Hey guys. I am building a 10 ft 2 piece lami and a 9 ft rainshadow for a conventional set up. I am planning on using cork tape for handle. What size reel seat would you used? Trigger or no trigger? What type of guides would you reccomend to handle the salt water? I was thinking about titans. How many guides? And what sized guides? What size thread for the underwrap and the main wraps? I need to cast far distances. The 10 ft will be used for chunking and the 9 ft will be used for clamin'. All help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Dan Colville
Dan Colville's custom rods

Dan,
Generally I don't like trigger seats on surf rods. They seem to get in the way more than they are useful. Anytime you want to put a rod into a sand spike the trigger seems to be in the wrong place. Reel seat sizes again in general terms I like the American tackle graphite/aluminium reel seats with the diameter rods you're building you should be ok with the AG22's - nice graphite bodies with wide threads, graphite locking nut and heavy cast aluminium hoods. I lik to put a couple of burl cork rings against the reel seat to ensure no water and goo gets in there. I admit that I'm '" the best tackle tester on the beach" . If a rod can wind up in the sand or at the edge of the surf it will be mine -- and I'm forever finding myself wading deeper than I ought to so I build my own surf rods with shorter butt sections than you might see on most surf rods with the center of the reel seat about 20" from the butt end and I like guides that keep the line close to the blank which I can "get away with" because I use Avet reels which are smallish by comparison to most that you might see on the beach. As for thread - I just like the looks of size A but have used B for the overwraps and will put on three light coats of thin epoxy.

I like to use a fuji trigger seat whenever possible. Everybody's got their own likes and dislikes I guess. The triggers have never gotten in the way with me and I spike fish alot. You didn't mention the model # of the rainshadow, if it's a 1087 then a 20 will fit, 1088 will take a 22. I just built one of each a couple of weeks ago - with fuji trigger seats.

Try puting your Reel on a spinning rod and casting it to tell if you feel you need thr Trigger.

On my larger rods for throwing Bait I always use a under wrap to protect the Blank it does not add much weight. Do to the stress of casting the rigs used I feel it is a good deal A under and a c over wrap should be ok.

I would start with a 20 ,16 ,16 ,12 ,12 12 if using shock leaders i would use a large tip (12 MM)

Would also consider Roberts wrapping it, You might need a couple more Guides