Rod weight question?

[cwen]

How heavy is heavy for a rod? I some rods are super light, but how heavy is too heavy? I just bought a Poweel endurance rod mag heavy that is 7'1. It is 5.5 oz. thhat doesn't seem heavy, but pitching it all day seems like it might be a chore. My carrot stick is right around 4 oz. and imx is 5. My daiwa light and tough is 5.5, but it is 7'6. Not sure if 5.5 for that kind of rod is average, heavy, light, etc.

[Flywatersmallie]

Balance is more important than weight. The rod could weigh a pound but with the reel on it, if it balances right where you hold it, it won't feel like much. When you have a reel on it, if that tip wants to go right to the floor, you are going to feel that after a long day on the water holding that tip up. Dobyns rods for example aren't the lightest out there but.... they balance so well that they feel almost weightless in hand. One of the reasons they became so popular. Good luck with your new rod!

[BobP]

5.5 doesn't sound especially heavy for a Mag Hvy action rod but Flywatersmallie is right.  7' or longer rods are usually tip heavy unless you counterweight them with added weight in the butt.  I have a 7'6" Shikari flipping stick that weighs 6.9 oz but that includes an ounce of lead in the butt section to counterbalance the rod.  I can flip all day and never notice the weight - and I'm usually a freak about light rods.  Especially if the Powell is going to be used for still presentations like jigs or C-rigs, I'd clamp on the reel to be used and counterweight the butt to get a neutral balance.  That's less important if you'll use it for frogs or swimbaits since the rod will always be tip heavy during those presentations anyway.

IMO, a balanced rod/reel combo for still presentations is really important for 2 reasons.  1st, it will be much less tiring.  2nd, your touch sensitivity will not be degraded from hand muscle fatigue if your rig is balanced, so you will sense bites much better.  Yes, it seems a shame to load an expensive high end graphite rod with extra weight, but try it and you will see the advantages.

[Grey Wolf]

Balance IS the key !!!!!!!!!!!!

[B A S S E R]

I have a BPS Johhny Morris Sig Series on one of the Nitro rods and that thing is HEAVY. Especially when I am used to fishing with my Revo Sx on a JoMo Series II.

[RoLo]

The gold standard for rod weight has long been 4 Oz.

That's fine and dandy, as long as levity isn't the result of component scrimping.

Arguably more important than "levity" is the overall "feel" of the outfit.

Although "feel" is often referred to as 'balance', you'd be lucky to find one balanced outfit out of a dozen.

Roger

[MickD]

the only way I can balance a  7 'rod so it is not tip heavy is to make the length behind the butt too long to fit me-get snags at the elbow with some fishing motions.  I much prefer the lightest outfit I can make over balance that comes from adding weight.  I like 7' rods or sometimes longer for the casting distance +  .IMHO.

As soon as you add a lure to the balanced outfit, it is out of balance.  Even the lightest lures at the end of a rod will make it tip heavy.

With finesse fishing, tubes, jigs, the rod is often held more vertically, at least for me, and there is no "lure weight" while working the lure, so I can almost get neutral balance without the ergonomixs problem.

[Fat-G]

Balance is more important to me, especially on my flipping stick. I'm getting a Dobyns Champion 735c soon that is supposed to be exceptionally balanced. This rod will see flippin duty in reasonable heavy stuff. I really need a balanced rod more than a light rod on 7'+ sticks.

[CWilliams]

Wouldn't a balanced rod be butt heavy once the reel is added? What are you people claiming a balanced rod is?

[RoLo]

Wouldn't a balanced rod be butt heavy once the reel is added? What are you people claiming a balanced rod is?

The goal is a balanced "combo", where the pivot point falls in the center of the reel.

In reality though, most combos are tip heavy, and oddly enough,

when we buy the lightest available reel we exacerbate top-heaviness.

Roger.

[CWilliams]

Wouldn't a balanced rod be butt heavy once the reel is added? What are you people claiming a balanced rod is?

The goal is a balanced "combo", where the pivot point falls in the center of the reel.

In reality though, most combos are tip heavy, and oddly enough,

when we buy the lightest available reel we exacerbate top-heaviness.

Roger.

Thanks for the explanation. I understand the idea of a balanced combo. I was just wondering what people mean by a balanced rod, since they would all be tip heavy. I hear people claim a certain rod is tip heavy but, like you said, if you get the lightest rod and lightest reel how could it not be tip heavy? 

"I'm getting a Dobyns Champion 735c soon that is supposed to be exceptionally balanced"

I do not get this at all. would it not depend on the reel he paired it with?

[RoLo]

That's what I meant in an earlier post when I mentioned that feel is often referred to as balance.

For example, my favorite 'feel' puts the point-of-balance at the front of the reel rather than the tang.

If you're getting a Gary Dobyns, I have a hunch you'll be happy with the feel 8-)

Roger

[Fat-G]

Wouldn't a balanced rod be butt heavy once the reel is added? What are you people claiming a balanced rod is?

The goal is a balanced "combo", where the pivot point falls in the center of the reel.

In reality though, most combos are tip heavy, and oddly enough,

when we buy the lightest available reel we exacerbate top-heaviness.

Roger.

Thanks for the explanation. I understand the idea of a balanced combo. I was just wondering what people mean by a balanced rod, since they would all be tip heavy. I hear people claim a certain rod is tip heavy but, like you said, if you get the lightest rod and lightest reel how could it not be tip heavy?

"I'm getting a Dobyns Champion 735c soon that is supposed to be exceptionally balanced"

I do not get this at all. would it not depend on the reel he paired it with?

With Dobyns, not necessarily. They're known for great balance. I'll either put a Citisaurus or a Zillion on it, so it shouldn't be a problem.

[CWilliams]

Wouldn't a balanced rod be butt heavy once the reel is added? What are you people claiming a balanced rod is?

The goal is a balanced "combo", where the pivot point falls in the center of the reel.

In reality though, most combos are tip heavy, and oddly enough,

when we buy the lightest available reel we exacerbate top-heaviness.

Roger.

Thanks for the explanation. I understand the idea of a balanced combo. I was just wondering what people mean by a balanced rod, since they would all be tip heavy. I hear people claim a certain rod is tip heavy but, like you said, if you get the lightest rod and lightest reel how could it not be tip heavy?

"I'm getting a Dobyns Champion 735c soon that is supposed to be exceptionally balanced"

I do not get this at all. would it not depend on the reel he paired it with?

With Dobyns, not necessarily. They're known for great balance. I'll either put a Citisaurus or a Zillion on it, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I would like to know the balance point of Dobyns that makes it different than other rods. Care to enlighten me so I can compare them to other rods?

[Alpster]

As a rod builder, the problem with balancing a rod anywhere near the reel foot, is with modern lightweight components, you must move the reel seat so far forward to get a neutral balance that you lose the advantages of longer rods. Imagine the real seat 20" from the butt on a 7' rod to balance it.  Also, as stated above, it can even make the rod hard to fish with. I try to keep weight to a minimum and worry less about neutral balance. I can not bring myself to ADD balancing weight to a blank that I paid a fortune for because it was LIGHT. JMHO

Ronnie

[ROCbass]

Theoretically, if a rod is perfectly balanced at the center of the reel seat it will still be perfectly balanced with any reel you put on it, no matter how much the reel weighs. Imagine a lever balanced on a fulcrum. adding weight to either side will tip the lever to that side, but if you add the weight directly on top of the fulcrum the lever will stay balanced because the weight distribution is still equal on both sides of the fulcrum. In the real world of fishing this doesn't work out perfectly because not all reels have an equal weight distribution from front to back across the center of the reel foot; however, the closer the rod is to being balanced to begin with, the better it will usually feel with a reel.

[SirSnookalot]

IMO perfect balance can only be obtained once you have the lure on, change the lure and now the balance is different.

The majority of my fishing is done with 1 rod and a few lures, spoons or feathers, most of which are different weights, I really am not paying all that much attention to it.

[CWilliams]

Theoretically, if a rod is perfectly balanced at the center of the reel seat it will still be perfectly balanced with any reel you put on it, no matter how much the reel weighs. Imagine a lever balanced on a fulcrum. adding weight to either side will tip the lever to that side, but if you add the weight directly on top of the fulcrum the lever will stay balanced because the weight distribution is still equal on both sides of the fulcrum. In the real world of fishing this doesn't work out perfectly because not all reels have an equal weight distribution from front to back across the center of the reel foot; however, the closer the rod is to being balanced to begin with, the better it will usually feel with a reel.

That makes sense. Because a rod is not perfectly balanced to begin with, doesn't the weight of the real become a factor at that point?

[breezy]

Theoretically, if a rod is perfectly balanced at the center of the reel seat it will still be perfectly balanced with any reel you put on it, no matter how much the reel weighs. Imagine a lever balanced on a fulcrum. adding weight to either side will tip the lever to that side, but if you add the weight directly on top of the fulcrum the lever will stay balanced because the weight distribution is still equal on both sides of the fulcrum. In the real world of fishing this doesn't work out perfectly because not all reels have an equal weight distribution from front to back across the center of the reel foot; however, the closer the rod is to being balanced to begin with, the better it will usually feel with a reel.

That makes sense. Because a rod is not perfectly balanced to begin with, doesn't the weight of the real become a factor at that point?

The closer the balance point of the rod is to the reel seat, the less important reel weight becomes. I have some rods where I prefer a heavier or lighter reel, and others that it doesn't seem to make a difference. With my Dobyns 734 for example, a 7oz vs 9oz reel might move the balance point 1/4".

[CWilliams]

So where is the balance point on the dobyns that make people claim dobyns superior?

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

I saw on another site with like 7 Dobyns rods there was from 5" for 6'8" rod to 9" for 8' rod from center of reel seat for balance point.

7' rods were 5.5" to 6.75"

8' rods 7.5",8",9"