"Roger Ohlund" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I just thought I'd post on something that I was asked about at Penns.
Someone asked me about the fact that I had put a fighting butt on my 4
weight.
I think the reflection was that I wouldn't need one on such a light rod
and
that it was too short anyway.
Actually, this might just be a good idea for any rod, without the notion
that you'd ever need it as a fighting butt.
I put it there simply because every time I lean my rod against anything
the
reel is bound to touch ground.
Scratch marks on the reel can seem as only a cosmetic thing, but if you
get
a scratch mark on the inside of the edge of the spool it will inevitably
affect the coating of the line. Scratched aluminium is sharp.
What I do is I put a very short fighting but on all my light rods and a
longer one on heavier rods.
The longer ones will protect the reel as well as working as a fighting
butt
while the shorter ones (about 1 1/4 inch) are there only to protect the
reel.
A friend of mine once asked me how I could keep my reels in such good
shape
over the years, so I showed him.
I ended up putting the same fighting butts on his rods as well as another
friend's rods.
Think about it, such a short fighting butt won't be in the way and it will
lengthen the lifespan of your reels.
AND, with the cost of those reels you'd likely want to expand the lifespan
on them.

/ Roger



Put a fightbutt on my light crispy SLT 8' #4 ? No way! :-) When you buy a
descent reel (sage or waterworks ie.) you get a nice neoprene casing for
your reel. I use that when i put my rod down on the ground, or place my rod
where the surface is plain grass without sand and pebbles.

Fightingbutts are for fighting fish, and not for reel protection imho. But
be my guest Þ


/Thomas - DK