A lot of times people look at a rod and see the work of art but don't realize that it is functional. I cannot tell you how many times my trim bands above my decals are strategically placed a specific distance away from the front of the foregrip to provide the exact length requirement of a species. I've done a few walleye rods with one at exactly 15 inches as well as some stream trout rods at 8 or 10 inches. If someone didn't tell you, you would never know! I love the 1 inch idea. I always thought of building a thread wrapped ruler on a rod but errored on the side of, "I don't want to spend that much time without an electric wrapper"!