I have several rods with the long forgrip and short rear grip and I do not like it that way. Just felt like the rod was to tip heavy. I finally rebuilt the rods and moved the reel seat forward and rods felt much more balanced. For quite a few years I just didn't use the reel seat and black taped the reels to the rods. But, now I have replaced the seats. These rods were 9 footers and 12 footers. These long forgrips work ok with a "fly type" reel but not with a spinning reel. fp