At the 2014 ICRBE I saw a fly rod that had the stripper guide placed very close to the grip with another guide maybe 4' or so in front of it. Can anyone comment on this type setup and maybe give me some idea as to where I could find a suggested matrix using this concept for a 4pc 10wt blank?

The first guide (stripper) shouldn't be any closer than normal, but you may add a "tamer" guide about 3 to 4 inches beyond it. The tamer guide is an addition to, not part of, the regular spacing of the other guides.

I would suggest you take any rod you have now and tape on a tamer guide 4 inches beyond the stripper and test cast it. See if you can tell any difference. If so, you might give it a try on your next rod, or wrap it on your current one. Otherwise, you don't likely need it.

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Thanks, Tom........also for recognizing I meant 4 inches and not 4 feet........

To efficiently cast a 10 wt. rod effectively it's necessary to double-haul. Placing the stripper guide close to the grip will force the fly line to make a right-angle turn while it's shooting into the backcast and the hauling hand is drifting back into position. Unnecessary friction should be avoided in rod design.

Sandy,

Yeah, a stripper guide at 4 inches in front of the cork grip sounds really odd to me. The first guide, the stripper, is usually about the length it would take to reach out with your arm and hand to grab the fly line from a relaxed position. for me that's about 28-30 inches from the grip if i remember correctly. being a 10wt blank should not change that relative position of the first stripper.

Do you recall what was the reasoning behind such a closely located stripper on that rod you saw?

eric
fresno, ca.

What everyone is saying makes sense. Maybe my focus was more on the tamer guide and not the distance of the stripper from the reel seat. I'll likely end up using the spacing suggested by the Batson site since it's one of their blanks and then do a static test and test cast.......

Thanks for the comments........

Place the butt guide as Erric suggests tape the rest of the guides on Static test Now test cast and mark the casting distance
Try a tamer test cast and see if it does any better If not no need for it
Grab the line from the butt guide as you would fishing if to far adjust

if you can get a hold of a lighter line and a heaver line try them on the rod It may cast better

Bill - willierods.com