The question is do I spiral wrap or not? I am leaning on not. The rod will be built using a NFC backbounce blank. I will be fishing mostly bucktails, spinnerbaits and stickbaits. Most of the time the tip will be down. Does it make sense to spiral wrap it?

Appreciate your opinions.

See you on the water, Doug
Captain Paddlefoot

IMHO...It makes no sense not to!

I think it does. There would be no disadvantages to spiral wrapping and the larger the fish (heavier load) the greater the benefits.

............

all the trolling rods and muskie rods that I have built over the last 2 years were spiraled wrapped either by customers request or my suggesting it to them after showing them the advantage of a spiral wrap rod.

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

As Tom says, the higher the load on the rod, the greater the advantage. IMHO, the ONLY disadvantage to a spiral wrap is that they look goofy looking down the blank. That is a defect in my design, not the design of the rod, so unless you have the same defect, spiral wrap it, simple spiral works great, easy to lay out. Put your second guide 90 degrees to the side that makes it and the reel handles up when it's lying on the deck.

As Tom says, the higher the load on the rod, the greater the advantage. IMHO, the ONLY disadvantage to a spiral wrap is that they look goofy looking down the blank. That is a defect in my design, not the design of the rod, so unless you have the same defect, spiral wrap it, simple spiral works great, easy to lay out. Put your second guide 90 degrees to the side that makes it and the reel handles up when it's lying on the deck.

I feel that the spiral wrap makes pulling in bucktails (10) much easier. There is less twist as you reel in the hard pulling bait. I didn't notice a single disadvantage.

WIth the tip down you're going to be reeling the baits back opposite the guides - which is exactly the reason what we are trying to prevent when we spiral wrap. You make 1000 casts to catch 1 musky where the fight lasts 4 minutes - for those 1000 casts the guides are "in the wrong" place. But what do I know? I only musky fished with my spiral wrapped rod for a week, and realized it was the wrong way to build the rod. Kind of common sense to me to wrap it straight

That’s what I was thinking. I need to hookem before you can catchem. I was thinking regular guide placement because most of the time the rod will be tip down, retrieving the bait. I would think this would get me best sensitivity feeling the blades and weed pick ups.

See you on the water, Doug
Captain Paddlefoot

The problem with internet replies is that people just regurgitate what they hear other people say. I often wonder if rodbuilders actually get out and fish.

Sensitivity isn't about whether the guides are on top or bottom - sensitivity is a matter of stiffness to weight ratio.

You'd have to determine if the pull of the lures you plan to use would offset the pull of the muskies you catch, and in what ratio. It becomes a matter of priorities. Unless you're a better fisherman that most of us, you'll make far more casts than you will catch fish. But, few lures pull as hard as most fish do. You just have to decide which is more important to you.

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Doug,
I have built a lot of musky rods.
I built several with a spiral wrap and every one of the rods came back with a request to wrap them in a conventional method.
The overwhelming reason given was that since so much of the fishing was done with the tip down, the fishermen just preferred the line coming off of the top of the rod.

Since then, I don't even bring up the subject of a spiral wrap on a musky rod.

Trolling rods - certainly.

Some bass rods, of course.

Good luck

Billy Vivona Wrote:
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> The problem with internet replies is that people
> just regurgitate what they hear other people say.
> I often wonder if rodbuilders actually get out
> and fish.

I average 3-4 days a week on the water with in the state boundaries I may be up there in years but I still do the only sport that I really enjoy that is fishing I got the gills to prove it. I will be off to the north wood for opening day and will have to fish where the water will be open as they still have Ice on several northern county lakes and flowages.

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

I would also have to say a spiral wrapped rod for Musky fishing, with the tip down, throwing bucktails and wood is not the way to go. They don't call them the fish of 10,000 casts for nothing, if you have a spiral wrapped rod tip down pulling 10oz baits back all day long you will torque and twist the tip more than the one or two fish will twist in the 5 minutes you fight them.

I do not know of any type fishing where you catch fish as often as you cast. Even LM Bass required dozens, maybe hundreds of casts per fish. Lures and crank baits do not pull very hard. You are talking about a fairly stout rod blank and it is not going to be twisted out of sorts by your bucktails or crank baits.

Mike,
Simply put, for tip down fishing - having the guides on top of the blank simply works better.

Be safe

The problem with the internet is you get answers and opinions from people who have absolutely no first hand experience with what they are talking about. IT took me 10 minutes to realize I screwed up spiral wrapping the rod I was fishing. If people spent more time fishing and less time regurgitating what other people tell them is "right", you wouldn't have the saying, "internet info is worth exactly what you paid for it". lol

Legions of fishermen have used spinning tackle to throw Jerk-Joggers and Gotcha-plugs from piers, fishing in a tip down manner. This puts the guides in the same position that you would have on a casting rod that has been spiral wrapped. Why not just build the rod handle, then use some elastic tape to adhere the guides and go out and try things for a bit. You will learn more that way than just going by what others tell you.

Apple for apples and throwing a Gotcha-plug is about getting distance and speed of retrieve. Neither of which is even a consideration when fishing musky type spinnerbaits, bucktails and twitch baits. The application of a "spinning" type set-up is not sound. In reality you spend 10 hours throwing and receiving heavier type baits that produce a lot of drag to hopefully hook up and catch one musky in a battle that will most likely not last more than 5 minutes. The fatigue factor is in the constant throwing and receiving. I was looking for actual practical experience with musky fishing like what I have described in reference to spiral wrap. I appreciate all the guidance I get from this site, it is invaluble. This will be the first bait casting/trolling rod I have build conventional in years. As much as I like my spiral wrap rods, the logic tells me to build it conventional.
The blank arrived Saturday, NFC BB805-1 IM. It will make a very nice rod for throwing 1-2 oz spinnerbaits, bucktails and twitch baits.

First, I have to finish 10 other rods, trolling rods for coho and steelhead on Lake Michigan and 8' rods for smallmouth and walleye, rigging rods.

One of these days I will post some pictures but, my stuff is no where near the level of what you guys are doing.

Here is sample with a fish from this weekend,

[www.rodbuilding.org]

A lot to do and fish too.

Thanks everybody.

See you on the water, Doug
Captain Paddlefoot

Doug, I hope you have a sense of humor regarding such a serious subject. I’ m a Bass angler that has caught a fair number of Muskies Flippin’ the dense grass for Bass. I would suggest you build one of each, keep the one you like and sell the other, you’ll be knowledge and money ahead.

If you only want to build one, here’s an idea, build both on one rod. Use size 6 running guides (opposed) right to the tip where you use 2 size 6 guides opposed with the Forhan locking wrap. Imagine the comments you’ll get from other die hard Muskie anglers. Tell them you use the eyes up when it’s taking a thousand casts to git a hit, but you use the eyes down when you’re reallly dialed in and want the spiral wrap to cut those big Muskies down to size. When they stop laughing and want one of their own, tell them you know where they can get one, but it’s going to cost them quite a bit based on how hard they laughed.