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Rod Selection - Swelled Butt Rods

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Have any of you ever made the Sir D 7642 or Anderson 7'9" taper with a swelled butt?  If so, how much swell did you add and how did the swell change the rod action.   Logic tells me the rod would be stiffer and maybe faster, but then my logic often lets me down. (Tom Key)

Have you made the original Sir D?  It's a hugely popular and successful rod (though not, in fact, my cup of tea at all) and it is probably a good idea to get a feel for the original as it came from Wayne Cattanach, or PHY, or whoever designed it, before you start modifying it.  Otherwise, with what are you going to compare it?

A serious butt swell will shorten the effective length of the rod by stopping the action at the swell.  This may make the rod stiffer, probably "faster", and very possibly, quite useless.

I fiddled around once with a series of butts for the Payne 98, with progressively more and more swell.  None was as good as the original, both in my estimation and that of others, and the last in the series had a swell that cosmetically was aesthetic and visually pleasing (if you like swells, that is) but had the modestly significant drawback that you just couldn't cast the bloody thing at all. Altogether too much butt and not enough guts in the tip to balance it - if I got a line heavy enough to make the butt work a bit, the tip just refused to carry it.

If you MUST have a swell, and at some stage we all do seem to have that need, my suggestion is to build one of the tapers that were designed with a swell from the jump.  But get the basis for comparison down pat before you start to do ad hoc modifications to existing tapers.  That way you will save yourself a lot of wasted hours at the bench, and your trial tapers will be a bit logic-driven.  (Peter McKean)

I have to agree with Peter, I believe that many great tapers have been ruined just for the sake of saying, "this is my proprietary taper!" Kind of like making a 'Goodmonth' tire?  (Joe Arguello)

My experience with swelled butts.

I designed a rod specifically for fishing wets (soft-hackles, flymphs, and such). It received wonderful reviews and I've sold five or six of them so far. At any rate, I don't particularly care for swelled butts, but a fellow who had bought one of my first rods asked that I build one for him, using the same taper he originally purchased, but with a swelled butt.

The rod looks nice, he has shown it to other fishermen who also talk about how beautiful it is and it feels wonderful in their hands, blah, blah, blah. Personally, I just don't like it.  I don't feel what's happening on the other end of the rod.

It's a pretty pronounced swell.  Maybe if I took it down a bit, I don't know. It just doesn't feel right in my hand, in spite of what others might think of it.

Some things I noticed with the build were, I had a hell of a time planing the strips without getting tear outs at the beginning of the swell. Gluing the strips and getting them to stay uniformly in place while binding was a bear. And then finally, after glue up, lining the blank up straight was much more difficult than usual.

For the type of fishing I do and the style of fishing I do, I don't see too many swelled butts in my future.  (Ren Monllor)

The "Sir D" is already a very fast taper. It probably wouldn't change the action much though so that would be purely cosmetic.  (Larry Swearingen)

As has been said the Sir D is a fast rod with a strong butt and you would not want to make it any stronger by adding more of a butt swell. Where as the Anderson 7'9" is a Garrison taper with a strong tip section and a softer butt. Some of Garrisons rods have a butt swell just before the handle although this one does not. I have added a slow increase in the butt starting at 55' and continued it all the way into the handle. Making the rod smooth and more powerful.

Here is a 7'6" version of the G206; 70, 84, 102, 118, 132, 145, 157, 169, 181, 192, 206, 222, 238, 254, 271, 288, 305, 321, 336.

This is a 5 wt rod, I have made up to 8' 8 wt and they all are very nice powerful rods, to my way of thinking.  (Bob Norwood)

It is always nice when you jump in and post about tapers.

I know that the modified Garrison I made,  following your lead, is a wonderful rod and truly one of my favorites to cast.

There just seems something ultra-sweet about a smoother curved taper, than one with all the bumps and humps. I can say that progressive tapers are my favorite. Thank you for having led me down the path..  (Ren Monllor)