[Eric C.]

During the winter I ended up getting 2 BPS poles (1 Johnny Morris Titanium and 1 Pro Qualifier) taking Alex's advice. But with each pole I also grabbed the XPS Weight Balance Kit, to be honest with you I am not quite sure when to use this. Is it more for vertical applications like tube dragging or can you also use it for throwing a spinnerbait and crankbait, etc.?

Who else uses the weight balance kit and what do you think about it? I still have the orignial boxes if its no good and could still return it to the store.

 

[NINJA]

The weight kits are awesome.
I use a little more weight on my pitching and jigging rods, and a little less, just to balance it out, on my casting rods.

A lot less fatigue at the end of the day.

 

[jcheetam]

I used the kit on an Extreme rod I used for pitching and flipping. It was pretty tip heavy, and I added the extra weight to lighten the tip and found that it gave the rod a more pendulum-like feel when pitching. I don't think I personally would use it for any other applications than pitching or flipping jigs and plastics.

 

[GreggM]

Rod balancing is important I balance all of my rods and customer rods that I do. Many of the rods are musky rods and bass rods. I can only think of a couple instances where I would leave a rod tip heavy. One is a jerkbait rod where I always have the tip down anyways. and this would only be slightly out of balance. Other than that everything balances out at the top reelseat hood. Like what was mentioned before, it does help with fatigue especially for me because i catch so few fish and am always casting

Gregg

 

[Alex]

I use the Extreme rods and balance kits. Absolutely essential for vertical jigging. I like my rod as level and gripped as loose as possible. It will also add sensitivity in dragging and casting techniques as well. A properly balanced rod will also help lessen fatigue and increase accuracy and distance on your casts.

 

[Bass Pro]

I have been using the balance kit for the 5 years they have been out! Everytime I pick up a partner rod that doesn't have the kit, I immediatley can tell a difference in comfort and fatique.
Balancing a rod is essential to maximize the sensitivity for jigging, flippin, pitchin and somewhat dragging. It's about fatigue on jerk baits, crankbaits and spinnerbaits. It also reduces fatigue during casting and movement of the rod during presentation.

I use the following method!

I balance each rod to the type of fishing I plan to do with each combo. Let's say my jigging rod for the river. I tie a half ounce jig on the line. I start with a about half the weights in the balance cap and attach it to the rod. Then I hold the rod in my hand making sure the Jig is hanging free! I check the balance and then add or deduct weight based on the feel. I tend to like my vertical jig rods a bit butt heavy since It's an lifting movement.
Bass Jigs, Tubes and grubs are the same process but I tend to balance these with a 1/4 ounce Jig head weight. Reason being is that the drag of the bottom in this process adds resistance to the jod tip during presentation so you might want to be just a little more tip heavy in this case! It helps with keeping in touch with the jig. Too heavy and you will tend to squeeze the rod handle hard during the presentation. This causes loss of sensitivity. Kind of like a golf grip analogy.
Then I move on to my jerk bait rod/Spinnerbait rod. I tie on the average jerk bait. Put about 3/4 of the weight into the cap and repeat the process. My personal preference is tip heavy on a jerk bait since it's a downward motion I want help lifting the butt end of the rod in the motion. The bait hanging free seems to be a good representation of the drag during the actual presentation. The tip being heavy is more about fatigue for these situation than sensitivity or feel.
The key here is that you should always balance a rod used for vertical jigging and pitching with the jig attached since you keeping in touch with the bait during this type of presentation. The weight systems is utilized for reduction of fatigue on other presentations so think about using the weight to help you move the rod easily in the direction you want it to move! Hope this helps!

 

[No More Mini]

Great answer Tom....I used to use them and they do help with sensitivity. BUT you have to remember that you are still carrying extra weight all day. Albeit it is only ounces, but some people will still feel it at the end of the day. And if you dont have it balanced right (carry the extra weights in your tacklebox for on the water adjustments), it can actually have the opposite effect.

So for some people, it works wonders.

Mini