Quote:
Originally Posted by East Tide
I have also found that with an eel rod or jigging rod I prefer it to be balanced a little more towards the back end, which you can also accomplish with a heavier reel. Maybe that's why JS chose the heavier reel?
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I can't speak to this very well since I don't jig the canal and all the eel fishing I did (sad to admit) was with conventional tackle.....which I used exclusively since a 706 and big COF builds were so much heavier.
I do not, however, like the idea of using a heavy reel (or long butt) to balance an over built tip. I used to do both (as well as using counter weights) but found it tiring or awkward as the night wore on. The better solution is to build the tip as light as you can and match the reel to the task at hand, rather than oversize to counterbalance a poorly thought out rod.
If you think about this, for many years the standard Striped bass reel was a 706 that held 300 yds of 20 lb mono and generated 7-8lbs of reliable drag. You can now fill a 5000 sized reel with 300yds of 30lb braid and generate 7-8lbs of drag yet it weighs almost 9 oz less than a 706. So why do we need a 22 oz ZB or VS with 300yds of 50lb braid to catch the same fish we used to catch on a 706? Maybe in the canal where the reel gets used as a winch and gears can strip, but everywhere else?