Rod reducer ?

[<(Andy2009)>]

YES....
A rod has two functions,the first is to cast the second it to retrieve.

You state that you use a 14ft rod but without a reducer and cast with the reel down.
So what you are doing when you are casting out is shortening the rod by at least a foot because the bit of rod below your reel is not being used at all to gain any extra leverage...so you are only casting a 13ft or less rod for casting.
When you a reeling in then yes you are back to the 14ft rod.
If the guy next to you was using the same rod but with the reel in the up position then he would be using the full 14ft of rod for casting and retrieving unlike yourself.

Rod manufacturers sell rods and state length without reducer, because they don't know whether the buyer is casting reel up or down so they give you a choice.
But to use the rod with the reel down they would recommend you buy a reducer so you could use the rod at recommended length.

Hey, cheers for that bit helpful info mate, a never thought of it that way like, a only use my reel about 6 to 10inches off the butt.

Mad to think of the balance of a rod in that way. Just thort of a question that will get the grey matter goin.
How would it work with rods that are stated the length of 13ft without a reducer, but have an internal reducer that can be extended out of the butt to whatever length needed???, like those new rods from Leeda...

[Ian Alexander]

Hello Andrew,
Captive or telescopic reducers are a feature on a few rods now, (I have an uptider with one), but the very first one I ever saw was many years ago and guess who made it?.......Harry Barker. (I'm sure it was yours Harry!!).

Anglers and the big casters that used to fish the beaches with the reel low down always had problems taking the reducer in and out between casts and letting sand get in the spigot or dropping and losing the reducer altogether.
Many anglers fixed the reducers in permanently but I remember seeing the one that Harry made and it used a cam to make it a twist and lock type action.

Harry was one of the very first pendulum casters in the North East and a very good engineer.

I prefer to fish with the reel up for a lot of reasons, not least because I'm a shortarse and like to use my rod butt as a wading stick and don't want to dunk my reel. It also suits me and my style of fishing.

Regards Ian

[harry barker]

Hey, cheers for that bit helpful info mate, a never thought of it that way like, a only use my reel about 6 to 10inches off the butt.

Mad to think of the balance of a rod in that way. Just thort of a question that will get the grey matter goin.
How would it work with rods that are stated the length of 13ft without a reducer, but have an internal reducer that can be extended out of the butt to whatever length needed???, like those new rods from Leeda...

I know what you mean Andy,it must be early 80s that I made one of those twist and lock reducer, I got the idea from a shower curtain poll that if you had two discs with offset drilling as you twisted the reducer it would lock up so you could reel in using the full length of rod.
I used this on a Zzipex dream machine at the UKSF casting tournaments in the 80s(old stock casters then) and it worked a treat.

I carried this onto the beach fishing as I still use a reducer now and remove it to aid casting......but the big problem with this twist and lock reducer was sand and grit getting trapped in the slide and it would just not work as it would jam half way in and get stuck so fine for field work but no good for the beach.
Didn't know the likes of Leeda do this reducer.

Looking forward to the winter beach fishing now,counting down and have a time soon with the next northeasterlies and big tides...n a bit Frost in the air.

[harry barker]

ooops......just seen your post Ian...hahaha

[Ian Alexander]

ooops......just seen your post Ian...hahaha

No worries Harry....I hope you're keeping well mate.

Regards Ian

[g.ordon]

Hello Andrew,
Captive or telescopic reducers are a feature on a few rods now, (I have an uptider with one), but the very first one I ever saw was many years ago and guess who made it?.......Harry Barker. (I'm sure it was yours Harry!!).

Anglers and the big casters that used to fish the beaches with the reel low down always had problems taking the reducer in and out between casts and letting sand get in the spigot or dropping and losing the reducer altogether.
Many anglers fixed the reducers in permanently but I remember seeing the one that Harry made and it used a cam to make it a twist and lock type action.

Harry was one of the very first pendulum casters in the North East and a very good engineer.

I prefer to fish with the reel up for a lot of reasons, not least because I'm a shortarse and like to use my rod butt as a wading stick and don't want to dunk my reel. It also suits me and my style of fishing.

Regards Ian

Yeh, I'm a reel up guy also, I suppose that removes the issue of not using the rod at it's full length but I reckon there's a price to pay, your leading hand is not only used to put the power into the cast but also to control the reel at the same time so reel down will get better distance I would have thought. In the right hands like.

[harry barker]

I'm fine Ian,as I say looking forward to the beach again mate,me sailing finnished now so back to the fishing and them BIG cod..hahaha.

[codcatcher3000]

i had my own theory awhile ago about reducer....it reduced my ability to cast when i could not cast the right way....its reduced my fishing enjoyment when it was stuck and i could not get it out. it was then reduced to a mere decoration in my fishing box when then decided to cast reel up again ...i then had a casting lesson and was told by casting the right way with the reducer in i would create the arc needed to load the rod and finish the cast better therefore reducing the formation of bad habits in the cast....there u go my reduced understanding of the reducer....nothing based on actual historical fact just my experience with the reducer....

[Stewart 1971]

Harry your name rings a bell did you do casting lessons on one of the university rugby fields in Durham through Sea Dangler in the late 1980's?

[harry barker]

Yeh, I'm a reel up guy also, I suppose that removes the issue of not using the rod at it's full length but I reckon there's a price to pay, your leading hand is not only used to put the power into the cast but also to control the reel at the same time so reel down will get better distance I would have thought. In the right hands like.

Hello Gordon,......you wouldn't have said that if you ever seen the unbelievable
Paul Kerry casting reel up.
he was amazing guy,his distances on the tournament field were way ahead
in terms of yardage.
He used a Daiwa 7ht loaded with 0.35 running line and a Daiwa 11.1/2 ft short
rod.
His speed was unbelievable, don't blink when Paul was casting.

But after saying that he was a bit of a one off.

[harry barker]

Harry your name rings a bell did you do casting lessons on one of the university rugby fields in Durham through Sea Dangler in the late 1980's?

Yes I did mate.

[Stewart 1971]

Yes I did mate.

Well a belated thankyou. I had some lessons from you as an 18 year old lad, I remember you tasking the dipstick out of you car engine to oil my bearings as I had WD 40 in them at the time.

I packed in fishing for about seven years in the 1990's after moving to Portsmouth then went back and had lessons from Mark Jakins in Hamshire but it was thanks to you I got into casting and did my first 180 yard plus cast at the old Seaham casting club at Rickleton.

[g.ordon]

Hello Gordon,......you wouldn't have said that if you ever seen the unbelievable
Paul Kerry casting reel up.
he was amazing guy,his distances on the tournament field were way ahead
in terms of yardage.
He used a Daiwa 7ht loaded with 0.35 running line and a Daiwa 11.1/2 ft short
rod.
His speed was unbelievable, don't blink when Paul was casting.

But after saying that he was a bit of a one off.

That is good crack Harry.
I think any youngin these days watching the guys on shields pier for example will automatically adopt the reel down position beacause most of the guys on the pier use it and that's the fashion and it's effective. Maybe in 20 years time it'll be reel up

[<(Andy2009)>]

That is good crack Harry.
I think any youngin these days watching the guys on shields pier for example will automatically adopt the reel down position beacause most of the guys on the pier use it and that's the fashion and it's effective. Maybe in 20 years time it'll be reel up

That's the way a went mate.

I first started using a multiplier, an Abu 7001 left hand, when I was around 11 years old. After that reel was unfortunately stolen , i moved on to fishing with Penn 525's, slosh's, etc for my 13th birthday. That's also around the time I got my first decent rod, a greys Pz match.

I began fishing shields pier more and more after getting confident with my casting, where i met the likes of 'waco' and 'fishfingers', who gave me good hints n tips and habe now become lifetime friends .

With using the reel up the rod i was casting well, but just couldnt seem to get that bit extra distance. I started fishing with the reel down the rod when i was 14 after seeing many people people using and casting well this way. It was a bit weird to start with but in quick succession I was casting well this way and began getting a very good distance for my age.

After doing this I've never went back to using the reel up rod and continue fishing this way to date.

[loopy]

Harry, glad to hear you are well hope to see you at Lynemouth again this winter.
Agree about Paul Kerry so fast but he was a very short man and as much as I tried, I could not get his style. It was John Holden for me in the early 80s and Owen Meek down in Portsmouth who taught me to cast, the happy days of the Solent Raiders. My opinion is depending on the length of your modern rod and your casting style and your distance needs, 16ft rod overhead thump or unitech, reel up, pendulum casters reel down . It is as said before by Malcolm and Harry it is all in the length and therefore the drop = your ability to lock the blank for all you full half and fishing pendulum casters, cant twist the body any more so fishing pendulum for me and my trusty reducer. When fishing for hounds at Selsey we used to use boat but pads and no reducer.