Building a 9' 5wt med. action flyrod. The stripping guide (#12) and next guide (#10) are 4" from ea. other, and follow with snakes sized 5,5,4,4,3,3, and 2,2, tip. Using a deflection test, it seems as if there should be another guide after the second guide (from the butt). My answer is to use a #6 snake guide here, or would you go another route?? (Is eleven guides too much for a nine-foot rod?)
Thanks! Mike

Eleven guides are not too many, if that is what your rod needs.

Your additional stripping type guide is added not as the second stripper, but in addition to the second stripper. In other words, if you would normally have two stripping (double foot ceramic type - I know there is only one stripping guide on any fly rod, technically) guides then this additional guide is placed between the two you normally have and about four inches ahead of the first one.

Some people insert the additional guide that way while others place it 4 inches ahead of the first one and then space the rest from that point.

Perhaps give it a try that way and see how it works for you.

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I was going to ask this same question this morning for a 9' 6wt rod.

As for the sizing of the stripping guides, can they be 12-10-10 or is there a different recommendation.

Thanks,

Greg.

10 or even 9 guides are not too few., too.-

They can be 12 - 10 -10, unless your tests show a different set-up to be better. You might also try using high frame spinning guides along the lines of the Fuji SVSG style for these guides.

And yes, 9 or 10 guides is not too few, if that is all that is required. We have to remember that there is no set number of guides to be used on a rod - that number is always determined by the specific blank and how many it needs. Two 9 foot fly rods may each require a different number of guides to achieve our criteria.

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Thanks for the help. I wasn't sure if eleven guides would be overkill. I think that if this rod was a stiffer blank, ten guides would work due to a different type of flex, but being a "medium" or slower nature, it looks as if I need an extra guide according to the deflection test. Thanks again!

I don't think 11 guides is too many. As has been said, the multiple stripper set-up actually acts more like one guide than two. A 12-10-10 set-up, or even a 12-10-8 set-up (all Fujis) each 4" from the other is what I'd initially try, then test-cast and modify from there. On the most recent medium-action fly rod I built, three strippers (each 4" from the previous) worked wonders for added distance and overall smoothness of casting. I used 12-10-8, then went to single-foot snakes (5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1--I think).