Cut down a rod butt?

I'd like to cut about 7 inches off this rod base. Can I just attack it with a hack saw? How far down into the base does the rod blank actually go? Bad idea?

With a gimbal mount at the bottom,  I'm bettng the blank goes all the way down.   Chop it up and let us know

Is that a Penn bluewater carnage?

It's a 7' Tica Wasabi jigging rod, 12-30 I think. It's a good bottom fishing and sturgeon set up.

One other possible issue. The rods is currently balanced perfectly with my avet 5.3 and I don't want to throw that off. I was thinking I'd just insert some lead at then end to get it back in balance, before I epoxy back on the gimbal mount. However, if the blank runs all the way down I'm wondering how much room I'll have? I can melt some lead pieces to size need but if there isn't an opening there it's not going to work. 

http://www.ticaamerica.com/product_detail.aspx?id=87&catid=10

When whitewater kayaking, I often carry a telescoping rod in my kayak so I can fish between rapids.  One day I was looking at my rod, which had a fairly long handle, and I thought to myself, "This rod would be easier to fit in my kayak if I sawed off part of the handle."  Fortunately my brains slipped back into gear before I fired up my bandsaw, and I realized that the bottom half of the telescoping rod sections fit into the handle, so sawing off the handle, particularly if the rod was collapsed at the time, would not be a good idea.

Let us know how it works out. I was just about to write kokatat a quick email suggesting some type of reinforcement in the underarm area. I can see that's going to be a place of wear and tear due to the rod butt being there rubbing on every fish.

Your idea is definitely a possible solution.

Cool. A hacking I shall go...

I recommend something high-speed with a composite cutting wheel like and arrow saw or a Dremel even. Things like graphite don't like the back and forward sawing with something toothy.

Don't forget a dust mask if you USA a high speed cutter, the carbon fiber is not good to breath.

I think FishesFromTupperware (Wali) has done several cut downs. Might want to email him before you hack and slash.

Also, try talking to Erik Kunz, of KZReelRods fame over on the NorCal site. He's built custom rods for several years. Either of them should be able to help out too.

The gimbal most likely is glued to the rod like an end cap. Epoxy and lead can bring into balance as well. Feel free to give me a call if you have any questions; I've built a fair number of rods.

When building a rod you basically start at the fat end and work your way to the skinny end. The end cap is epoxied to the blank. If it wasn't, you'd either be too stiff or too flexible on the butt end.

I would start by taking off the end cap. Heat it up with a propane torch to loosen the epoxy. You will probably need to trim down the foam on the handle to get the cap to fit on the new cut end. I would try tungsten putty to balance the end instead of lead if you find the lead isn't enough.

Not to be a buZ kill but, I thought the same thing about cutting down the butt stalk. So I went out and found a custom rod built that way. Long story short, whenever I had a ice big fish on things went to hell. Without that extra butt length for leverages you wedge it into your arm socket. The pole becomes squirrelly it tends to pivot on your wrist. The butt not being long enough to find purchase? Slides ineffectively

Dang send button. First on one side of the arm then another. The pole has great action but is seldom used.

Yeah, the short butts can be a problem if you're an "under the arm cranker".  I'm more of a "rod butt in your gut" kind of guy, so the shorter rob butts work out well.  There is one case I can think of where I jam the rod in my armpit, and that is when yoyo-ing the iron in which case you're speed reeling an iron from the botton to the surface.  But that's not a NW application.

-Allen