Hi , I am building my first fly rod. When fishing (saltwater) I do alot of blind casting as far as I can cast. My new rod will have a 35mm 1st stripping guide would this be too big. I have found that with conventional surf casting that bigger guides, less friction ,more distance.

Hi everyone this my first post ,it wasn't that painfull either. excuse spelling ect.

35 seems awfully big to me. I just try to hold to the rule that less is more. But after wearing myself out fighting big salmon on an 8 wt, I wanted bigger, more. I use a 20 on a 10 wt. If you are talking a 14wt tarpon rod, the 35 might just be perfect. But the real advantage of a custom rod is, you can have anything you want. I would suggest you just do some test casting with both smaller and larger strippers before final wrapping and get a good feel for the differences.

Shooting farthest requires most importantly three things. Keeping the line from rubbing the blank between guides, slick guides and clean line properly matched for long casting. That probably means dropping line weight some. Consider, 30 feet of 10 wt line will load the 10 wt rod nicely. For picking up and shooting further, 40 feet of 8 wt line might be the equivalent perfect loading. The skill of the caster is not a small item at all either. I would expect to have to test several lines to see which one work best for distance with my skills, my rod and my intended lure size and type. There are many issues to consider. Trying to toss big 3/0 feathered Deceivers in the wind is quite a different kettle of fish than tossing a hard epoxy shiner imitation.

I do know that Lefty Kreh has a book specifically addressing salt water fly casting and it would seem a good reference to consider before finalizing your rod design.

I think you may be attributing your better casting to the wrong thing. In fact, larger guides due to their greater weight, usually reduce casting distance, not increase it. Friction between guides and line is not a big issue when it comes to casting distance. Added weight the blank has to carry, however, can and usually does rob you of extra distance.

Generally I use smaller rings and higher frames for my fly rod stripping guides. On a 10-weight I'd most likely use an SVSG type frame with a #16 ring. If I used the lower NSG style, then I might consider a #20 ring.

The good thing about building your own rods, of course, is that you can try different sized stripping guides and make up your own mind as to which is going to work better for you.

I'd also heed the advice that Tim has given you above regarding line weight considerations.

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