Reel Weight

[basshole77]

Just curious what thoughts were on the weight of a reel. Do you feel its important/useful for a reel to be light in weight? Why or why not?

[rippin-lips]

It all depends on the rod it's going on. On a longer rod like a 7'6 you wouldn't want a 5oz reel. It's not going to balance out well. Something in the 7-9oz range would be better. That leads into another area. A well balanced combo with a 8oz reel will feel lighter in your hand than a tip heavy combo that has a 5oz reel on it.

[basshole77]

Good point! Do you think folks think say a 9 oz reel on a 7ft rod would be to heavy of a reel?

[BassinLou]

I will answer your question from the practical perspective. I will leave the technical stuff to other anglers who are  much better versed than I am in that dept. I look for light quality gear (rods and reels) because I tend to fish for long periods of time. 7-9hrs straight. Needless to say over this time fatigue can set in. Heavier gear will expedite fatigue on the water imho, thus shortening your time on the water. Fatigue leads to sloppiness. Somehow the big bass wait for this happen to strike..... LOL 

[JGBassinAL]

It all depends on the rod it's going on. On a longer rod like a 7'6 you wouldn't want a 5oz reel. It's not going to balance out well. Something in the 7-9oz range would be better. That leads into another area. A well balanced combo with a 8oz reel will feel lighter in your hand than a tip heavy combo that has a 5oz reel on it.

Exactly!

[roadwarrior]

Balance is everything!

 

I fish heavy reels (CTE200GT & Calis) as well as very light reels (Pinnacle Primmus Xi).

[rippin-lips]

Good point! Do you think folks think say a 9 oz reel on a 7ft rod would be to heavy of a reel?

It really just depends on the rod and where you like your rods to balance out at. For me using my 7'1 H with that 9oz reel would be a pretty balanced combo but on my 7" med it most likely wouldn't be at all. All you can do is mount the reel and see how it feels to you.

I will answer your question from the practical perspective. I will leave the technical stuff to other anglers who are much better versed than I am in that dept. I look for light quality gear (rods and reels) because I tend to fish for long periods of time. 7-9hrs straight. Needless to say over this time fatigue can set in. Heavier gear will expedite fatigue on the water imho, thus shortening your time on the water. Fatigue leads to sloppiness. Somehow the big bass wait for this happen to strike..... LOL

Agree but as mentioned a heavier reel can balance out some rods better and it'll feel lighter then an unbalanced combo that has less overall weight. So that would be less fatigue on your wrist verse using a tip heavy combo for 8hrs. Now if both combos balance out well then obviously I'd choose the lighter of the 2.

For instance I have 2 of the exact same rod. One with a 5.5oz reel and one with a 7.6oz reel. Both balance almost at the same spot. So I reach for the lighter combo 90% of the time.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Ill take a well balanced 3.4oz rod(smoke) and 5.5oz reel(core) over well balanced 5oz rod(***) and 8oz reel(tatula). I fished both combos today and the lighter set-up is like an AHHHH moment once picked-up after the heavier combo for 3 hours. Sure I can fish the heavier combo Im not a wimp but the ligher combo has its advantage like BassinLou mentioned. 

 

I wouldnt necessarily add a heavier reel to balance a rod. You need much more weight to balance with reel than you will with a weight added to butt of rod. A 1/2-3/4oz weight will replace a 3oz+ diff in reel weight and balcance much better. If youve seen Capt Bob what he did to his extremes thats the way to do it not just use heavier reel. Or the very cheep route and put rubber chair cap on the butt of rod.

 

In this pic the rod is 7'6" even with a 10.6oz Abu 5600 reel it wont be as balanced as what that cap balances the rod with 50E reel.

 

[rippin-lips]

Adding weight to the butt of the rod is an alright method for balancing but any added weight to the rod itself causes a loss in sensitivity. At least that's what I've always been lead to believe through my research.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Adding weight to the butt of the rod is an alright method for balancing but any added weight to the rod itself causes a loss in sensitivity. At least that's what I've always been lead to believe through my research.

Adding a much heavier reel is adding weight to rod just more weight in different section.

[rippin-lips]

Yes, I understand that but it's not to the rod itself like putting 1oz worth of lead under the butt cap. I'm not a rod builder so I'm strictly going off things I've read on forums like rodbuilder. Hopefully someone like Mike from DVT can answer this better for me. I'm curious to hear if the deadened sensitivity claim is true or false.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

If it makes it more balanced it will help with sensitivity. Why add 3-4oz to rod,with reel, when 1/2-3/4 will do the same the less weight added overall the better.

 

DVT quote http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/86950-tip-heavy/?p=991184

"Weight added weight anywhere on the blank has a negative affect on sensitivity. With that said, a small amount of weight on the butt area would have the least affect and admittedly probably less that human hands could detect"

 

 

quote from:  http://www.***/rod-crafting/resource/articles/rod-balancing.html

"Jump Lures
Jigs, Worms, Spoons, etc. These are slack line techniques and tip heavy rods can be made more sensitive by adding weight to the butt."

[F14A-B]

Yea, balance helps... But weight is weight.. I am older now... With many back/ shoulder issues... The light stuff helps out more than I ever thought it could.. At 20-30 I couldn't have cared less about weight really!

[Tywithay]

Adding weight to the butt of the rod is an alright method for balancing but any added weight to the rod itself causes a loss in sensitivity. At least that's what I've always been lead to believe through my research.

Adding weight to the butt cap doesn't reduce sensitivity, it reduces "perceived" sensitivity. It'd be like if you're holding a small hammer straight out and someone taps the handle with a stick, you're going to feel it immediately. If you're holding a 30lb sledge with one hand and someone taps it, you're going to be straining with the weight more so you may not even notice the stick. It doesn't make one more or less sensitive. The only way to deaden the sensitivity of a rod is to add weight to the blank ahead of the reel seat. All of the fancy wraps, winding checks, foregrips, etc. dampen vibrations from reaching your hand. Of course, that's an extreme example with the hammers and fishing rods you're typically talking no more than a 5oz difference between a heavy and light combo. It's true that the lighter combo will give you a slightly better sense of what's going on, but adding an ounce to a rod isn't going to make enough difference for most folks to be able to feel it. Me personally, a couple of my favorite reels are the heaviest I own and have the biggest palming profile. I don't think I have ever had any reel that I thought was uncomfortable to hold or anything, because I just use it; never even though to worry about how it felt in my palm. I can tell the difference when I pick up my Expride/SS SV that only weighs about 9.5oz with line, it's definitely a "wow, that's light" moment. After a days fishing with some of my heavier stuff, I forget all about it though. I just fish with it.

[hooah212002]

Ever since I got my Citica paired with a Veritas, I am on a quest to find the lightest gear possible because throwing heavy stuff around is a chore and I don't want fishing to be a chore (this is why I don't musky fish lol). My Citica/Veritas makes my Pro Qualifier/Vendetta feel like a frakkin tank even though it's actually still pretty light.

 

So, my personal opinion (limited as my experience may be compared to most others here) is to get as light as possible without sacrificing quality. Casting a heavy setup all day, or even a few hours, will most often lead to sore wrists which, in turn, leads to less fun on the water.

[WRB]

One rod maker, Gary Dobyn's, believes a balanced rod reel combo is more important then having the lightest weight rod on the market and he is right!

The average medium heavy 7' light weight bait casting or spinning bass rod weighs about 4 oz +_ 1/2 oz.

The average light weight 100 size bait casting reel, size 2500 spinning reel weighs 8 oz +_ 1/2 oz.

The balance point being being the reel crank shaft with the reel mounted and filled with line. The balance point was the front reel seat not long ago and the point I use.

If you have a 3 1/2 oz rod with a 8 1/2 oz rod the combo will be a little tip heavy and total weight of 12 oz, very good combo.

The 4 oz rod with 8 oz reel is balanced with a total weight of 12 oz, ideal combo

The 4 1/2 oz rod with 8 1/2 oz is balanced with a total weight of 13 oz, ideal combo, a little heavier.

6 oz rod with 10 oz reel is butt heavy with a total weight of 16 oz, not well balanced and heavy compared to the balanced 12 oz combo.

Going lighter than 12 oz combo will nearly double the cost of both reels and rods; 3 1/2 oz rod with 7 1/2. Reel is 11 oz and approaching state of the art components.

Anyone who believes a 13 oz balanced bass outfit will wear you out faster than a 12 oz outfit is over thinking the weight issue.

Strive for balance, Dobyn's is right on with this issue.

Tom

[SirSnookalot]

Compared to many of my fishing combos a bass set up is so light I don't give weight or balance that much thought. The more you fish the less fatigue and soreness you're going to have.  Me and my homeboys are all over 65, we do it everyday, no one seems to complain.

[Hattrick7]

It doesn't to me if I'm bank fishing and just two hand casting. I use a Tatula for my spinnerbait setup and after casting that thing one handed constantly up to a bank with the trolling motor on I sure did miss my Revo SX.

[rippin-lips]

. Y'all need to fish more if 1 ounce is causing you fatigue. Maybe you guys need a heavier reel to work out those arms lol. Think of it as lifting weights. Use a heavier reel and you'll be stronger in the end and your arm won't hurt.

[Raul]

Fishing with a sub 6 oz reel is a sensation hard to describe, sub 10 oz setup including the rod, wow ! nice ! ...........but I think that things get taken wayyyyyyy too far when you complaint about having to fish with the inmense weight of a 10 oz reel, ( like if 10 oz reels were the nowdays norm ), gimme a break.

 

Now also let´s look at it from another perspective, you want feather weight, you want nice and you want it cheap -----> it ain´t gonna happen ! the lightest reels are magnesium and those don´t cost 100-200 bucks, at $250 the Chronarch 50 Mg was a steal, mag reels fetch for over 300 bones.

 

Guys, you can still cast with both arms if your set up is "too heavy".

[F14A-B]

Compared to many of my fishing combos a bass set up is so light I don't give weight or balance that much thought. The more you fish the less fatigue and soreness you're going to have. Me and my homeboys are all over 65, we do it everyday, no one seems to complain.

Noooo... Mr. Snook... You come HERE.. And Complain!

[Mr Swim Jig]

A well balanced rod and reel combo is way more important to me then a light weight reel.