I'm preparing to build a 4wt 8' fly rod. I have not built a rod before so I've been doing my best to resource and learn as much as possible. I had a question I was hoping a few experienced builders could provide some advice on. I plan to use single foot ceramic guides on the rod, and was considering the use of 9 total guides including the stripper guide. My initial thought was to use (1) size 10 stripper, (2) size 8 single foot, (2) size 7 single foot, and (4) size 6 single foot. Am I way off here or would these be of ample size for the specified rod. Also, is there any benefit to using 2 stripper guides? Any advice or comments would be most appreciated.

Scott, the number of guides seems correct. The #10 stripper is fine, too, although some might prefer a #12. I like a #10 for your rod. I do suggest one #8, and either one #7 and the rest #6, or skipping the #7 guides completely. There isn't a great need to graduate the sizes of the SF guides, and the smaller guides are quite a bit lighter.

Dan pretty much said what I would have .......great advice. It's also good to see you using the ceramic guides on your rod , you will be pleased with the results. JD

Got Fish ?

Curious, are you the Scott Redmond who penned the Deschutes River guide book that sits in the trunk of my fishing car?

Thanks for all the advice. It's great to have such an active forum to help out. Scott Kinney- Unfortunately, I am not the author of the Deschutes River book. Maybe it's a distant relative that I'm not aware of :-)

Actually, I realized that it was Scott Richmond. Redmond is a town on the Deschutes.

Anyway, the advice above is good advice-- although if it were me I might go #12 stripper, #8, #6's. You also might want to consider SIC rings for the stripper & tip-top.

-Scott