# Shortening a tip to raise lure rating



## Guest (Oct 11, 2016)

Hello from a frequent reader/first-time poster. Thanks for all the past thoughts and info. I'll try to break this into chunks:

Goal: to build a top section of a surf rod intended for plugging. Mating a butt section isn't a problem.

Current idea: shorten a 6' freshwater rod from the tip to deliberately both: a) slow the action b) raise the lure weight rating substantially.

Question: does anyone have experience in doing this (on purpose), and in pushing the limits of it? How different are the graph curves of utility stiffness and breaking strain along the span? 

details of the fantasy: I have a factory second 6' St Croix Legend (scv) bass blank, rated 10-17lb and 1/4-5/8oz, fast taper. I am thinking of making a slightly heavier partner to the rod I built off a steelhead tip section (again, factory 2nd scv but 3/4-2oz at 60" mated to 4 feet of an all-star inshore rod). 

My common sense tells me that the idea is patently ridiculous but I had such wild success with the other build that part of me thinks it's plausible. That whisker-thin steelheader with its 5.0 tip comfortably landed several 10-15 pound stripers in boulders and sets a hook with authority. The most furious of the bunch so far was only 27" but was shaped like a fireplug, on the far edge of a rip at an ebbing rivermouth, and that butt grip was flexing like a stuck handsaw. It also sidearms plastic minnows and jigs upwind like a champ which was the real reason I built it. The only time I thought it might break was casting heavier bucktails carelessly. I want to repeat this success (and budget), but sliding the weight slot up by an ounce. I know that the intense engineering in the graphite and taper makes any similarity beyond the ingredients superficial, but I can't stop wondering. After all, this is how science happens, right?

I'm happy to take a thump on the head and a "scram, kid," but I'm an officially addicted builder now, am broke, and can't imagine the universe needs another 6' freshwater stick. Any experience, good or bad, is welcome. Meanwhile I'm tying to visualize a bounce load response tester. 

Thanks for the look,
Jake


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## ez2cdave (Oct 13, 2008)

Welcome to the Forum, Jake !

Shortening a rod to adjust it's action can be tricky . . . I suggest that you also join this rod-building Forum :

*http://rodbuilding.org/list.php?2*

Tight Lines !


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## ez2cdave (Oct 13, 2008)

How long have you been building rods ?

Tight Lines !


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