Balancing a rod

[RustyNails87]

I recently bought an ultralight st. croix rod and paired it with a pflueger reel size 25 (second from the smallest) and when I hold the rod just above the reel the tip points towards the ground.  How can I go about adding more weight to the butt of the rod to balance it out?  I've heard of using furniture caps or cane caps but the rods end is very short and the caps wpuld be too long... Any ideas to remedy this?  I've attached a picture of what the end of the rod looks like.  The very end of the rod, the diameter is about an inch then it is 3/4 of an inch all the way to the reel.

 

 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Get a one inch cap and trim it short to slide just over the very butt. Or you can just hold the Rod and point it where you want

[cottny27]

2 hours ago, RustyNails87 said:

I recently bought an ultralight st. croix rod and paired it with a pflueger reel size 25 (second from the smallest) and when I hold the rod just above the reel the tip points towards the ground.  How can I go about adding more weight to the butt of the rod to balance it out?  I've heard of using furniture caps or cane caps but the rods end is very short and the caps wpuld be too long... Any ideas to remedy this?  I've attached a picture of what the end of the rod looks like.  The very end of the rod, the diameter is about an inch then it is 3/4 of an inch all the way to the reel.

 

 

Mudhole has all different sizes and styles of caps that might work. 

[RustyNails87]

Can I separate and remove the darker cork from the lighter cork?  The butt end I guess you would call it?

If so, how would I go about doing this?

Thanks

 

 

 

[Brett's_daddy]

I've heard of people using a cap and sticking quarters in them. I have never personally tried this but that's just a nugget I've heard from others.

[cottny27]

20 minutes ago, RustyNails87 said:

Can I separate and remove the darker cork from the lighter cork?  The butt end I guess you would call it?

If so, how would I go about doing this?

Thanks

 

 

 

I would carefully remove that darker cork and drill out a small area to add weight.  Then glue the darker cork back on.  Probably wouldn't even notice if it's done right.

[RustyNails87]

2 minutes ago, cottny27 said:

I would carefully remove that darker cork and drill out a small area to add weight.  Then glue the darker cork back on.  Probably wouldn't even notice if it's done right.

Yes but how would I go about removing the small darker cork? 

[cottny27]

3 minutes ago, RustyNails87 said:

Yes but how would I go about removing the small darker cork? 

I just use a little fine cut saw, but it depends on how perfect you want it to look and if you are reusing the darker cork.  

I see a lot of things on this link below you can replace that darker cork with.

http://www.mudhole.com/rod-building/handles-grips/butt-caps-fighting-butts

9 minutes ago, RustyNails87 said:

Yes but how would I go about removing the small darker cork? 

Do you have a cheap old rod you can experiment on first??

20 hours ago, RustyNails87 said:

I recently bought an ultralight st. croix rod and paired it with a pflueger reel size 25 (second from the smallest) and when I hold the rod just above the reel the tip points towards the ground.  How can I go about adding more weight to the butt of the rod to balance it out?  I've heard of using furniture caps or cane caps but the rods end is very short and the caps wpuld be too long... Any ideas to remedy this?  I've attached a picture of what the end of the rod looks like.  The very end of the rod, the diameter is about an inch then it is 3/4 of an inch all the way to the reel.

 

 

How far above the reel is your balance point right now?

[Puggz]

Personally, I would just live with it....

[WPCfishing]

You may want to use the rod and reel as they are. It doesn't sound to me like it's a problem. Once you add a bait all bets are off anyway. Use it and enjoy it. You really don't have a problem.

[WRB]

Hold the rod with 3 fingers in front of the reel between your pinky and ring fingers.

Why pay for a light weight rod and add weight to the butt end?

Tom

[papajoe222]

Longer rods tend to be tip heavy, but adding weight to the butt increases the overall weight. If balance is more important than the actual weight of the combo. The farther behind the grip the less weight it will take to balance, so if you decide to add weight, the butt is the place to do it.  

The only reason I mention this is I had someone that was unhappy with a 7'3" build I'd done for him that purchased a larger reel in an attempt to balance things out. It added 3oz. to the total weight and he was even less thrilled with it then.