Is the fighting butt on a fly rod an ornament, a gadget, or does anybody actually use it?
Who’s got a bank spear on the butt?:tieone:
I use them on saltwater rods. The idea is that when you are fighting a fish and you brace the rod against your body the reel stays clear of your body. I don’t seen any need for them in freshwater except for salmon and steelhead.
The fighting butt comes into play frequently when battling larger or stronger fish in fresh and saltwater. When held against the body it provides a nice contact point to help with leverage. I have even had them come into play with some large trout that I have been fortunate to battle. They also hold the reel up off the ground if you need to set the end of the rod down for some reason. I prefer to have a fighting but on all of my rods 6wt and above, and wish they were available from the factory on more 5wt rods.
Fighting butts also look very cool :p…ModocDan
They come in real handy when fighting long drawn out battles
Andre Marceau with a feisty buck - 2007
I use a fighting butt as a handy place to keep a half-hitch of fly line so that when a big fish runs, it will tighten up and help the fish break off, which reduces wear and tear on me, the fish, and so on.
Hate the dang things.
Fighting butt are definitely meant for doing business with a larger fish. Some folks do put on small “fixed” fighting butts, as opposed to the larger removeable ones, that are in part decorative. We always add fighting butts to our kits of 7 weights and above. Hope that helps.
Ron
I have a fighting butt on my 8wt. I do use it. I use that rod mostly for the big ones… steelhead, salmon and pike. I often tempt carp with one of my 5 wt’s (The TFO). I sometimes wish it had a fighting butt for those.
IT really comes in handy when you have to put the boot to a big fish to keep it out of the logs.
I use a 6" fighting butt on my saltwater rod, but don’t put it in until a big fish is on.
I really don’t even like uplocking reel seats. I tend to cast side arm and my line often catches even that stubby little butt.
I have a couple inch long one on my 7weight. Along with the uplocking reel seat, it turns into a nice handle for 2 handed casting. I am trying to get into it, and this is a very cheap experimental and practice tool. It was a plesant suprise while salmon fishing this year to beable to pull of casts when no one else in my party could. Other than this, the butts were usually just decoraction or a place to rest the rod. Only the real Large ones help with fighting fish in comfort.
I’ve got fighting butts on everything from six weights up.
Come to think of it, every spinning rod, surf casting rod and about half my casting rods have something aft of the reel seat that could be thought of as an extended fighting butt or for the lack of a better term " leveraging butt’s ", some nearly two feet in length.
Nothing decorative about those.
Dave
If it can’t eat a 3/0, it must be bait !
I view them the same way DG does. I spend more time untangling line from them than they are worth. I’ll remove them if I can.
The same reason why I keep the knob on my reel facing out on my casting hand.
Take a rod without a fighting butt on it to the salt, tie into a big fish like a striper and you’ll wish the heck you had one.
How do you get the line tangled on a rod butt. I do not recall ever having this happen. I don’t recall ever seeing this happen to anyone else either. Just curious. I have had line catch on just about everything else, including a button on my shirt cuff. Of course, now I will probably wrap the rod butt several times tomorrow.
It will get tangled around the but when you cross your hands while your casting. Used to have that problem.
Kevin
I single hand spey and roll cast a lot in the salt for those “big fish like a striper”. I like performing lots of mends, picking up and dropping line constantly during a drift or swing and tend my loose line as coils in my fingers. My hands are all over the place when I cast and even more so when I fish. The butt is just a nuissance and gets in the way most of the time for how I like to fish.
Dropping a nice fish to a pulled hook because your line is wrapped around the rod or handle is pretty annoying.
It’s just a preference, just like as to what type of line you like to use.
I understand. Just curious how it happens.
I have fished in a few situations where I intentionally wrapped the line around the rod butt and reel seat. These were situations were giving line was not an option. May break the tippet, but don’t loose a flyline.
I fish most of the time with a 2 handed rod and as such they have a built in fighting butt with the lower handle. Come in quite handy when fighting a 15 pound pissed off steelhead. Not only as a point of leverage with stuck under your belly (yes, I said under the belly, if you seen mine you would understand) but also holding it with the lower casting hand. Holding on to the lower handle works very well with the rod low and parrallel to the water during the fight.
I have an 11’ 7/8wt that I just got this fall with a 2-3 inch butt. For me it helps casting it all day. I keep the butt behind my wrist and it helps to keep it straight on the back cast. I had a crush injury to my casting hand a long time ago and this really does make a difference for me. Using the rod I have without the fighting butt will result in a nasty case of tendinitis by the end of the day.