# Shortening rods



## Peixaria (Dec 31, 2008)

I am curious about peoples experience with cutting down longer distance rods to make suitable or should I say more comfortable fishing rods. I have always fished with 12 or 12'6" rods and have found them to be more suitable to my casting style, body type whatever you want to call it. I was actually thinking about pulling the trigger on some new rods this year but as i look at the pile of rods that dont go to the beach regularly I have now, I am wondering if some of the 13 and 13 6" distance rods can be shortened to make a better fishing rod. What would be required? would the guides need to be adjusted based on length or distance from the reel set? I have 2 century rods that have adjustable reel seats now. They cast great but are ineffective with a decent fish on because of length. Anybody have any advice in this area?


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## BeachBob (Aug 27, 2010)

I've never had the need to do it, but I don't see where whacking a foot or so off the butt end of a 13'6" *fishing* rod (I'd never do that to a tournament distance rod!) will matter much if at all. If the rod has a reel seat, directly coaster or tape on the reel and see where it's best placed. When you find the sweet spot, coaster or tape on a $15 Fuji reel seat and yer good to go. Have at it!


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## DaBig2na (Aug 7, 2011)

Peixaria said:


> I am curious about peoples experience with cutting down longer distance rods to make suitable or should I say more comfortable fishing rods. I have always fished with 12 or 12'6" rods and have found them to be more suitable to my casting style, body type whatever you want to call it. I was actually thinking about pulling the trigger on some new rods this year but as i look at the pile of rods that dont go to the beach regularly I have now, I am wondering if some of the 13 and 13 6" distance rods can be shortened to make a better fishing rod. What would be required? would the guides need to be adjusted based on length or distance from the reel set? I have 2 century rods that have adjustable reel seats now. They cast great but are ineffective with a decent fish on because of length. Anybody have any advice in this area?


I wouldnt shorten a factory built rod surf rod.. Most likely you would shorten it from the butt section as not to interfere with the tip section and the action it provides. When you shorten one from the back it throws the whole rod off and you will need to move everything reel seat guides and their spacing. I think in a factory rod its better to just buy the length and lure rating you need and go from there. In a custom build the length and weight rating you need and never look back.

I know exactly where you are coming from. My next beach Drum build will be a CTS1205. I presently fish a 1305 and off the beach its not going to make that much difference in the length of your cast. Where it does make a difference is in a crowd and if you have a tighter area to cast in, like a steep lip in the sand. I don't care for adjustable reel seats and prefer a trigger grip so whatever I decide to go with will be built permanently.


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## BeachBob (Aug 27, 2010)

I don't see where cutting off the butt end of a 13'6" down to 12'6" will matter at all for guide placement of a fishing rod. In the best of worlds, if the design was good, those guides were set for the tip section bend, where all the main rod action is located. Having the reel a foot closer to the stripper guide shouldn't make much difference, if any, for a fishing rod.

Before cutting off the butt end, just coaster or tape on the reel a foot closer to the guides, check the rod bend and interaction between the line coming off the reel to the stripper guide, and give 'er a few tosses and retrieves. Have you lost a lotta casting distance? It won't be optimum, but so what? It's a fishing rod, not a tournament rod. 

If tournament casting distance is absolutely paramount and you chop shop the butt end, then yeah - you might wanna relocate the guides but that will probably screw up the intended optimum placement of the guides and performance will suffer. In that case, do what 2na sez - *go buy the right rod and be done with it.*


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## retired (Oct 20, 2016)

Maybe Garbo will chime in. He told me he cut off a RS or maybe it was a All Star 1508 for drum fishing and liked it.Wanting it more like a 1509 I assume. He cut the tip off. 
I'm going to try a 1205 myself. I ran across Joker and he gave me some good insight on those. One thing he did mention is the 50/50 rod is different than the 70/30 and surprised me when he said he liked the 50/50 better. Nick supposed to notify me when he gets in some 1205 blanks.


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## BeachBob (Aug 27, 2010)

I prefer a well designed 50/50 rod. Cut off a butt end and it'll be a 55/45, 60/40, whatever. It's definitely tempting to butt cut a rod when you already have so many rods and the thought of buying another just on length alone is kinda like "why?" or maybe "WTF?". Again, to me it depends on the purpose of the rod. Fishing? Cut away. Max distance/tournament? Buy another rod. So ... just cut a foot off the butt end and go fishing.


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## jahtez (Aug 29, 2021)

I think it would also depend on the action of the rod and how much of the rod length is engineered to flex. For fast/x fast action rods (which you seem to be describing) there should be leeway to cut off some of the butt end, but I'm not sure I'd do so for a moderate or even moderate-fast action rod.


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

Measure twice cut once.

Factory Fenwick SurfSticks back in the Day were 11'6"
These were cut down anywhere from 11'3 to 10' 6"
I felt that even though you could throw 8 and bait with the 11'6" it put way too much stress on the tip and the likelihood of breaking the tip further back from what you wanted to too much risk.

I also have a 9'6" Stubby SurfStick where the tip did get broken off.

I cut 1507's and 1508 All Stars to make them throw 8 and bait better.

I had a 50/50 15' Century Danny Moeskops designed tournament blank.  . I decided I did not like it much for Drum fishing so I cut the butt down to mate with a 1509 All Star. I got a decent deal from Ryan on this Stick one winter. I tried to buy the same blank a few years later and he wanted $$$$$.

The Tip section of the Century was glued into the remaining butt section and made into a Cobia Stick. I am putting new guides on it after I finish the rod that is in my Lathe. It is the most expensive Cobia jig rod I own


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

The factory All Star 1508's 1509's were often cut 6 inches off the butt to make them easier to throw for folks that were not as robust as some folks. It was very common.

I cut 6" off the tips of the All Stars to make them stiffer. Even just trimmed a XXX1509 3rd Gen tip because it had been a factory rod and the tip was epoxied in and would not come off after heating it.

Florida Twin had 1509 cut from both the tip and the butt to make it 12'3" before he went to WRI. 

Joker and Biker Ricky like that 50/50 CTS 1205

Shorter rod = More Rod Speed due to less overall mass.


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## Peixaria (Dec 31, 2008)

So Garbo, You mention the Moeskops rod which you used the butt with a 1509 tip section on the top. Im curious about your take on the difference in the butts between the original 1508, 1509 and the century butts. I didn't really have the century butts in mind at first and was thinking of how to utilize the tip section by modifying the butts. 
I have alot of old Break-Aways that still get fished albeit heavy. I've got a triple A 13'2" that I trimmed from 14' but I feel it is too heavy. Also got an 13' HDX with regular butt and a tournament butt, but I feel that one, like the AAA has the worst bite detection of all and only really loads with an 8. I do have an older 13'6"Carbon Metal that flies but as stated above folds up with a decent fish in the wash.
Also have a 13' 6" tip tornado sport. I wonder if that could in some way be modified to make a more comfortable fishing rod. I noticed a 12 6 TT sport on stripersalespage that was being offered by Fishbucket but his are mostly long distance spinning set ups.
They don't necessarily need to throw 8
Most of the time I am throwing 5 and 6 at long range. If I need more [7 or 8] use 1509 1piece 2 piece
Most of the time I still fish generation 1 1448C Loomis casting 12, because it loads comfortably with 5-6
Is the CTS 1205 similar to older Loomis? Action or otherwise?
Thanx


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

I have not thrown the 1205 CTS. Joker who can pound it on out there likes it, but Joker is 6'4" 250 or so and he has a distinct advantage. Perhaps someone who has chucked it can chime in. I know that Lee used one. It is more for the beach and holding your stick I think. A real light rod is a pleasure, but most of the time I just used 1307's and 1509's just to get the bait out a bit further and if I get tired I turn my back to the ocean and put the rod over my shoulder. I just built a new 1306 so I will likely fish that when I get back to the OBX.

I had fished a lot with competition butt All Stars for about 15 years. 
The Century Butt was about the same weight as the normal 1509 Butt with more expensive materials, I sold it off a few years back to someone who really wanted a Gen 2 1509.

The HDX is another rod I have never thrown. I had 7 All Stars at one point and it took me a while to find something else. This was before CTS copied the 1509. W RI copied the 1509 but so many Fusions were breaking at the tip and I knew most of the guys who were breaking them so I did not get one. I had a Nail for a while when I was still in the gym lifting weights a lot. The Nail was so heavy that after about 7-8 casts with a Drum bait I was feeling it.

All Star AAA was best used for outrigger pole or flag pole or pole vault. I did not like the feel of it so I never got one.

Most of the time when I Drum fish it is with 7-10 ounces. Seldom do I fish with 6 ounces unless I am throwing metal.


I tested every single Century that Ryan sells but the new Graphex Tornado and out of all of them the one I really liked the most and could bomb out there was the C-Curve which is a slow action rod, it would slingshot the bait out really far when coupled with a Seigler. The only thing about it was you had the point the rod right at the Drum to beach it, the tip was too limber to sweep the fish up on the beach with the rod pointed 90 degrees to the fish which I prefer.


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

Here is a recap of my experiences with Century in a Drum fishing type scenario, not grass casting or casting little bitty baits a long way with 4-5 ounces of lead.

Century T1200 throwing into a 40 MPH wind worked just fine. Problem is that If I do not catch a fish in an hour old Garbo gets tired of being in a 40 MPH wind and T1200 needs a big wind to load it properly.

Century T1000 throwing 6-7 ounces worked just fine.

Century T8000 that Ryan cut 6 inches of the tip worked just fine.

Century Tip Tornado worked just fine with 8 ounce but at 13' I would have preferred it to be a foot longer in the tip.

Century Surf Machine worked just fine with 7-8 ounces. Surf Machine would slingshot it but it was too small compared to the longer Century Sticks for me anyway.

Century C-Curve flat out kills it for me anyway, I can do a 270 degree rotation Hatteras cast and it just flat out gets out there. Problem is at 13'10" it is too long for most of the piers I fish for my normal cast.

Next extra $1200 I have laying around will go to the Century Fellas to get a C Curve and a Graphex Sport Tornado (Uncut Factory Century rod that they call the Drum Gun after 6 inches is taken off the length)


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## fish bucket (Dec 5, 2002)

I have shortened many a rod.......too many have looong butts. ..30”-33”....i cut from butt to make them 24”-26”......reel seat and guides stay where they are


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## Peixaria (Dec 31, 2008)

Appreciate the advice from all who posted here. thank you


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