Butt length of popping rods

[Wong Kai Zhee]

my first impression of the long anticipated range of shimano poppin rods was that the handles are too long.

the spec on paper are as follows:

S7604 light Pleasure PE 2-4 100g max
S8406 Pencil Instrument PE 4-6 150g max
S8208 Long Cast PE 6-8 200g max
S8012 Deep Monster PE 8-12 300g max
S7812 Surface Monster PE 8-12 300g max

a fren of mine happen to be holdin the Pencil and LongCast, so i took the measurements

                                                    rear grip vs reel seat vs fore grip  (cm)

Pencil                                                 50               15.5         23
Long Cast                                           51               15.5          26


Daiko STS-86 H                                    38.5             13.5        29.5
Daiko STS-962 H                                  41.5              13.5         29.5

i provided the measurements of the Daiko Southern Cross Stiks as a reference cus they are the rods i am using.

can see that there is a drastic differences in measurements. but i believe i can easily fish both handle set up in relative comfort (must admit i am not very particular about such things).

anyone care to input about handle length, up/down locking reel seat and gimbal postioning?

[Earl Hamilton]

Hi guys, I'm a newb here on this forum, but I have a bit of experience in the rod building scene-some of which could be applied to this thread.
Back in the 90s I built a lot of tounament surf casters in the UK. Handle length is quite criticle for this, and the style of castinfg was the pendulum in most cases. I believe this style is also used in launching poppers, although I dont think its a full blown version. Generally speaking the reel seat would be positioned at a shoulder width plus a hands width, or around 22 inches or 55.88cm, 24-26 inches for the big guys ( 60.96-66.04cm). This would be way over the lengths  written about in the above post-but are these dimensions designed for the smaller Asian frame ?
I have a 2 piece SEED popping blank I bought from Singapore recently-the butt section seems to be short for me at just 31 inches. I'm 6'5", and need at least 10 inches for a double hand grip on the foregrip, ( I assume I may need a double hand grip on big GT)5 inches for the reel seat, leaving me just 16 inches of butt left behind the reel seat.
This short butt also lowers the leverage I can apply to a cast-Increasing fatigue, and reduces the leverage I'm able to apply to working a large popper, adding to fatigue.
Even a lay back or off the gropund style cast would require the same dimensions as in each case the butt is brought to the shoulder and the other arm extended at the finish of the cast.
As for working the popper, these longer dimensions only aid in reducing resitance of the popper in retrieval, and the leverage in fighting fish is reduced with your grip being further up the blank.

[Brandon Khoo]

the general view in terms of butt length is as Earl writes below and that is the butt length should be roughly the width of your shoulders.

There are a few compromises here. If you want casting distance, the butt length is important. On the other hand, I find it more comfortable fighting a fish with a shorter butt length.

Earl, at 6'5", I think you might need to extend the butt a little to suit you.

[Jon Li]

Guys ,

The new Shimano rods may be targetting the broad shouldered anglers , I continuously receive request for longer butt Carpenter rods from western countries . I wud be uncomfortable fishing with these new Shimano rods because I will have to wear the gimbal belt very low , it may just slip off completely during a fight but I guess it's ideal for anyone over 6' and for those who feel it's too long , one can always cut it shorter which is easier than trying to extend the butt grip .

I concur with Earl's shoulder width measurements for ease of casting .

Jon .

[Wong Kai Zhee]

the longer than average butt length actually left me wondering a bit.

cus, the rods seem to be designed specifically for the Asian market.