ORIGINAL: HighPlains
It sounds like you have the airplane balanced rather nose heavy. I'm basing that on the jumping from the ground and difficulty in rotating, plus the slugish handling. Another possible reason for difficult rotation can be having the nose gear too short, but typically that is resolved by a few hard landings spreading the main gear out.
I thought this too, but when I checked the CG it is actually about 1/4"
behind the recommended CG for this bird.