There is endless discussion regarding guide sizing on spinning and casting rods, and the rationale for same. It seems that larger guide sizes are being phazed out in lieu of smaller sizes in order to control line direction and erratic behavior, for the purpose of (in theory anyway) longer casting distances. I have seen repeated suggestions for downsizing the guide sizes of fly rod guides, eit
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Hi all, I haven't posted in some time because there are few good fly rod questions. Maybe the builders are getting better - or fly fishing is in a down-swing. I only build fly rods - so feeling kind of lonely. Herb CTS Rep
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I am sure this has been dealt with in the archives but I was hoping to get some feedback from more experienced builders before I place a mail order. I live in Western Australia so I have to do quite a lot of "theoretical building" before I place mail orders and tweak out my guide spacings with what I have.... I thought I would try making a small stream fibreglass rod from a blank I
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I am building 80-130lb offshore rod on a 7' Phenix black diamond blank and want suggestion for Fuji guide lay out. Rod to be built as a spinning rod. Mostly targetting amber jack, and tuna.
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Going to be building a CTS 9' 5 weight and was going to go with a 12 and a 10 stripper and then snake brand light wire guides 4-3-1-1-1-1-1-1. What would be the advantage/ disadvantage to using 1 or 2 strippers? What would be your layout?
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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?
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Since the Microwave and KLH systems quickly remove the line issues in the first three guides, what would happen if after those first three guides larger guides were used? As in the Fuji system, 10 - 5.5 - 4, then 5.5's to the tip. If this is feasible it would give advantages of the micro for line control but would allow a line/leader knot to easily clear for the last at least half of the rod.
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I am getting ready to order the components for a 5 weight fly rod. For the stripper guide I have decided to go with a high frame #12 Minima 4 as Tom suggest in a previous post. The customer wants a tamer guide on this rod. I prefer going with a one size smaller single foot guide for the tamer. My question is: do I use a Minima 4 high frame also or a standard Minima 4 fly guide? Or better yet will
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I am building a 7 wt, 9', 2 pc. Thinking about a 16 DF stripper, 10 DF tamer (about 4'' from Stripper).... an 8 SF drop down guide and then SF runners of either 6's or 5's. Thoughts or suggestions welcome. I usually build lower wt fly rods.
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Did a microwave guide challenge this afternoon at a tackle shop here in High Point NC. Well the response was " wow i never thought of that and how much the line make that much noise. Did the Challenge on a Bushido DS69/4-10 blank with microwaves against a G Loomis SJR 842 GL3 cone of flight guides. Thanks Ben Stein could have done it with out you.
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What ever happen to using the extra stripper guide set 100mm from the first. I have found that it worked best for me with a shooting line
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I came across an Alvey 50-C1 sidecast reel today at a family run Estate sale. According to the son, his dad wanted to go salmon fishing off a local pier one fall and a salesman at a tackle store talked him into buying this reel. Unfortunately I think the guy mounted it on a 6'6" medium spinning rod which was a total mismatch for this large spool reel. Supposedly he never used it after that d
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I'm building an Angler's Roost 11' 6/7wt switch rod (completely on the blank; no butt extension) and have been unable to find any info on guide spacing. Does anyone have any experience with this blank ?
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I just read and article that you wrote in the March/April 1999 issue of Rodmaker Magazine on placing a second stripper guide 4 inches closer to the tip-top than the first stripper guide on fly rods. On this site that guide is refered to as a tamer guide. I have been doing this for a few years now and like the results. My question is that in the article you use the same size tamer guide as the 1st
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building a 11.5 ft 7wt rod and am going to use a tamer guide total of 3 guides. I know the distance from the butt to stripper guide but do not know the distance to the last tamer, the one closest to the tip.I know these are approximate numbers but it will give me a start.( 2) When over sizing the tip top if Im running out with 6s should the tip top be 1or 2 sizes larger? for larger rods does t
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Hi all, For those who may not know, American Tackle has partnered up with Doug Hannon to work on expanding his Micro Wave guide theory into a complete system. Countless hours were spent developing and testing various guide designs to find the best combination of guides to deliver all the benefits possible. Using hand-made prototypes we built rods for exhaustive casting exercises, fishing in t
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Hi guys! Took a hiatus for a couple of years and starting up again. Seems I've forgotten quite a bit. I have a couple of fly rod questions to see if anything new has been learned since then. First, I'm planning to build a rod for a friend who wants to learn how to fly fish. I have a Forecast 6 wt that I've never gotten around to for myself that I might use, unless that is too heavy for a beg
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seeing that I be a new at rod bulding, a new item has come up in this forum , TAMER GUIDE , I could not find anything out about it, can any one stear me in the correct direction, I have never heard about it , so please fill me in Bill
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New guy here getting ready to build a 5wt. on an MHX blank for some lighter inshore saltwater fishing down here in Florida. I had pretty much decided to use Rec guides on my first rod build but now that I am down to the wire, I am starting to think twice. My BVK has Recoils, my Xi3 and TCX do not and I honestly can't tell any difference other than slight noise increase with the BVK when using a
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I'll try not to be too dense here but please keep in mind I'm not a fly fisherman. Do keep in mind saying things are a matter of taste or whatever works best for you helps little. I have a 5 weight (RX7), 6, 9, and 12 (all RX8) weight to build (not current production but old utmost closeouts). Budget is a big factor. The 9 and 12 will see salt water and the 5 won't. The 6 is a maybe as it
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These have been out a while and I for one have not seen any posts about them For builders who have used them - how did you like them
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I have been trying to place my butt guide a 3mm micro, from the reel seat so that there is no sharp drop or break in the line, I tried 15& 16 inches, but still see a sharp drop in the line when it goes through the guide, now I got it at 20 inches, butt still see a slight drop in the line, my rod is 7' 3", and the reel seat is 73inches from the tip, should there be a drop pr break in the
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I am new to rod building... just a couple of fly rods down & they were done using the supplies that came with the kit. But I feel like branching out now... I remember reading (but not where I read it) something about using larger than standard butt guides or even tips. the jist of the post was that the larger size would allow the line to flow through the guides better & cast more freel
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The following are models that we had in our catalog and were expecting to take delivery of in January. It has taken a bit longer but we now have all of these models available for delivery. Mag Bass MB842-MHX 7' 8-15 lb. MB843-2-MHX 7' 2pc. 10-17 lb. MB845-MHX 7' 15-30 lb. The Meat Stick MB873-MHX 7'3" 10-17 lb. MB874-MHX 7'3" 12-20 lb. Frog Rod Spin Jig SJ841-MHX 7'0" 6
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I am going to build two Batson RCLB70XL rods and I want to do spiral wraps on them. I don't know how to do it. Are there any tutorials online or a back issue of Rodmaker I can look for instructions? Greg
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Hello All, I happen to pour my own Senko-type stick baits, and I'd like to build/have built a rod for flipping And pitching these unweighted. I know I'll have a bunch of questions, but my first is regarding the inital "Tamer" "stripper" guide. I plan on transitoning to micros, but the first couple of guides I could use advice on. One of the knocks on using spinning for f
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Hi, I just purchased a St. Croix Legend Elite SCV blank model 5FF968.4. This is going to be my first custom fly rod build and I have a few questions to ask you guys. First, I have heard that this is a great blank and very easy to cast with, what do you guys think. Also, I know that the blank is not originally rated for saltwater fishing plus the fact that it is on the large size, do you guys t
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Went to Batson's site but no luck! I need a good starting point to Set-up a R/S SU 1508 for Spinning use. I built one years ago on a Allstar blank and would throw a heavy sinker and bait a long way anybody have the recipe? Thank you in advance for any help that can be given
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Here's the situation. I've built a rod for a guy and he loves the handle and work i've done on it. (MHX sj842) However it doesn't cast "smooth" with the size 4000 symetre he's using. . I've tweeked it and rewrapped it and for some reason I'm not getting the performance or "smoothness" that I want/need for this guy. I've set it up with the 27x method and i'm wondering
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Hi All, I am looking to build a #5 fly rod for distance casting competitions, and need some blank recommendations. The TFO Axiom is currently the only blank I have considered, so I am looking for suggestions similar to the price point of the Axiom, with a similar action. This is a very stiff rod, and anything softer than this, I don't feel will cut it, especially when trying to false cast 7
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