Kaibutsu SM & DM Question

[Kurt Carlson]

Can anyone give me the measurement of the butt section of these 2 rods from the base of the gimbal to the middle of the reel seat?  I have a Long Cast version and I like the rod, but the length of the butt is too long for me.  (vertically challenged)  I am wondering if the other rods have the same length or not. 

[Mark Harris]

I think they are all the pretty much the same - i.e. FAR too long, even for apes like me. A bizarre piece of design. A Surface Monster is 56.5 cm from base of butt cap to middle of reel seat and a massive 95 cm for the whole butt section.

[Kurt Carlson]

Thanks Mark,  That is approx the same as the long cast version.  That length of butt must make the rod pretty short on the surface monster.  They claim the long cast is 8' 2", but the rod section is actually a hair shorter than the GT special which is 8' overall.  I am going to attempt to shorten my rod butt a little.  Hope I don't make a mess of it

[Andy Rowe]

Kurt, you are definitely on the right track there, get the tools out and take some off of it, the rear section is silly long. At nearly 6'4" tall I also found it not personally suitable.

[Mark Harris]

Thanks Mark,  That is approx the same as the long cast version.  That length of butt must make the rod pretty short on the surface monster.  They claim the long cast is 8' 2", but the rod section is actually a hair shorter than the GT special which is 8' overall.  I am going to attempt to shorten my rod butt a little.  Hope I don't make a mess of it

The SM blank must one of the shortest around for a GT casting rod! The rod is only 7 ft 6 in total and the butt section is 3 ft 2 of that!  Good luck with the shortening Kurt.

[Kurt Carlson]

Well, I was successful with the shortening exercise.  Does not look too bad.  Hope to test it tomorrow. 
Mark,  putting the long butt of the SM aside, what do you think of the rod?  Do you think it would be too short with 2" removed from  the butt?

[Mark Harris]

It's a capable rod Kurt. Certainly for the prices asked in Asia it is good value for sure. The fast blank is definitely designed to stop big fish.

[Al Morrison]

A mate of mine went through this exercise a year ago, lopping off about 2-3" off a SM, and the rod has been superb ever since. The SM and DM are both decent casting machines.

[Ben Rivers]

I have my 'Deep Monster' in at 'Fish Head' as we speak, taking 1.5 inches off, to make the butt the same length as the T Curve GT Special.

Should make a big differnce.

[Kurt Carlson]

That all is good to hear.  I had a feeling they were good rods.  Someone on another forum said they were designed for low slung gimbals.  But In my case, that gimbal would be at my knees.  Thanks all for the comments.

[Ferris Long]

i got my kaibu rod butt cropped by ~1 inch. anyone wants it can meet me and pick it up in sgp.
btw, the blank broke in one of my trips, so its lying around collecting dust and space.

[Sachin Chaudhry]

Used a DM for 3 years. Get used to heavy drag and pulling real hard because if the fight goes on for long you are in for some serious hurt. That being said I landed a ton of decent fish on it the largest being 40kg. Rod casts very well but I think 3 or 4 inches lopped off the bottom would help immeasurably in terms of user friendliness. I was not game enough to try shortening it.
Use a Kaibutsu long cast now and it is a much better all round fish fighting weapon which a mate used to subdue a 45kg GT last year. Great rod.
My other rods are a Tokara, a Komodo and a WV80 so it has some pretty decent benchmarks.

[Mark Harris]

That all is good to hear.  I had a feeling they were good rods.  Someone on another forum said they were designed for low slung gimbals.  But In my case, that gimbal would be at my knees.  Thanks all for the comments.

I heard that daft excuse about a low slung gimbal direct from a Shimano employee.  I am sure that is rubbish but they had to think of something to justify what is inherently very poor design.

[Jon Li]

That all is good to hear.  I had a feeling they were good rods.  Someone on another forum said they were designed for low slung gimbals.  But In my case, that gimbal would be at my knees.  Thanks all for the comments.

I heard that daft excuse about a low slung gimbal direct from a Shimano employee.  I am sure that is rubbish but they had to think of something to justify what is inherently very poor design.

Kaibutsu rods were designed by experds in GT fishing from Singapore but the decision on handle was done based on casting from a solid platform instead of a rocking boat , the anatomy aspects of human limbs were completely escaped their mind . The distance from the center of the reel seat to the bottom part of the handle should equate one's shoulder width , perhaps they were so immersed with " kaibutsu " name which in Japanese means monster that they took the Hulk's shoulder width as their reference .

Jon .

Jon .

[Ben Rivers]

Got the butt back after having it shortened by 1.5 inches - feels good, can't wait to give it a test run!