# Tournament Butt.



## pipe (Nov 10, 2009)

Pardon my ignorance,but,what exactly is a "Tournament Butt" or an "Extension?"
How long should it be.Is it something you make or is it something you buy.What is the purpose of one?
Thanks in advance.


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## Yeah nah (Jun 14, 2007)

A tournament butt is either a stiffer or longer ( or both )butt for an existing rod . 
Not all manufactures make them . 
The extension is sometimes made just so you can make the rod a little longer. Or offer's a thinner section to mount the reel on and get a better grip.


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

The term "reducer" is commonly used to indicate a short extension piece that can be slipped inside the end of the regular butt to add a little length to the rod. They are typically 12 to 18 inches in length and the (o.d) diameter is smaller than the butt diameter (hence the term reducer). Because of the reduced diameter it is easier for someone with small hands to grip the reel when it is placed on the extension piece itself, as compared to gripping the reel when it is on the thicker butt section.

Some companies offer a "tournament butt" that is longer than say a standard fishing butt. Breakaway does this with it's HDX model. The tournment butt is a foot longer than the standard fishing butt, to increase overall length. This is a better option with thin walled rods like the HDX, which might crack if a reducer was installed into the (comparatively) thin wall at the butt end.

A reducer can be home made, but care needs to be taken to get a proper, snug fit inside the main rod butt.

Companies like Century and Zziplex usually offer reducers as an option with many of their tournament rods.


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## curtisb (Jul 21, 2004)

Mark, the HDX-T/B is also stiffer than the standard fishing butt. Breakaway also use to make Tournament butts for their 2pc1pc rods they use to make which was also longer and alot stiffer than the standard or fishing butt. The AAA and Fat Butt rods never needed them because they were already tourney rods from the start and were stiff enough as they came.


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## rocketman (Jun 6, 2008)

The original concept of a reducer was so that you could mount the reel as low as possible on the butt, you cast with the reducer removed, then re-fitted the reducer to give some comfort and leverage when winding in, tourney casters seeking to soften very stiff rods by mounting reels as low as possible are now mounting reels on the reducer itself, this is OK for the field but very uncomfortable when retrieving a decent fish


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## pipe (Nov 10, 2009)

So,the whole concept of low reel/high reel is to make the loading of a very stiff rod more manageable??


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## rocketman (Jun 6, 2008)

pipe said:


> So,the whole concept of low reel/high reel is to make the loading of a very stiff rod more manageable??


The lower the reel the softer the rod gets, the more bend you can get = more distance if your technique is good


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## pipe (Nov 10, 2009)

IF YOUR TECHNIQUE IS GOOD?There is the problem in a nutshell.


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## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

The high-reel/low-reel topic has come up before and it seems the consensus is it comes down to personal preference. I personally think that I get a better grip on the reel and my tournament rods balance out better with the reel in the low position. My surf rods feel better with the reel in a high position. It depends on how you throw and what you like.

I think what rocketman is saying is that a reducer would allow you to cast a rod in low reel and still have it comfortable to fight a fish. I know from experience that trying to fight a fish with no leverage room behind the reel is a difficult task. The reducer gives you that extra 12-18" of leverage room.

For casting, lengthening a rod does seem to make it softer. By moving the reel down the butt onto the reducer you gain that extra length. You could get the same effect with a high reel setup, just move the reel to your top hand position and have your bottom hand on the reducer during the cast.


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## Fish Hunter (Jul 31, 2002)

All of you are Dead Wrong on this issue.

Tournament butt is what you see when you cast with Tommy, Big Dave, Troy and some of those guys.   

Cause all we can see after we reach our cast is their Butts going past us.  

Merry Christmas to one and all and may the Spirit of Christmas live within you all year long.


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## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

Fish Hunter said:


> All of you are Dead Wrong on this issue.
> 
> Tournament butt is what you see when you cast with Tommy, Big Dave, Troy and some of those guys.


Hahaha I like it.

Evan


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## Big Dave (Jan 22, 2001)

Fish Hunter said:


> All of you are Dead Wrong on this issue.
> 
> Tournament butt is what you see when you cast with Tommy, Big Dave, Troy and some of those guys.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the visual LOL


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Something like plumbers crack???


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## waywack40 (Oct 7, 2007)

Must be that's where all that power comes from!!!


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## pipe (Nov 10, 2009)

Want to thank everyone for their input.The answer to the original question is now perfectly clear to me.


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