You do know it doesn't have to work for fisherman to buy it, right? Otherwise, I see no harm with this contraption. I am sure well meaning spouses and significant others with good intentions will buy this as a gift. After all, the average age of fly fisherman is on the rise. Every little bit helps.

Koldkut, if you steal my battery operated vibrating handle to keep ice out of your guides ideal, I will track you down. lol

Seems like a legitimate idea but the power of a rod is more a function of material capability than mechanical advantage. My guess would be that a high end Sage would still take the cake. Adding this design to fly rods may provide additional casting distance but at the cost of introducing another potential failure point.

I see some potential problems, but I'll see what ya'll think...
1- what heppens to sensitivity? If the handle isn't attached to the rod other than at the reel seat, I see it not having much at all.

2- if you're allowing for the xtra blank length to bend while casting, how do you support the rod when fighting a fish? I see broken blanks in the future if it presses against that handle that it's not supposed to be hitting.

3- if the handle starts to degrade or break on you, what do you do? It seems that you would have just a basic fly rod at that point.

I'm no rod maker, but those first two especially concern me a bit.