The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Heavier reels will soften the action of the rod a bit and lighter reels will stiffen it a bit. I have no idea why. Put a 7wt reel on your 4wt and you'll see what I mean. The same is true if you move your hand back or forward on the grip. Moving it forward will soften the action and back will stiffen it. Spey guys often times will adjust their hand placement depending on how they're fishing. I've also heard the Marinaro theory that Buzz mentioned. I once balanced my rod and reel on my finger and then stripped ALL the line off and balanced it on my finger again. The difference in balance points was about 1/4 inch. That was with a 6wt. So Marinaro's theory is correct but I don't know if you would even be able to feel a 1/4 inch change in balance points during your cast. What I've never understood about balance points is why do we want our rod and reel to balance in the first place??? When casting, the rod is more or less between the 10-2 position throughout the cast so what does having a rod and reel that balance in the horizontal position supposedly do anyway??? The rod is closer to vertical then horizontal most of the time during the cast. I go with the lightest reel possible. The lighter the better. A reel can never be too light in my book. The reel and line make up most of the weight of an outfit and since the difference in rod weight from brand to brand is usually only a fraction of an ounce you can make your outfit noticeable lighter by addressing the weight of the reel.