Thanks to folks on this forum, I am down to the last strokes for determining the blank and components for my first saltwater rod. This rod will be used for trout and redfish in the Texas inter-coastal. I have settled on a Rainshadow IP844F (7', 2 piece, -17w line, 1/4-3/4 w lure),
Alps Lite SS316 sf guides (12,10,8,7,7,6, 6,6,6),XBPPLT tip-top.
I will be spiral wrapping these. Comments on the forum also suggested a split rear grip with no foregrip and a Fuji seat w/brushed stainless or silver.
So my questions are:
(1) I think I understand the split rear grip w/o fore grip, but what does one do at the front of the reel seat where the foregrip would normally go?
(2) Should I use a pistol grip? (The rod I currently use has a pistol grip.) Additionally do not like the exposed blank reel seat look so these type of seats are out.
(3) There are a wide variety of seats. Does anyone have a suggested model number with the above mentioned configeration?
(4) Will the above guides work for a spiral wrap? If not what would you suggest?
Thanks.

Two things ... 1) If you are planning to use braided line with a fluorocarbon leader EVER ... don't use anything smaller than a #7 guide/top or you will have knot issues and; 2) If you aren't fairly experience with all of this - consider a standard butt grip with a foregrip ... one thing at a time would make your life much easier. You can always try additional options on your next build.

You could call Bob at Custom Tackle and go over all of this. He carries the Batson blanks, Alps guides and is a rod builder himself ... he even catches a redfish occasionally.

If you use a pistol grip and do not like exposed blank reel seats this will definately be a custom rod - all yours. Most experienced fishermen will use a different set up for this type of fishing with a seven foot blank. If you are open to suggestions for a popping rod set up maybe we can suggest things that may assist you in your build.

Big mistake if you use a pistol grip on a 7' rod. It won't balance out right and you'll be fighting the rod more than the redfish. The longest rod I'll build is a 6 footer with a pistol grip and then I think that's a little too long. A 7" or 9" standard lenght cork grip would be great for that type of rod with a 2 1/2" foregrip. My preference would be a split grip, but a 9" grip would be my next choice.

I would drop all the extra guide sizes. Get by with just the 12, 10 and 6's. The others are just extranious and don't do anything for you, other than add a little extra weight.

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

Decide which kind of guide set up you will use before you order the guides not after. Different spiral configurations may require different guides for getting the line to bottom of the rod blank.

Harold,
On March 29th at Fishing Tackle Unlimited in Houston there will be a gathering of rod builders. This gathering will be more of a question and answer session for newbies and a chance for the more advanced builders to show their stuff. It should be a fun Saturday for anyone interested in rod building. This would be a good opportunity to meet some Texas builders, make new friends, and you might even pick up some good tips. You are welcomed to come.

Unlike Jim I use # 6 guides on a 6'2" rod that I use 40 lb braid with a 20 lb mono or floro leader on.

I use it for throwing top water plugs long distances. I keep my leader length to between 12 and 18 inches and always allow my knot to be just past my tip before casting. That way I don't have any knot to guide challenges and still have a lighter rod that makes it less tiresome to twitch for long periods, and the braid for solid hooksets with a lot of line out.

Lance is dead on about the handle and its length, big mistake to use pistol grip on rod that long.
But I personally would throw out the fore grip unless; you need it to hang on to the rod when fighting large fish.

I would also heed Tom's advice on the guides.

And any advice you can get out of Bill Stevens on building a rod for red fish will be to your benefit.

You might also reconsider the exposed reel seat. It’s more about form and function then looks.

Harold, all great advice given. Maybe you're confusing an exposed blank trigger seat w/ a skeleton seat?. You can use any type of seat you want, but I can't think of one that works any better than the exposed blank trigger for this application. If you do go w/ an exposed blank trigger, you need to know the rear grip length when ordering , so your supplier can select a seat size that fits in the right place. I personally like the Forecast GTB16C seats w/ 9-10" rear. If you go w/ no foregrip, you can use a rubber winding ck, etc. to cover the end of the seat. Last thing, if I were to spiral this, I'd probably use a DF #12, and then do like Tom said above.

Jerry (and others):

Thanks for the great comments and suggestions. Jerry, you are correct in that I used the wrong terminology (it takes a while for an ole fly fisherman to learn new terms!). I did not mean a "true" pistol grip, but rather confusing it with a trigger on a seat. Regarding the exposed blank reel seats, I have never seen one so for my first casting rod attempt, I had better stick with a conventional grip and seat.
Thanks again all for the help.

Harold, if you like the feel of the pistol grip shape you could always drill the cork grip all the way through and install it and your reelseat any where you want on the blank. I fished a rod back in the early 80s that had the pistol grip shape inorporated into the front of a regular straight cork grip. It wasn't my favorite look but it was comfortable to fish.