I’m setting up a 9 ½’ blank using the latest NGC method from Volume 10 Issue 4. My Daiwa 4500 has a huge spool diameter at 61.55 mm so times 27 puts my choke guide a whopping 64 7/16” from the spool - and that choke is only 34 ½” away from the tip on a 9 ½’ rod. So I wind up with 4 transition guides between the reel and a 6mm choker at 30-20-12-8 with spacings from the choker at 7.25 - 8.25 - 13 - 15 inches. But this setup looks like a Walmart special instead of a custom built rod. However, my 4500 reel frame is the same frame as their 3500 series reel so my reel technically has an oversized spool. But using the 3500 spool of 57.19 mm only moves the choker 4 5/8” closer to the reel and I still need 4 large transition guides.

But if I go back to last year’s edge of the table method, my choker locates a foot closer to the reel, allows me to use more 6mm running guides, and only requires 3 transition guides and I can actually get away with smaller transition guides of 25-16-8 and at much nicer spacings and it really looks like a lightweight sensitive 6-12 line rod. That 30 mm butt guide just looks out of place on this GL3.

So due to the oddities of my reel should I use the old table edge method in this case or should I salute sharply and charge up the hill with the newer method? Thanks.

SOunds like you should use the method which casts better and which gives you better ine flow with a load on teh blank. WHO CARES which one is which - the fish dont' care, the line doesnt' care as it passes through your guides - all that matters is how it fish's.

One thing for sure - a 30mm guide is NOT oversized for a 4500 or even a 3500 reel. Once you move past a 2500, a 30mm or larger is needed IMO.

As far as the spacing, did you tape it up and go cast it. Same for the "old" spacing method. There is a lot to be said for doing a bit of testing ... the truth shall set you free.

I wouldn't put anything larger than a 30 on that blank and like Billy says, who cares what concept you are using. I just build my rods to cast well.

We often start with a 40mm stripper on a 7' spinning rod designed for salwater trout, using a 2500-sized reel. That stripper is first located about 20-21" off the face of the reel. We often end up with as many as 9 or 10 guides (Including the tip). Sometimes we don't. The rod "tells" us where to put the guides, how many to use, etc.

Then we move the guides around, resize them, mess with them until we get a maxiumum cast with minimum (or no) noise from the line and guides.

You can use all the formulas you want. But if you see them as formulas, instead of suggestions or starting points, you - well, miss the point. You're skipping a step - the hand-crafting that makes the difference between a custom rod and a manufactured rod that's built by the thousands to a formula that any assembler can follow - which is the whole point: there's no thought in them, except for the original design. Assemblers don't get paid to think.

The idea of being able to "see" how a rod will turn out before you even build it comes from experience. As the folks said above, just go build it. If it looks wrong to you, it probably is. Everything else is theories.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods

Why do you think that having the choker guide 64 or 65 inches from the spool is bad? If that's where it falls, that's where it falls and it'll be correct. A larger spool requires that the choker be further from the spool face. A reel with a spool that large should definitely have the choker guide further up the rod.

You're trying to make the guide system conform to what you think it should look like, instead of what it needs to be. Let go of preconceived notions and just follow the instructions. Go out and cast it and see what you think.

And with a spool that large and the choker out that far, you might find that you need to use another transition guide in there.

Now the table edge method will work, but as you can see, it would put the choker in the same spot for booth of those reels even though they have different sized spools. Use the newer method - it's the one you want.

And... unless you're using very small diameter line, a size 30 butt guide isn't too large. In fact, if you wound up having to use a 40 that wouldn't necessarily be out of line in this instance. But a high frame 30 will probably be about right.

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



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2007 10:46PM by Tom Kirkman.

A very simple method of choker guide placement.
Lay the rod on a straight table.
Have the tip glued on the rod.
Position the reel so that it has line coming off the spool at the 1/2 way point.
Thread the line through the choker guide.
Thread the line through the tip.

Move the guide up and down the rod so that the line just hits the top of the guide.

I suspect that the guide will end up at 20-30 inches from the reel.

Then, space the other guides so that you get a nice rod loading for the rest of the guides.

You can place the choker guide at 5 feet down the rod, but you then have an awful lot of unsupported line to whip in the wind. It would fish fine as far as rod loading for that blank, but I suspect that you would like to have the choker a bit closer to minimize the wind effects.

Take care
Roger

Thanks Roger, so the method in RodMaker puts the choker over 64" from the reel and your method suggest it will be only 20"-30"? Just how many transition guides should I wind up with in this 20"-30" span from the reel to the choker?

TIm, who cares? Put the guides on the rod and test cast it. Move teh guides yourself, test cast again. Add more guides, different sizes, etc. Keep doing this until you find a set up you like. YOu'll answer teh question on your own that way, and won't have to worry about someoen else guessing at an answer for you.