Aftco makes a lightweight series of roller guides and tip tops in the 2-30 lb catagory and they are not really all that expensive. The guides come in sf design from size #1 through #5 and the #6 is a df guide.

If I wanted to make a trolling rod for Salmon fishing from a boat on the Great Lakes, what guide sizes would make a suitable setup for an 8' ? I assume the #6 df guide would serve as the butt guide. I understand if all guides were on top, the line would go over the top of the roller. But if I made this a spiral wrap, is there room for the line to go on the other side of the roller if placed under the rod without interferring with the guide frame? I can't quite tell on the pictures. Thanks.

No you cannot use those guides in a spiral wrap.

You can not make a spiral wrapped rod with AFTCO lightweight roller guides. The only roller guides that will work with spiral wrap, are made by All American Guides, who are listed on the left as a sponsor of RodBuilding.org

Rena

Thanks guys, I just searched more and found that out - the All American @#$%& guides are a bit too heavy for the blank I intend to use so I guess I'll be using Alconites instead. Thanks.

If you decide to build with the Aftco lightweight guides make sure you get the blank diameter at the location of each guides. The feet are rounded and the only fit a range of blank diameters.

As a secondary question to these guides, has anyone actually tested the strength of them? While, I realize they are rated to only 30# line (to me thats light in many applications) would using 40 or 50 pound braided line be too much of a strain on these guides?

Thanks for the tip Scott, but how exactly would I accomplish that ? Do I order one of every different size, then static test the blank, fit the correct sizes to the areas on the blank where a guide falls and then reorder more of the right size guides? That seems like a Catch-22 to me unless there's an easier way that I'm missing. Thanks.

Stumbling around the Interent I found what blank diamters each of these guides fit.

L1 -.075 - .100, L2 -.100-.140, L2.5 - .140-.170, L3 - .170-.210, L4 thru L6 - >.210.

So I assume I could static test the blank using a similar height gude, measure the blank diameters for those areas, and order guides that will fit into those ranges. My only concern would be the possibility of "roller coaster" guide heights based on what fits on specific areas of the blank rather than a smooth guide height arrangement.