Opinions on split rear grips

[Timberwolf530]

I like the looks of the split grips, but to date, have still not built one. The main reason I have been hesitant is balance. I picked up several of them while at BPS this spring, and all of them seemed tip heavy with no reel on them. This seemed to validate my fear that these grips ruin the balance of the rod. I know as rod builders, you guys on here must be as concerned about balance as I am. How do you compensate for this problem? Normally, I glue a couple lead weights inside the butt if I need a little extra, but most of the time I don't even need that. It seems to me that alot of weight would have to be added to compensate.

[hillbilly61]

Take a reel with you and see if that balances the rod. If not, then, (this just my opinion) I wouldn't buy it. I see no reason to add more weight to a rod when you are trying to keep the weight down and increase the sensitivity.

[Timberwolf530]

Don't want to buy one. I want to build one. I just picked them up at BPS to check them out. But, thanks.

[dpage70]

Take that same rod and build it with micro guides and all your balance worries will go away. I built a 7'6" medium light rod with no foregrip and split rear that balanced perfectly with a citica 100dsv and a 10.5" handle. The less you put on the rod from the seat forward the better it will balance and the more sensitive it will be. Personally I won't balance one unless the rod will only be used for punching mats or something like that where you'll have a bunch of weight on the tip. JMO

[Bassn81]

First, Don't use anything factory made as a benchmark for quality or proper build...they just don't know how to do it. I have been building split grip rods for 7 years and the last two with micro guides. Balance has not been an issue and in fact is improved in most all of my builds.

Some thoughts on balance. First you need to determine what technique you will be using the rod for and where the tip will be pointed when you are using it. While working a moving bait the rod tip is typically pointed down towards the water. Balance does not matter at all in this situation, building the lightest possible rod does.

For techniques that require you to have the rod tip us balance can be looked at more. First things first. Unless I am building a Frog, Punch or Swimbait rod I NEVER add weight to balance, it is not worth it. I instead build the lightest possible rod that I can and go from there. Typically by keeping the build weight of the rod down you won't notice any balance issues when fishing. Micro guides really help with this.

If I do decide to add weight to a rod to balance it I prefer to use an adjustable weight kit that extends the weight out behind the rear of the blank. The farther from the reelseat you can add the weight the less weight it will require to do the job. I am also not looking for perfect balance, just enough to make the rod comfortable to fish.

[Chris Davis]

What Scott said. That 1st guide (from reel) on those BPS rods weighs more than the 7-8 micro guides and tip top do, built the way Scott describes. And they require less thread and finish-further reducing tip weight. BPS also favors rods finished with an eye-catching shiny finish which adds weight unecessarily. I prefer unfinished blanks. Reel positioning can influence balance a considerable amount. There is a limit to how far fwd you can place a reel-rear grips can be too long to fish comfortably with and not match some techniques very well.

[WCR]

Ditto on what David, Scott & Chris said. You can also do a mock up of you rod with guides, reel seat & grip then install the reel you want and adjust the reel seat to check your balance.
Just a note:I have seen some builders use the micro guide set up, that the guides wraps start about a ½ inch before the guide foot and in my opinion this plus all that epoxy defeats the purpose of building a rod with micro guides for reducing the weight. I start my wraps about three threads before the guide foot and also do a locking wrap. This is just the way I do it.

Lynn

[thedude]

don't think i've ever picked up a rod that was balanced with out a reel on it, they will all be tip heavy.

[richard stone]

Ditto on all the above. You cannot get an idea of balance without a reel on it. I would focus on the weight more than balance. If you are building, there is no accurate way IMO that you can get an accurate balance on the rod. You can mock it all up and have it "balanced", but when you add the thread and epoxy's it may/will throw of the balance you set up. I have a 7' MH rainshadow that I balanced before building, and I ended up with a reelseat 7" from the butt. Yeah it's balanced, but the butt length is way too short for that rod (again IMO)

[Bassn81]

Yeah, I forgot to mention the reel. That is why I use an adjustable system. That way I can change for lure and reel I am using.

[Timberwolf530]

I do mock up all my builds before I start gluing stuff on. My main concern was that if you are removing weight from behind the reel seat that it would move the balance point too far forward, thus making it necessary to move the reel seat too far forward. But, if I understand correctly what you are saying, if mico guides are used, it will make up for the loss of ballast weight at the butt of the reel. I think I may just have to do some experimenting and see what happens.

[DickD]

I have built rods for many years and still cannot understand the function of the split handle. I have build a couple for myself but really cannot see any benefit. I use Loomis blanks exclusively and also use the micro guides. Loomis also believes there is no functional gain in using the split grips. In my opinion they are more of a sales gimmick.