How light are custum rods?

[ducksterman]

To me one of the attributes I like in a rod is lightness.

I may be wrong but it seems to me that most custom rod blanks don't match the high end factory rods when it comes to lightness.

So to get a really light custom rod does a factory rod blank from say Sage [or other rod manufacturer] have to be used?

[Goduster]

In most cases the higher end blanks are generally the lighter ones and also the most fragile due to the decreased wall thickness of the materials used.

[kbproctor]

What Ron said.

I think weight is over rated. First, almost nobody will stand in the stream and cast for several hours at a stretch. You have to pee. You have to land fish. You have to release them. You stop for lunch. If an ounce is going to ruin your day fishing, you are a weak son indeed! The differences are so minimal that it my opinion that most of the hype over weight is in a person't head, not so much in the arm.

Balance the rod so the grip is the center of gravity or pivot point for the rod with reel mounted and full of line and it will be much smoother to use and less work.

If weight was the end all, nobody would ever fish a bamboo rod over even the least expensive graphite blank.

[WarrenP]

I agree with Kevin in that balance is the important factor and not weight. I had a rod I really liked and then all of a sudden there was something about it that made my fishing uncomfortable. What I discovered is that I had changed reels on it and it was not balanced in the hand and made fishing it terrible. The components used to build a rod will also affect the weight and balance of any rod (my opinion).

With all reel manufacturing companies making their reels lighter and lighter, I wonder if eventually, they will no longer balance a rod.

My opinion is that balance is very important to any fly fishing rod combo instead of rod weight.

[Goduster]

I agree with Kevin in that balance is the important factor and not weight. I had a rod I really liked and then all of a sudden there was something about it that made my fishing uncomfortable. What I discovered is that I had changed reels on it and it was not balanced in the hand and made fishing it terrible. The components used to build a rod will also affect the weight and balance of any rod (my opinion).

With all reel manufacturing companies making their reels lighter and lighter, I wonder if eventually, they will no longer balance a rod.

My opinion is that balance is very important to any fly fishing rod combo instead of rod weight.

It is almost impossible to achieve a true balance on a rod without factoring in a whole lot of variables. Reel size and weight,uplocking,downlocking, line weight, at what point do you want it to balance, 10' of line out, 20,30,50, it all changes the geometry involved.

[kbproctor]

The point is to get it close. A big old heavy reel may overbalance things while a supe light one my not be enough. Again, we are talking tenths of an ounce differences for most blanks and what line is out which should be negligible to the "feel" of the rod. There is wiggle room in the variables and equations.

One of my customers loves the rods I have built him on American Tackle Matrix blanks and fishes them much more than any of the Sage or Winston rods he has. The Sage and Winstons are certainly lighter but the Matrix rods are "more fun". He has the skills to handle a super fast rod but has "more fun" with the medium fast action Matrix.

[WarrenP]

Goduster,

I follow what you are saying and agree 100%. I do not know if I can explain what I am saying or not, but, it has more to do with the "feel" than the "balance" of the combo. If you have a reel that is too light, the tip of the rod will "feel" heavy and you will be constantly holding it up and the more line you have out, the heavier the tip will be. This becomes a stain on your wrist and forearm after awhile. If you have too heavy of a reel on, you will be holding the tip down until you have enough line out to overpower the light tip. The rod I really liked when I first used it just felt great. It was like I had no rod in my hand and was just casting the line. I really did not feel any rod weight and thought the rod was the lightest rod I had ever owned. Without giving any thought to the reel weight, I changed out the reel to a large arbor reel and begin to notice how heavy the rod felt. I changed back to the original reel and the rod "lost it's heavy feeling" and was a joy to fish with again.

Hopefully, some of this makes sense....

[Goduster]

Actually Warren, what you do say does make sense and I understand completely. I do try and acheive an acceptable balance point on most of the builds I do if the client even has a clue as to which reel they will be using. I can vary the weight with the components I use from whether it be natural cork or burl style, the particular seat I use and the insert I turn for it. Also can adjust cork forward weight with the style and model of guides I use.

[herefishy]

So, how do you test the balance of the rod without having a handle on it? Is there a sequence you go through with dry-mounting the grip? That would be the single most "balance affecting" component, wouldn't it? Do you set the blank on a fulcrum to determine the balance point? I built an AmTak rx7 that seems very light, but just doesn't seem right. Guess I should try some different reels.

[kbproctor]

It certainly has a lot to do with the materials used in the grip and reel seat as well as the reel. Most of the grips and seats I make will need a lighter reel to balance properly with as I like to use exotic woods for trim and such. Some of those woods are quite heavy so a light CNC machined reel will not only look sharp but balance well. A light cork grip without the accents will balance better with a large arbor or heavier reel.