Just picked up the 14 footer from Hook and Hackle, and I'm impressed! What a chunk of graphite!

Anyway, I was hoping I could get some help with a starting point for guide spacing....not too sure how effective I can static dist. with this behemoth in my living room! Never built a spey before, so hopefully someone can chime in

Thanks,
Ray

Drop me an email I will send you my suggested guide spacing.
www.batsonenterprises.com

I have just ordered a 14' Spey blank to fish for Salmon in Scotland. I have been thinking of breaking with tradition and fitting Fuiji guides and reel seat and split duplon (EVA) handles. Has anyone tried this and is it likely to improve the action of the blank without the large cork handle
Regards
Dave Olley

While we're on the subject of this spey rod blank....Does anyone else hold the opinion that the modulus on this rod may be a little low for a spey rod? It was brought up by a friend when I suggested that I may want to build a combo float/fly rod on the 7 Wt Blank.

Thanks,
Domenic

Domenic--I think you might be surprised to find out the modulus of many spey blanks! :0 The bottom line is these Forecast spey's are in fact VERY nice sticks. I had them in the hand of one of the more respected spey gurus on the West Coast recently and he felt they were "right up there" with a number of his favorites. You can't go wrong with the price, either! :)

One of the sweetest casting Spey setups I've seen was built on a 33mil blank...

Some of the fastest tapered fly rods I have fished were made from 33mil...

My current favorite 1 weight is 33mil...

Modulus gets all too much credit these days...

TY!

Check out Hook & Hackle's catalog, they have a spacing chart at the begining of their blanks section.

Tim

I fish spey rods 99% of my time, out there every week. Here's my take on lower modulus graphite in spey rods. Below I will use "lower modulus" as synonymous with slower recovery per unit graphite mass.

In my experience the lower mod graphites aren't a problem at all in the butt section of rods. The mass at the butt matters very little for swing weight. In most spey rod designs butt recovery rate isn't a big issue because a lot of graphite is used for stiffness, deflection is comparatively low, so recovery rate is less relevant for performance. Very few rods are designed from the ground up to deflect at the butt.

Towards the very tip, the lower mod graphites with slower recovery can accentuate shock loops on the forward cast. This is the major problem it seems to me. Spey rods are long levers, they deflect a lot during the cast, and the need for quick recovery of a long lever is accentuated if tight loops are desired. Some try to overcome the recovery and shock loop problem by designing a heavier stouter tip to add stiffness. This tip stiffness can actually be beneficial to a point in controlling change of direction casts. The tip doesn't get nervous and fold when casting long bellies, or super heavy tips. But extra stiffness with low mod at the tip can also place excessive weight on the business end of a very long lever. I have had good luck using rods with low mod graphite in the butt, and higher mod graphites towards the tip.

The blather above is just a general opinion from having cast most USA made rods, and many more from UK and Asia. It certainly doesn't imply that high mod rods are better. Design is always paramount. The general trend has been towards much better rods at all prices, and that's great. I hope to get my hands on a new Batson for a whirl sometime. I have no commercial affiliations.

Ray,

What did you come up with for guide spacing?

Steve