Rod Balance Question

[nofearengineer]

Much has been made of balancing fishing rods. Some companies have even gone so far as to include rod butts to which extra weights can be added.

I'm curious as to what other people would consider to be "proper" balance. For instance, if you were to have a properly balanced rod, and you were to hold it on one finger so that it did not tip one way or the other, where would that point on the rod be for you?

I've been giving a lot of thought to this lately, and haven't come up with a perfect answer yet.

My first assumption was that it should be exactly underneath the reel, where your middle finger would be. However, I've held up a few "high end" rods like G Loomis, Shimano, etc., that even with a reel in the seat, still balance a good 4 or 5 inches in front of the reel.

Add to this the confusing issue of where the rod and reel actually pivot around, which is your wrist, not the reel. So I'm not entirely convinced the center of mass of the rod and reel should even be at the reel itself.

Anyways, I hope this is food for thought, and that some of you can give me some specific ideas, other than "what feels good". I agree with "what feels good" as an end user, but a rod builder / buyer needs to know what is going to feel good before he builds / buys, to my way of thinking.