I am looking into buying the lamiglass BSU66 5E which is a 5'6'' rod rated for 50-130 pound test. How many and what size guides will I be looking for? I am using Fuji heazy duty casting and boat guides.

I was thinking something along the lines of 25, 20 and then 12's on out. Will this work?

If you are wrapping a rod rated for 80 to 130 pound test and plan on using line of that size and on large fish I would really seriously get a set of roller guides.

What you list should work okay if you are stuck on ceramic guides for it but I would try to keep the guides away from the reel very low to reduce the torque effect they will have if you use higher framed types. This means you'll need to use more of them to keep the line off the blank but on a rod that heavy it shouldn't hurt anything. I'd try #10's if it was me. But again I would be using roller guides on such a rod.

I do not need the rollers, because line will not be runnning throught the guides for the most part. This rod is meant for cranking groupers off the bottom, so i believe ceremics will do just fine. How many 10's or 12's do you think i would need?

25-20-10-10-10-10

is that enough guides?

Thanks,
~Don~

Don,

It might be and then again it might not be. You do not want the line touching the blank under full load. So you will have to use whatever it takes to achieve that. Higher frame guides will usually require less guides to perform this, but will generate more torque on the blank. Lower frame guides reduce the torque but require more guides to keep the line off the blank.

I would think on a rod of that length that 6 or 7 guides would do the job. You can find out for sure by doing a static distribution test.

...........

The last rod I built of that line weight, I went with 25, 20, 20, 16, 16, 16. Don't go too small with the ring size of your guides due to the size line (80lb or up) you'll be using. Also you need to give thought to the possibility of wind on leaders etc, which are best suited to bigger guides. Last, you may only need 5 guides, depending on how fast the rod is at the tip.

Sometimes bigger really is better!!