How much does weight factor in to your rod purchase?

 

I never really thought much about rod weight until the trip to Canada chasing Pike:

 

• My four main bass fishing casting rods range from 3.9 to 5.0 ounces. I really like this weight range for my style of fishing. 
• My "heavy" casting rod is 6.1 ounces...this quickly became my favorite pike rod on this trip. But it's almost too big for how I fish bass...it gets left at home a lot. 
• The other Pike / Musky rods are 6.8 and 8.0 ounces. I'll keep them for Pike and Musky, and maybe bottom bouncing walleye. 
• I have one light spinning rod weighing 3.4 ounces. Mainly a panfish rod. 
• The other seven spinning rods range between 3.9 and 4.4 ounces. They serve me well. 

 

Looking to add two casting rods...found two that are 4.2 and 4.6 ounces, respectively. 

The lighter the better as long as the combo is well balanced, cast the lures I use and power enough to handle the fish.

We pay a premium for light weight high performance rods and reels.

Tom

Balance is more important to me than weight.  I’ve moved into the custom world.  My rod builders choose the blank and components to fit with the weight of the reel that will be mounted on a specific rod.  So far so good.

Weight is important in two ways. First, weight to stiffness ratio is an indication of sensitivity/recovery speed (often referred to as crispness). Secondly, the lightest possible components reserve the blanks inherent qualities by default resulting in a lighter rod. 

Helium avg. weight 3.5 ozs, pared with a Lew's Tournament Lite at 5.3 ozs I'm good to go.

 

I threw a Calcutta for years, it weighs more than the above combo.

 

Been searching for years to get lighter.

 

How much y'all this combo weighs?

 

The lighter the better so long as it’s not tip heavy. And I’d never add butt weights to balance- just sell the rod for a better one. 

Balance matters more than weight to me. My Team Daiwa TDX reels are 9 oz, and they really balance well with what most folks consider a "heavy" rod. 

Agree with the above posters.  Light is great, but I don't mind heavier if balance is decent.  I have a 7'7" crankbait rod that is a pain (literally) to fish with for any length of time.  Way tip heavy.

I have a number of lightweight rods okuma helios m/f 3.3oz and mh/f 3.5oz they balance real well with a 5.5oz reel. My favorite rod Quantum Smoke 7' m/f 3.4oz balances even a little better with same 5.5oz reel. Once u get to this weight it's difficult to be tip heavy just not much weight out front. So I want lightest rod possible. Light balanced is better than heavier balanced.

Very much matters to me.  The lighter the better.

1 hour ago, QUAKEnSHAKE said:

I have a number of lightweight rods okuma helios m/f 3.3oz and mh/f 3.5oz they balance real well with a 5.5oz reel. My favorite rod Quantum Smoke 7' m/f 3.4oz balances even a little better with same 5.5oz reel. Once u get to this weight it's difficult to be tip heavy just not much weight out front. So I want lightest rod possible. Light balanced is better than heavier balanced.

I liked the Helios 7' MF well enough to purchase a second one.  Should have gotten a MHF as well.  I like the Quantum Smoke Inshore 7' MF except for one thing.  I would have preferred a longer handle on it.  Handle is even shorter than most Fenwick Smallmouth rods.  Smallmouth rods are also light, but I haven't weighed any yet.

If I'm going to "balance" a setup its going be a light one. 

I don't have anything super light, but lighter-weight rods are my preference. Balanced rods are more important to me.

 

 

Balance over total weight.

A perfectly balanced rod is gonna feel lighter in your hand than one that’s not. 
 

Personally, I like an unbalanced rod for bottom contact presentations. 
I like mine just a little tip heavy. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

I like lighter rods overall. More comfortable to use. I sometimes swap reels around on different rods to get the best feel.

18 minutes ago, Mike L said:

A perfectly balanced rod is gonna feel lighter in your hand than one that’s not. 
 

Personally, I like an unbalanced rod for bottom contact presentations. 
I like mine just a little tip heavy. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

See, I'm just the opposite. I like my bottom contact rods to be light in the tip because I typically fiah tip up while working the lure. (Jig, tube, or worm)

 

If I have a tip heavy rod, I would typically prefer that to be on a moving bait like a spinnerbait or crankbait because I typically fish those tip down on the return anyway, so a little tip heavy helps place. The rod in a natural tip down position.

Rod weight absolutely matters to me especially so when fishing for pike/musky because the bait weights are usually much higher putting more stress on your body if casting all day. I use rods that are lighter than average based on my age & strive to fish just as hard as guys much younger than me. A balanced outfit tricks your brain into thinking it is lighter than what it actually is so I look to achieve both balance & light weight in my outfits. Almost all of my rods are currently Edge or Kistler or Loomis because they tend to favor light weight blanks combined with strength/balance. 

Oh,.. And in response to the original question,.. I am more concerned with balance than weight like others have stated.

No.  It's a number on paper.  I want a rod that floats in my hand. 

It does to me but not to a lot of folks. Dobyns still sales the crap out 5.5oz Furys

 

If the average rod is more than 4.5 oz I won’t even consider it. Too many really good offering below that mark today. There are exceptions for specialty sticks. Most of mine are in the 3.8-4.2 oz range 

It’s a big factor for me. 

Weight doesn't matter to me, in a vacuum.  But, a lighter rod does tend to be a more sensitive rod, all other things being equal.  So I do tend to prefer lighter rods for that reason.  But the actual weight of the rod, which is just a few ounces, doesn't matter to me.  If someone gave me the option of two rods, with the heavier rod being more sensitive, then that's the one I'd pick. 

It's always fun to fish a light-in-hand rod.  

It's tiring to fish a tip-heavy outfit.  

It's always more fun to increase catch rate on a heavy rod because of its moderate taper, e..g., glass or IM6. 

In niches where Fast action is an advantage, you can't get too light.  

I have examples of both heavy and light rods in their niches, and they each earned their keep there.  

While I don’t choose one rod over another because of weight, I do like fishing with light rods better than heavier meaning I’d rather fish with light action spinning rods and small, light lures for river smallies than medium heavy action bait casting gear and big lures for large mouths.