I know that mono and braid does not pile up to one send on a level wind reel when using spiral wrapped guides. Any problems with wire line piling up? I dont think there should be but looking for someone who has experience with wire line and spiral wrapped guides just to be sure. thanks buzz

Actually mono and braid can and sometimes do pile up to one side on a spiral wrapped rod. It all depends on the spiral method used and what you're pulling. When this is a problem folks tend to offset the butt guide to the side opposite the rest of the guides are spiraled to, ensuing that the line enters the reel from the true 0 degree axis, which relieves some pressure from the level wind mechanism.

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As Mr. Kirkman suggests, if the line tends to pile on one side of the reel, off set your butt guide to one side or the other, depending on how the line is stacking on the reel.

Set your guides on With handle Done
Put your reel on with line Ty on a fare amount of weight to the line and retreave it -- Several times -- Adjust the guides to fit the reel
I ty line to my railing Take a walk Then retreve the line with good pressor You will see where the line goes on the reel

Bill - willierods.com

The length of the rod would, for me, be a key consideration in whether to do a spiral on a wire-line trolling rod. Wire line, more than any other kind of line used on fishing rods, hates abrupt transitions, so a method like the simple spiral, which works great with both braid and mono, would be a lousy idea on a spiral rod. You want any and all transitions in guide placement to be gradual, to try to avoid bends, kinks and other nasties in the wire line.

And this is where rod length comes in. If you're dealing with a 9-foot bunker spoon trolling rod, a spiral is a cinch, because the rod is long enough to allow you to very gradually get the guides to the bottom axis of the rod. Doing this on a six-foot rod, though, is going to be tricky.

For what it's worth, the last few times I build a wire-line trolling rod, I thought about doing a spiral, and decided not to. I'm sure a spiral can work on them, but fishing with wire is a pain, and dealing with line transitioning from the top of the blank to the bottom was something I didn't want to have to deal with (why introduce this variable if you don't have to?). A guides-on-top setup works just fine, after all, and though I am a fervent philosophical supporter of spirals in just about every case, this is one where I didn't think the benefits of the spiral were worth the potential headaches. It just seemed simpler to me to build conventional (guides-on-top), and forget about it. Those who have actually built a spiral wire line rod (I haven't) may disagree with me on this.

The Simple Spiral doesn't have any abrupt line path changes - it provides the straightest line path of any of the spiral systems, which was it's point to begin with - there is no transition for the line to make.

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Ok, thanks Tom, Chris, Roger, that was a big help. i will offset the first guide and do some testing. Appreciate that.


Bill.... I have no idea what you are talking about.......................


Buzz

tape the guides on With the reel on string it up Tie the line to a heavy object
Retreve the line and as it goes on the reel you will see where it stacks Adjust as needed several times
Simple

Bill - willierods.com

I almost exclusively build freshwater spiral wrap trolling rods for mono, braid, wire, and copper lines. The guide style and ring material may vary with the line, user preference and budget, but proper spacing and orientation of guides is accomplished the same way regardless of the type of line used.

If you plan to use a levelwind reel and target fish that have the capability to remove most (or nearly all) of the line from the reel, then I strongly recommend you simulate a reel empty/refill under full drag load to confirm the rear guide placement and angle orientation will interact with the reel's levelwind in a manner that is acceptable to the user.