I am building a 9' plugging rod for jetty use. I will be targeting jacks, spanish, reds, and the occasional king. I have a magged ABU 7500 CT and I currently have minima XT4G guides on the rod. A XT4G(20), XT4G(12), and XF4XG (8)s as running guides. It is a fast action, med-heavy rod. During stress testing I ended up with 10 guides and a top and still had places where the line barely touched the blank. Am I using the wrong running guides? Should I be using the double foot XT4G instead of the single foot XF4XG guides? The extra height should help.

Add guides. If you were using size 5 runners a rub would be acceptable, but at size 8 you should have enough height to keep the line off the blank (although a little rub would probably be OK). With jacks and kings on your list your interest in double foot guides may be right on the money. Plus, you mention jetties. Long fast runs, no place (for you) to go and lots of rocks...double-foot would be a definite consideration for me.