All,

Am planning to build my first casting rod, 7' long, 8-12# line, fast action, light power, for inshore conditions. Reel is undecided as of yet.

Will use AmTak Titan NIC's or NIRLC's, with a revolver style guide placement. Can anyone give me a recommendation as to guide sizes to use from butt to tip? Also, is there a problem using fly guides, that is Titan NIF's, near the tip?

Additionally, any recommendations for reel seat for such a rod?

Thanks. Haven't been following the board lately -- this retirement lifestyle takes a whole lot more time than I thought it would!

Bilgee

For the reel seat I would go with an exposed blank seat either a Fuji or Batson, both exellent reats. A good choice in reels is the Shimano Castaic. If money is no problem then the Curado SF or one of the Chronarchs can't be beat. At least those are the favorites on the Texas Gulf Coast but the Castaic is supposed to be as good as the older model Curados and cheaper than the new Curados. I would not go any bigger than a size 12 as the first guide from the reel seat. I would have to put that blank in a stress position to tell you what other guides to use. I do use fly guides after the first two guides. I like a 9 inch rear grip on a 7 foot casting rod. I have big hands and that allows me plenty of room for two handed casting especially on a windy day.

If you're using revolver guide placement, wouldn't you also have the recommended guides and spacing? It's all in Rich Forhan's articles in RodMaker. Another web source would be the George's Custom Rod website in the articles there.

I'm having to rely on my memory, but I think that I rely on 5 or 6's (fly guides). The rest of the guides are dependent upon the reel for me. I try to use the smallest guides I can get away with. I usually start with a 12 then 10, 8 and 6.