I have a few rods under my belt (surf spinning and fly), but I'm about to tackle my first conventional custom rod. I've picked out the blank and components, and am eagerly looking forward to getting started.

While I'm reasonably confident that I have the skills to construct a good boat rod, all of my prior rods have had the guides on the bottom of the blank, and for my first casting rod I'm a bit on the fence whether to place the guides conventionally or to do a spiral wrap. While I understand, appreciate, and belive in the superiority of spiral wraps, I think that doing a spiral wrap on my first boat rod might be taking on a bit too much. It will be easier, I figure, to wrap the first rod conventionally, and once I have a handle on everything else to do the next one with a spiral wrap. And I can always go back and redo this one to a sprial in the future if I think it will be worth it.

Any suggestions from the collective "Voice of Experience" here? Should I go spiral or not? For what it's worth, this is going to be a lightweight saltwater boat rod matched with a Penn 940 reel; it will be used primarily to target fluke in New Jersey, and the associated grab-bag species that come with them. Thanks in advance for input.

IMO - Spiral first. Easier guide spacing
than conventional "Guides on Top".
Plus it's great advertising if you want to sell.
IMO, -Cliff Hall, FL-USA.

See RMM-8(2) APRIL 2005 for BUMPER WRAP.

If you can build a rod with guides on top, you can just as easily do the Simple Spiral. It only requires that you move all but the first guide to the bottom of the rod and then go back and add one more exactly halfway between the first two. Take a look at the Volume 8 #2 issue of RodMaker or do a search here on this site for "simple spiral" or "bumper wrap." It's easy and it's vastly superior to any rod with the guides located on top.

.............

The couple additional steps to doing a spiral wrap are so minor. It would be insane not to try it. If your only concern is the extra work involved or difficulty of the task.

Chris,I also fluke fish off the coast of NJ and use only spiral wrapped rods.Last week I boated 75 Fluke and had no concerns with my carpul tunnel syndrome after the day.Also hauled several huge skates and a mantaray with no concerns.Also had a 15 lb blue fish take the sea bass rod for a ride (about 1/2 the rod it should have been on) with absolutly no concerns with rod stability.I convinced my Dad to try one and now he has me doing some of his favorite rods over in the spiral fashion.My rods are not the simple spiral set-up however the next one will be.Go for it and you wont be sorry.The best is the comments that people make about you possibly not having you wits for some odd reason when you built the rod.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

Chris,

I'm glad you asked this question as it was one I would have asked myself. I am very new to rodbuilding and I am currently re-building a very simple solid fibreglass kids rod for my son. This is my first ever rod building project. My next project will hopefully be a 10 kilo standup rod mainly for tuna. I had also wondered whether to go convential or spiral. I think the question has been resoundingly answered in favour of the spiral from my point of view. So Thanks!!!

Jason

Build BOTH...

Purchase two identical blanks and build them exactly the same EXCEPT for one being conventional and the other being spiral wrapped. Fish them BOTH and then you will really experience for yourself just how dynamically different the spiral rod fishes. You will end up rewrapping the conventional wrap but you will have hands on experience as to why.

Just my .02

I am in the process of rewrapping ALL of my conventional rods as a direct result of this same experiment.

Thanks for the input, guys. It was exactly what I was hoping for: I guess I wanted to do a spiral wrap, and wanted "positive reinforcement" before I took the plunge.

I will probably get some oddball stares, but I'm used to that: my surf bait outfit is built around an Alvey side-cast reel, and I can't tell you how many times someone walking by has stopped to ask what the heck that contraption is. But I don't mind the stares, because I firmly believe that the rig is the best tool for my purposes. It's the same with a spiral wrap.

I don't have the time or need to do two rods, but I don't need to. My brother fishes a lot, and uses this type of rig a lot more than me -- I'm primarily a surf guy. I'll give it to him and tell him to test it, and see if he likes it too. From what I've heard here, I can't imagine that he won't.

And a spiral wrap is one thing that truly separates a custom rod builder from an assembler. It's one of those things that you just can't get in a factory rod. I'll post my results on the board. Thanks again.

Chris. . . I think you'll find the spiral warp on your rod will be a real "head turner!"

Bob Turpen
Dawsonville, GA

Chris,

Go with the simple spiral wrap. After the first fish, you won't regret it or go back to a conventional setup. I just finished a fishing trip with my brother which was his forst time using a spiral wrap. Now I'm building him one.

Joe

Joe Douglas

Thanks, Joe -- and everyone else. I am definitely going to do a spiral wrap. I'll let you know the results.