this axis point when you broke your wrist casting. That said weight on either side of the axis will be harder to start moving and to stop moving on every cast or other movement with extra weight. There is no free ride. Having been raised on salmon and steelhead fishing with much heavier and longer rods, my rods were never then or now going to be balanced and what I described much more obvious, I feel and see rock ticks as my offering glides across the bottom, the current seams and their changes, lure thump and movement or the lack thereof, etc. while climbing up and down banks and cliffs, than walking on rocks from baseball to basketball sized in and out of the water and crossing fast currents in streams and rivers on the same from time to time. Went through the rod balance and long grip stage on bass and walleye rods back in the 80's, not one of those rods are still owned by me, never really saw enough benefits to override the downsides.

Spencer Phipps Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ross,
> Wouldn't your hand be the fulcrum point if you are
> palming your reel? The rod would then move on
> either end of this axis point when you broke your
> wrist casting. That said weight on either side of
> the axis will be harder to start moving and to
> stop moving on every cast or other movement with
> extra weight.

If you are palming your reel, your hand may or may not be at the balance point (point on the rod where the downward force is the same in front and behind this "balance point"). Very long rods are not going to be able to balance in a practical way.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2024 05:53AM by Ross Pearson.

Balance matters mostly in drop shotting and light jigging. The Eternity RX10 dropshot blank balances perfectly when built with Torzite guides, compressed carbon seat, and CFX split-grips. The handle length ended up being just what I prefer to do this. It was a luck of physics that the only rod I really care about being balanced did so with the lightest build.

As rods get longer especially surf rods any attempt to balance them is just wasted effort. You either length the handle to comical lengths or add so much weight you cannot stand to hold the rod for long.

"As rods get longer especially surf rods any attempt to balance them is just wasted effort. You either length the handle to comical lengths or add so much weight you cannot stand to hold the rod for long." Yup, and it doesn't really take a surf rod to get comical. I once balanced a casting rod with so much weight that it torqued right out of my hand during a cast, had to dunk over the side to catch it.

Funny .......... I've added 2 3/8 oz to the butt of a rod to get the rod and reel combination to balance the way I liked, and while it's a rod that sees use as a flipping and pitching rod 90% of the time, I do use that same rod to fish hollow bodied frogs over heavily matted vegetation, and I've never even come close to losing it overboard because it torqued out of my hand. Now I have went to make a long cast with a fairly heavy bait and forgot to push the thumb bar to disengage the spool. Dang near lost the rod overboard on that one. lol

Michael? I think I asked you something like this before ......... you didn't forget to depress the thumb bar did you? lol

I definitely agree that once you hit a certain length of rod, you are going to have a difficult time balancing it, without adding an uncomfortable amount of weight to the butt of it. That length will vary based on the rods power, more powerful rods have more material in the upper section of the blank and are more prone to being tip heavy that lighter powered rods. And what the rod is made out of. All other things being equal, lower modulus rods require more material to achieve the same stiffness as a higher modulus rod.

I know when I read of people looking for an 8' high powered flipping rod, I cringe thinking of how tip heavy a rod of that length would be.

And Ross ..... when you move the reel seat further from the butt, you're shortening one side of the lever, decreasing its' mechanical advantage. At the same time you're increasing the length of the other side of the lever, which increases its' mechanical advantage. Moving a reel seat further from the butt will definitely work to balance a rod and reel combination, without increasing that combinations over all weight. But while Roger makes it sound as if the angler only needs to make slight adjustments in how they use the rod to avoid problems with a longer rear grip, I will say that such is not the case in all situations. Depending on how much longer you made the rear grip in the name of balance, that extra length would cause major adjustments in how one would have to use the rod. These major adjustments could cause all kinds of malady's.

Why someone would purposely build a rod that is difficult to use without adjusting the way you use it, is baffling to me. But then again, I'm sure others find builders purposefully adding weight to a rod to be baffling as well.

As I said earlier ........... it's simple to try. If you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't. But at least you've tried it for yourself.