What Makes A Rod Tip Heavy?

[EvanT123]

I read a lot about tip heavy rods and have begun to wonder why?

In a few recent posts there have been mentions of stcroixs over 7 feet as tip heavy. The heaviest st croix I own is a 7'medium spinning rod. It's actually the stoutest rod I own and I built it with a short handle as I felt my factory 7mlf handle was to long. It has a 8oz reel on it and feels nice in hand.

So back to my question how and what makes a rod tip heavy?

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

A combination of the following in this order IMO:

 

Handle length & material

blank construction

components (more & heavier guides, heavy epoxy finishes)

 

I'd much rather have as light a total weight as possible and the most comfortable grip length. There is almost always some weight or pressure on the tip from the bait and don't personally notice or pursue the perceived "weightless" feeling of a "balanced" rod. A truly tip heavy rod is usually just poor design and easily avoided in a good custom build without the addition of weight.

[BobP]

Any rod where the tip feels heavier than zero when you hold and fish it is "tip heavy".  The longer the rod, the more leverage the tip has, so longer rods tend to feel more tip heavy, all other factors held equal.  Rods used for touchy-feely bottom presentations like dropshotting, jigs, or T-rigs feel more sensitive when the rod tip weight is neutral while you work the bait.  Rods used for moving bait presentations like crankbaits, swimbaits, or spinnerbaits are always tip heavy due to the pressure exerted by the bait as it moves through the water, so tip-heaviness is largely irrelevant to those presentations.

[Alpha Male]

In all honesty the Mike and Bob have hit it right on. I have a few rods that I consider tip-heavy. I don't find it anything to worry about unless it's really bad and most of my rods are 7'+. A quality rod from a quality manufacturer may be a little tip heavy but some of that is the reel makers fault for making reels so light. I use a 7'1" st Croix ltb med-fast that weighs 4.0ozs and that is paired with a revo premier that weighs 5.9ozs for a combo that weighs under 10ozs. I would say it's as close to balanced as possible but I'm with Mike. I want a light weight setup over one that is heavier but balanced.

I just bought a daiwa s-class rod it's 6'6" med-hvy ex-fast and it's the most tip heavy rod I have besides my 7'11" flippin rod. With a revo std the balance point is a good 2" past the front of the reel. Swap the 6.3 oz revo for a 7.8 oz tatula type-r and the balance point is about a half an inch in front of the reel.

So before you worry too much about it realize that its really a preference thing, some people can't stand it some don't care.

[SirSnookalot]

My freshwater set ups feel reel good, light (my opinion of light) and comfortable.  Don't pay too much attention to balance as I use different weight lures so the balance is never constant, although I do not overload the rods.  Being a spinning user I have my hand placed in front of the reel which moves the balance point up, don't notice tip heavy being much of an issue.

I have combos where the rod is consistently loaded over max, they will always feel tip heavy.  In my experience these overloaded tip heavy rods cast further, not something I typically use for bass fishing.

[ww2farmer]

Just another thing to consider................I see a lot of people whining about "tip heavy" rods when the hold them in a store with nor reels on them, and/or tags, anti-theft thingies, etc....festooned to the blank. Get the store to take that crap off, and put a reel on it before you decide it's tip heavy.

[S Hovanec]

The quest for super light reels can make the lightest rod feel tipheavy too. I have a NFC DS rod that is under 3oz and it feels nicer with my Stradic Mg 2500 than with my CI4 2500.

[Senko lover]

The tip is heavy when you can swing a 10 pound cement block.

 

P.S. Yipee, I made the 500 mark!

[*Hootie]

The tip is heavy when you can swing a 10 pound cement block.

P.S. Yipee, I made the 500 mark!

Congrats, now say thank you and you will have 501.

Hootie

[Senko lover]

Congrats, now say thank you and you will have 501.

Hootie

 

Kind of a lame 500th post, I should have done a long and detailed "Joe S" type of deal .

[rawjuice]

I strongly agree ww2, people pick up a rod in the store and judge it right there, tags, theft thingy and no reel. Terrible, then i go on the internet and see someone complaining that they went to the store, was going to buy this rod but they picked it up and it was tip heavy and bla bla bla. 

[Fishydishy]

On 1/13/2015 at 6:13 PM, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

A combination of the following in this order IMO:

 

Handle length & material

blank construction

components (more & heavier guides, heavy epoxy finishes)

 

I'd much rather have as light a total weight as possible and the most comfortable grip length. There is almost always some weight or pressure on the tip from the bait and don't personally notice or pursue the perceived "weightless" feeling of a "balanced" rod. A truly tip heavy rod is usually just poor design and easily avoided in a good custom build without the addition of weight.

Your posts are always inspirational, giving me a new perspective. Doesn’t matter if it is from 5 or 10 years ago! I almost got rid of my light heavy power rod because it’s a little tip heavy lol thank you!

[Deleted account]

What makes it tip heavy? mass.

What makes it feel tip heavy? the distribution of said mass.

And all the Zombies standing on it...

 

[The Maestro]

Gravity

[CrankFate]

I always think they make tip heavy rods because if you play the odds, the reel that will go on any rod is probably too heavy. So only people who have light, expensive reels will ever notice. Either that, or too short rear grips.

[WRB]

Titter totter is balanced until the weight is added to 1 end is heavier then the other end. Balance is based on the fulcrum point. If the rod builder puts the fulcrum point in the center of the reel seat the reel weight is neutral.

Now comes a variable the rod builder can’t know; how you hold the rod-reel combo.

If you hold the rod at the center of the fulcrum point it’s always balanced. Forward of the fulcrum point it’s butt heavy, behind it’s tip heavy. Now add a lure and line the dynamics change. With spinning reels the spool design affects the weight balance and how you hold the rod.

Over all weight, lighter feels better then heavier.

Tom

 

[jbsoonerfan]

What makes a rod tip heavy? 

 

 

Weak wrists

[Catt]

6 hours ago, jbsoonerfan said:

 

Weak wrists

 

Kinda like OU fans ?

[Columbia Craw]

20 hours ago, WRB said:

Titter totter is balanced until the weight is added to 1 end is heavier then the other end. Balance is based on the fulcrum point. If the rod builder puts the fulcrum point in the center of the reel seat the reel weight is neutral.

Now comes a variable the rod builder can’t know; how you hold the rod-reel combo.

If you hold the rod at the center of the fulcrum point it’s always balanced. Forward of the fulcrum point it’s butt heavy, behind it’s tip heavy. Now add a lure and line the dynamics change. With spinning reels the spool design affects the weight balance and how you hold the rod.

Over all weight, lighter feels better then heavier.

Tom

 

Well said Tom.  

[A-Jay]

It's been Six Years and I can't believe this hasn't happened yet . . . 

 

 

These things can make the tip pretty heavy.

?

A-Jay

 

[NOC 1]

On 4/23/2021 at 8:05 PM, CrankFate said:

I always think they make tip heavy rods because if you play the odds, the reel that will go on any rod is probably too heavy. So only people who have light, expensive reels will ever notice. Either that, or too short rear grips.

I don't think that anyone sets out to make a rod tip heavy. In a perfect world the rod would balance right in the center of the reel seat so that whatever reel you put on it would balance. In the real world that is not always practical. Depending on the length of the rod and the characteristics of the blank itself, and the intended use of the rod, perfect balance is tough to achieve.

 

For example, if you want a short handle on a rod for using as a jerk bait rod, it's probably not going to have great balance but you have to ask yourself which you value most in THIS rod. Would you rather have a handle that is in your way the whole time you are using it or a balanced rod.

 

It is possible to add weight to the butt of the rod to improve the balance but again you have to decide what it important to you. For me I will put weight on a top water rod to improve its balance because the way I fish it the better balance helps me produce tiny walking vibrations and I might also add weight to an out of balance rod I'm going to use for  bottom contact rods and some finesse stuff. To me balance is important in these techniques.

 

I usually wouldn't add weight to say a Carolina rig rod. a crank-bait rod or a jig rod because you'd have to add so much that the extra weight would in my opinion be worse that the out of balance rod past a certain point. And these are  going to have weight pulling on the tip no matter how balanced the rod is. The only exceptions would be where the rod is so tip heavy that I lose casting accuracy.

 

Everybody has the choice for themselves as to what they prefer. I am kind of a stickler for the best practical balance I can get, while others don't care much about it at all.