So I bought a Pfluger 1494 (I think) off a fellow forumite and it gets more use than the rest combined. I have some larger, nicer, and far newer reels but never find myself reaching for them unless I am targeting runners like false albacore or larger striped bass.

Why? Most of my glass rods feel excellent with a smaller, lighter reel and pretty sluggish with a heavier one. It’s a dramatic difference.

As far as I can tell, it seems to be a torque and inertia problem. The torque on the rod tip, the reel, the hand is the fulcrum of the lever.

Any thoughts?

I like to think about the rod and the arm down to the elbow as one long tool.....breaking the wrist is like putting a hinge in the middle of the rod.

Rolling the wrist open and closed keeps the rod tip in a straight path while compensating for the bend in the rod as power is applied...smoothly, hopefully. Glass rods, like cane rods require smoother acceleration of power than composite (graphite) rods that can be more punched in the power stroke to an abrupt stop...then drift to keep the rod tip in the same plane. Any torque is a product of rolling the wrist open and closed during the cast...and can add formidable power to the cast.

We can feel the loading and unloading of glass rods so much better than with graphite rods, so perhaps that has something to do with the superiority of lighter fly reels..which I know not everyone agrees with.

I hope we can all agree fighting fish with cane or fiberglass is so much more fun, it can make the extra effort of casting worthwhile.

I agree about the balance while actually fishing the fly(s) after casting..it can be annoying to hold the rod tip up while popping, stripping, mending etc with a light reel.

It does not often occur to me to worry about the balance point of the reel on the rod, as I am usually keeping the rod tip low while fishing...rarely "high-stick" it much in moving water, and keep the rod tip low to work the fly and set the hook from a position close to the water. Float tube fishing, mostly, and even when I fish floating lines on rare occasions I have to remind myself to keep the rod tip near, or under, the water.

Also I have such heavy vintage reels balance is not much of an issue...and I rarely worry about RH vs LH reels any more, though I can usually switch the clicks or discs with little difficulty. Spooling the backing/line on correctly may be more of a concern. I rarely if ever play a fish off the reel in the stillwaters and tiny creeks I mostly fish with shorter glass rods.

Rod

I enjoy fishing reels from the same vintage as the rods, so have become a lot less choosy these days..and on little creeks where I clamber (slowly these days) up the banks and don't like to use fancy reels to scratch them up on boulders, etc. The old, heavy durable reels are so much fun to fish

You mean that a rod casts better with no reel at all? Sure I have, when out on a lawn test casting a rod. I strip off the line and drop the reel on the grass. It makes for a lot more tangles. I've stepped on the reel more than once. I feel the casting loops are a bit tighter and the rod is a little more responsive. Overall, it's an uncomfortable way to cast and the results are not worth the hassle.


Tom

4 oz is an 8' rod, unless it's a Fairy Catskill.
The click -pawl Medalists from the '30s were lighter.

Im like you.I use my 1494 more than anything else I have.