Friend and foes....yup, singular and plural.....

I have a question. I am curious about the balance of a rod with reel. I have some very good old geezers, and when they build a rod I ask them what reel they intend to match it with. They say the cheapeast they can find, with total disregard for weight. They say it is just to hold the line. I disagree. I think there are some important factors in there, but not sure which are the most important.

I am not interested in hearing any discussion on the pros and cons of bending the wrist or not. I do. Period. Well, depends on the situation. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

Anywhoooo.....I usually just check to see if the rod and reel balance where I hold it when I fish. I have heard some say there is no fulcrum point. I don't see how that can be true when the tip of a rod 9' plus some arm's length travels all the way from parllel out in front of you to in back of you.....quite a distance, while the reel itself travels much less in distance. Soooooo

I THINK I want my reel, with about 45-55 feet of line pulled off and out on the ground, to still be slightly reel heavy. I think of this as ballast. So when I cast forward, and near the end of my cast I snap my wrist forward I have more ballast to help me power the tip of the rod forward.

The question for you psychics, physicists, one of them thre things is......would it be easier to power that tip near the end of my forward cast with a balance of rod and reel at the palm of my hand and thumb on the cork......with a lighter reel, or a heavier reel for ballast and the teeter totter affect, with the heavier end wanting more power over the lighter end?

The other question is....with this set up am I subtracting, or even ruining the ability to make accurate, soft short casts.

Next question of course is if you can get by with a lighter reel......will your arm endurance last longer in the day.....or with the extra ballast for aid, would that set up help your arm last longer?

There's probably no perfect answer. I personally think I want to set up a rod to be slightly reel heavy, so at the palm of my hand point while gripping, (which I consider to be the fulcrum, and 45' feet of line on the ground) and I set it on my finger to check balance, the tip of the rod will STILL move up into the sky, but not at a drastically over weighted rate, because with ALL the line on the reel for short casts one wouldn't want the reel to be all THAT extra heavy.

To actually do all of this in a beta test way would just be too much work for me as I am too indedisive. I doubt I would ever achieve any answer at all due to all the close calls, gray areas and, different rod lengths, weights, actions, and combos thereof. Frankly I don't have THAT much time left in my life. grin

Would appreciate opinions from one and all....pros and cons.