I was surprised to find that my new St.Croix Wild River 11'6 float/drift rod was so tip heavy that I could only match a 2500 Laguna spinning reel to it. The 2000 size was too light even though it was only 1.5 oz lighter. The salesppl at the local tackle shop were also surprised how tip heavy this rod was.

Since I'm new to float fishing, this may seem like a stupid question, but why is this float rod so tip heavy? Are all float rods very tip heavy and what are the reasons for it? I don't understand how others are using 1500/2000 size spinning reels if all float rods are similarly tip heavy.

Thanks for helping out a rookie.

WHOA NELLIE!!!!!

Remove the butt cap and do a little trial and error with varying amounts of pencil lead to get it to balance better.

Don't know about other float rods, but having 10ft of rod hanging our there with just 1.6ft behind the reel means a lot of leverage working against you. My 10 1/2 ft rod seems heavy also but it's not an ultralight rod.

Your reel won't do much to balance out the rod. You grip it near the reel, so that's the fulcrum point. You need weight at the butt. Call me ghetto, but I just use some electrical tape to hold two pieces of pencil lead near the butt.

These things work great--they not only balance your rod and lesson the fatigue on your wrist from fishing all day--they also help to protect the butt end of you rod:

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.T...=&cmCat=2222206

Great ideas guys. Thanks. I'll probably use the 2500 since it gives me increased line capacity and add weights to the butt if necessary.