Dera all,

intend to build a 10'6 steelhead/casting rod. Blank has arrived (Rainshadow IST1264) now I am planning to order the guides but I' am not quite sure about the sizes I have to go for. I intend to use Fuji guides, following my plan (up to now) I intend to follow for a straight baitcasting setup with an ABU 3600 Mörrum to be used:

FUJI TLNSG (double foot design)
1x #16
1x #12
1x #10
1x #8
1x #7

FUJI TLSG (one foot design)
5x #6

FUJI TFST
1x #6

The final number of used guides I will determine by stress test. My main thought currently; [ I think some more will follow based on your proposals ;-) ] is the first butt guide where I heard that it could be good to start with a #20 which is not available in the preferred design. As you can see, one question hunts the next one...


All comments welcome. Maybe some experienced steelhead rodbuilders can help me in this regard, here locally (Germany) rodbuilding is unfortunately by far not as popular than in the US, so please give me your comments.


RGDS,
Ole

Ole,

I don't build casting rods for steelhead so perhaps some others with more experience will jump in. As a rule of thumb I use the smallest guides that will pass the line I use. On fly rods I seldom use guides over size 6 ceramics as running guides. I doubt that there is an advantage to use a butt guide as large as a 20 for a casting rod such as you are building. If you are using a level wind reel the line is already constrained to the width of the level wind guide as it comes from the reel.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

I would go with more like a 10 or 12 to start with and then straight to 6's or 5.5's or even 5's all the way up.

Hi Jan,
I've built more than a few bait casters but not one that long yet. However, you can switch to the single foot guides after the butt and tamer.
That will save weight. Also, the #16 may or may not be bigger than necissary. I would guess that the #12 would be a better choice but that would be determined by the height of your reel and I am not familar with the model you mention.
I agree with Leon, and if you want to save more weight you can drop to the smallest size after the tamer. (the one after the butt)
Although some think it looks funny it will perform better. If you wrap it as a standard (guides up) bait-cast you will most likely need 11-12
guides depending on your test like you said but if you wrap a simple spiral (bumper) you can get away with less because most of the guide will be on the bottom of the blank.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

I don't go any larger than a 12, even on the IST 1266F I'm building now. Also with this length rod I'm not sure you'd notice the difference between the Ti guides and say a set of Alconites. The weight and length of the blank kind of negates the weight difference, for me, in this length rod.

I asked the same question a while back about guides for the same blank and got these responses [www.rodbuilding.org]. This rod is bumper wrapped but I used 12 & 10 BLNAG and finished with BLAG 8 for the rest of the guides. Tip top BFAT. The friend who received the rod has been impressed with it's performance.

This thread has kind of stuck with me about not needing to progressively step down running guides [www.rodbuilding.org].

Mike

Another thing to " ponder "
Ya know those bait casting reels ? The spinning reels with the cover on them ?
What size is the hole on the cover where the line comes out ?
maybe an 8 ring ?

makes one wonder if even smaller rings can work even better on spinners ? If the cover was taken off, most would use a #20 as the first butt guide?