Le grand rond derrière

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Kim Kardashian broke the internet with hers and depending on your age, you may remember MC Hammer singing about then, or Spinal Tap “big bottoms [butts] drive me out of my mind”. Actually listening to the charts now these pale into insignificance but I digress. 

Big is beautiful and this seems to be the case with carp rods and their butt rings. Carppuzzle asks why? 

It’s all about casting, or so it seems.

The logic is that larger rings allow the line to travel faster unhindered by friction as it reduces the line running/rubbing against the ring(s). Also with the spool size of big pit reels and the angle that the line enters the ring, a wider butt aperture (!) will reduce this angle, so again, reducing the friction, speed the line and therefore aid distance casting. Having said that, most rings are super smooth Fiji silicon carbide and the like lined, so is there really anything to be gained from big butt rings when casting?

Now, how many times do you have to cast over 100m?

Come to think of it, casting 100m will often put you in someone else’s water. Plus in most cases one rod is under armed in the margins – the lakes biggest feature.

Sticking with casting; taking the line into account will also effect efficiency (distance), with mono winning over fluoro. Then add in the terminal tackle and lead; want to cast further, then clip in a heavier or more aerodynamic lead – Korda tournament etc. Is the butt ring helping? Again very marginal.

ESP offer ‘The Classic’ with 40mm; and ‘The Distance’ (the clue is in the name!) with 50mm butt rings to cater for all tastes, as do almost all manufacturers, but I’m guessing that 50mm is the most popular; the most fashionable at this moment in #carpy evolution.

After all that, we seem to have now zeroed in on the answer to this carppuzzle – fashion.

Now at this point I must hold my hand up … yes … I have recently bought a pair of Sonik S3, 3.5lb rods with 50mm rings. But not for fashion, I chose the rods for their test curve and the ability to punch out a heavy payload. Plus the sale price form Angling Direct made them irresistible . The large butt rings were a bonus, honest!

But clip on my Sonik Tournos 8000’s and once in the bank, I’m sure I will enjoy gazing at those big round butt rings. As MC Hammer said;

I like big butts and I can not lie. You other brothers can’t deny

I like’em round and big. And when I’m throwin a gig [rig Ed.]

Tight (butt) lines