rod extention
 

Have any of you guys done a butt extension on your rods? I have a really nice ultralight rod that is 6'6 and i was thinking of stripping the cork tape and reel seat off and fitting an 18" length of rod up into it with a slow cure 2 part epoxy. Then doing a tuna cord wrap with a new reel seat. Wanna use it for ultralight surf perch fishing and an extra foot of rod would be great. What do you think?

I've had one professionally added to a 8' swimbait rod. For what you want to use that rod for, i'd think it'd be fine. But if you're concerned about keeping the weight of the rod to a minimum and its balance intact, i'd think carefully before moving forward on that. At minimum, you can always remove the extension if you don't like it with minimal "damage" to the rod's butt.

Good point on the weight. Didn't think of that. Don't think it will be too much of an issue. The balance is why I was gonna slide the reel seat down a bit to meet the difference

For your application it sounds like you'll be fine. Balance doesn't look to be a significant issue. You are adding weight towards the rear AND adding length. Those 2 factors can cancel each other out. Best bet is to mock everything up, mount the reel, and check to feel if its tip or butt heavy.

Also I'd double check your reel placement in relation to the stripper guide. Again mock it up. If its a spinning rod make some test casts and see if the line bunches up at the stripper guide or is slapping the blank. If its a baitcasting rod just make sure the angle of the line entering the stripper isnt too sharp. Also load up the rod and run the line thru the guides. You dont want the line to dip below the blank when loaded. Line touching is ok, imho not ideal, but for an ultralite it shouldn't be a problem.

Thank you for the expert input. I'm gonna mock everything up tonight and hopefully all goes well. It's a spinning rod and is coupled with a microspin reel so should give me plenty of guide clearance, if I'm understanding correctly

I do it all the time, but 18" is way over kill of an addition to any rod. I wouldn't do more than 12" honestly. You want the joint to fall in the reel seat area