I have been building rods since 1989 starting with fly rods and later progressing (maybe digressing) to conventional casting and spinning rods. I usually build for near shore and inshore saltwater species. I have built a few fresh water trout fly rods but only down to a 5wt. My brother has been wanting a 9' 3wt because he says it will do a better roll cast at that length for the rivers he fishes where he lives in southwestern Colorado. I finally found a reasonably priced 4pc 9' 3wt blank so I was going to build him one for Christmas. What I am trying to figure out is what size stripper should I use and what size running guides. I am not going to use anymore than 3 different sizes. I am either going to use double foot snakes or single foot ceramic guides like the Fuji L frames or the PacBay Minimas for running guides. What I need is guide sizes for a 3wt and any other comment or ideas for something this small. Any and all of your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

On this light build I’d stay away from guide with insert.
A double foot guide size 10 for stripper.
Then a size 2 snake followed by snake size 1/0 thru tip.
Other may chime but it’s my starting point.

With a fly rod that light, I always build with single foot guides to keep the weight down. The exception is the stripper, and size 10 is correct. If I was building it, and I have done a few of this configuration, I go with all Minama 4s, starting with 10, then an M48, then M4 6s the rest of the way. If you do not want to go with the Minimas, then I suggest single foot light wire guides for the runners, size 2 or 3 your choice.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2017 02:07PM by Phil Erickson.

if you go Snake wire guides look at the snake brand guides as the feet are bent some to get closer to the blank , look at snake brand , snake guides, {universal} , they are light weight,
black or chrome , the bamboo rod builders use them a lot , PS , TIP TOP loop big enough so the knot will pass easy , { don't need to break it because of a ""KNOT ""
it happen' s a lot on light build rods , I think

William Sidney
AK

My thinking is very similar to Eric M's; size 10mm stripper (or maybe a 12 mm agate), a size 1 snake, then size 1/0s to the tip top.

You'll find multiple charts online recommending size 2//0 snakes, which I find too small for aging, shaking fingers to deal with when rigging the rod.

You have to think about the guides as the single foot are the same for weight as they are just twisted to make 1 foot but where the weight factors in is with a double wrap on a snake style guide you want to keep it super light then your option is titanium guides and finish with perma gloss, luma seal or threadmaster water based urethane and for get the epoxy finish the 3 I mentioned will be as tough as the finish on the blank with 3 + thin coats to achieve the glassy look .

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

If this helps. I just finished a three weight with 9 nine guides. PacBay minima 10mm as striper and 8 PacBay lite wire black chrome snake guides size 1 as the smallest (0,06 gram). Including the lite wire tip top, all the wraps, including the ferrule wrap and butt wrap with a hook keeper. All this with flex coat high build added 2,4 gram or 0.08465751oz to the rod weight.
I used as litle epoxy as possible and short wraps. If I recall correctly the the weight of the guides,hook keeper and tip were roughly 1,4 gram .So the thread and epoxy would be a gram or less for the 23 wraps on the rod. One thing I have discovered is the weight of the tip top, some of them are quite heavy, weighting from 0,20 to 040 gram.'



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2017 03:40AM by Terje Bendiksby.

If this helps. I just finished a three weight with 9 nine guides. PacBay minima 10mm as striper and 8 PacBay lite wire black chrome snake guides size 1 as the smallest (0,06 gram). Including the lite wire tip top, all the wraps, including the ferrule wrap and butt wrap with a hook keeper. All this with flex coat high build added 2,4 gram or 0.08465751oz to the rod weight. I used as litle epoxy as possible and short wraps.If I recall correctly the the weight of the guides,hook keeper and tip were roughly 1,4 gram .So the thread and epoxy would be a gram or less for the 23 wraps on the rod. One thing I have discovered is the weight of the tip top, some of them are quite heavy, weighting from 0,20 to 040 gram.'



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2017 03:41AM by Terje Bendiksby.

The weight you recorded is on line with my notes.

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Eric
[www.emfishing.fr]

I just built 2 discontinued Fly Logic 9'3" fly rods! Unusual size for sure but great rods!