I have been seriously thinking about one of these rods for a while...and stumbled on this old thread.
I had heard about shortening the butt, but the 4" tip trim sounds interesting.
How is the circumcised version throwing light? (plastics...lightly weighted rubbah..etc.)
" the fisherman taking a great cod line to which he fasteneth a peece of lobster and threwes it into the sea. The rockfish biting at it, he pulls her to him and knockes her on the head with a sticke."