Here lately I've been hearing of how good the spiral wrap method is over a regular casting set up. What I'm wandering is has this method been aplied on short casting rods say 5 1/2 foot or so to the 11 foot surf casting rod. Most of what I've seen or heard have been live bait and bass rods with longer handles. How does it do on a short rod with a pistol grip when the angler gives it a sharp wrist flip cast?

None that I know of. I have used it on 5.5 foot casting rods and 14 foot surf rods with plenty of boat and pier rods tossed in. No problems and it works great. But like anything else we do in rod building you have to set it up properly in order for it to work like it is supposed to. Personally I believe the longer the rod is the better it works..

Sammy,
There is no more limitations with the spiral wrap as there would be with a conventional guide placement on any levelwind rod setup.
The 'tweaking' part is in the guide choice and arrangement.
If built more for distance and you do the test casting, it should perform as good or better. The grip would have less to do with the casting than getting it right with the guide number, alignment with the reel, and overall configuration.

Rich
Solyrich Custom Rods