I agree that there are a lot of things you can do to get a outfit to balance. However I think some outfits will never balance in a reasonable approach. I have a 9 1/2 ft rod I built that I hope to rebuild this winter, but have doubts I will get where I want it. I works great for a belly boat rod as is. I have another I built that was supposed to be a 4 wt. that is hard to get balanced unless I overline it and use the largest reel I have.

I have thought about the BB trick but have not done it. I have taken the lead wire used to tie flies and wraped it in a reel spool under the backing. It is still there and fixed a couple of rods that were off very little.

As a side note it seems the reel makers keep making reels lighter which will make balancing harder. I agree that most of us want the lightest outfit possible but there are limits Allyn