Rod Action Question

[Curtis Fry]

I'm about to add some decorative butt wraps and some inlays on a new rod I'm building. However, in reading an article at FAOL, I'm now wondering if adding the extra weight would do more harm than good. Here's the article:

""Make it lighter. For any given stiffness, a lighter rod will dampen quicker, transmit vibrations better, cast farther and reduce fatigue on the angler. This is why fiberglass outperforms bamboo and why graphite outperforms fiberglass. None of these materials are magic in themselves, rather, as the stiffness-to-weight ratio climbs, so does the performance capabilities of the rod.

Anything you can do to make a rod lighter will result in some measure of performance increase. Even if you can't design and build your own blanks, there are many other ways to lighten a rid. The choice of componentry, assembly techniques, guide style and placement, and even wrap finish offer many areas where weight can be shaved. All other factors being equal, a lighter rod is also a better rod.

Perhaps the best analogy I've ever heard concerning how rod weight affects performance came from Gary Loomis. Gary compared a rod blank to a diving board at a swimming pool. If you jump on the board it will toss you up in the air a certain distance and then vibrate for a certain length of time before it stops. Now, add a 50-pound sack of cement or whatever to the underside of that board. Jump on it again, and this time, it won't throw you quite as high and it will vibrate for a longer period of time before stopping. You didn't change its stiffness, but you did add to its weight and that weight you added reduced the board's performance.

The same thing goes for fishing rods. Less weight translates into better dampening characteristics, better energy release and recovery, and less fatague for the angler fishing the rod. Again, all things being equal, the lighter the rod, the better the rod will perform."

--- Any thoughts??? I'm just not sure how much weight really is added with butt wraps and such (extra finish, thread etc).

[gware]

He's right on with the weight issue. It is a bigger issue on a smaller wt rod(3 and down) on a 4 wt or larger the weight gain would be slight and probably not noticable on a but section. In my opinion the WOW factor of a nice looking but wrap would outweigh the weight factor. You could go single foot guides if you are concerned with the weight, and do not go overboard with the but wrap. The rod that we built in the shop with the fancy wrap is just for show and in my opinion would be to heavy on a 4 wt or smaller rod.

gware

[Norm]

Why would a hollow rod dampen better than a solid rod? Def: "To deaden, restrain, or depress" What dampens better, steel or wood, hollow or solid, hollow aluminum bat or a wood bat? 50lbs of cement on a diving board? What the hell kind analogy is that? Where the bag is placed in relation to the lever and fulcrum might make a difference? This is the same tired selling points graphite rod manufactures have made for years. Graphite is stronger, graphite lighter, graphite will cast farther, on and on, BS. Fact is Bamboo is stronger (if someone wants to bring the Butt of a sage 5wt blank up I'll match it with one of my 5wt blanks and we'll bend the off the edge of my bench with weights and see which breaks first). You ever get those small chips on your rod from whackin it with a hook? Which one is going to give first? What Graphite has over Bamboo is its lighter weight to power ratio and one is able to get more “rod speed” out of graphite by making the wall thicker. Rod speed, does a fast rod equate to a good cast? No. Is a fast rod easier to cast? To some yes to some no. I find bamboo mush easier and relaxing to cast and feel it has a much smoother power delivery, many other do as well. Fact is many would own bamboo if they were made as easy and as cheap as all the clone wallyworld rods.

Your building a graphite rod and putting an inlay on the butt section not the tip top. Most graphite rods flex vey little in the butt and mostly in the tip (upper 1/3rd). And we are talking grams if not fractions of grams, not ounces or pounds. Do you really think it makes a difference in the casting ability of a rod if I install a reel seat made from aluminum or double the weight with a nickle silver reel seat? Even with an inlay you talking 1.5 oz. vs. 1.5894231 oz. Bamboo is twice to 3 times as heavy as graphite but I have yet to get a dislocated shoulder from my 3 oz rods. And how much distance do you think your going to loose or gain 95 feet on the Mid provo or 93 feet?


Make it special.
Inlay away.

Norm

[Curtis Fry]

Inlay and butt wraps it is! Thanks for the advice.