My brother in law asked me to build a 9 foot 9 WT fly rod. I have built only spinning and casting rods - no fly rods. This will be my first fly rod.

I purchased an All Star Elite 2 piece blank, and have the reel seat and handle in place. I spent a fair amount of time researching fly rod guide sizes and placement. What I came up with was the following:

Stripper Guide - 14 double foot - 80 1/2" from tip
Tamer guide 12 double foot -75 1/2" from tip
Dont know name 10 double foot - - 66 78" from tip
Fly guide - size 7 ceramic - at 56 1/2", 46 7/8", 38", 29 13/16", 22 3/8", 15 11/16", 9 11/16", and 4 1/2"

I was going to use Fuji Alconites, but one author suggested Batson would be better as they are slightly higher profile. I am trying to keep the cost down, so TiCH is out of the question. I am open to other suggestions.

Does this layout seem OK?

I laid this spacing out last night and one of the guides goes right at the very end of the female part of the ferrule. Should I move it toward the tip or back toward the butt? Also can I wrap it on the female ferrule as part of the ferrule wrap. I plan to static test the rod, but would like to at least have a starting point.

I appreciate any help you can give me.

Thanks in advance
Bert

My only suggestion would be about the stripper guide. I usually place the guide the length of the forward reach of the user. A relaxed length but with elbow extended.

I'd use 16 - 10 and then all 7's to the tip. I'd set the stripper about 32 inches from the butt.

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

I second Tom's setup. I've found that on 7-8-9 weight rods, a size 16 stripper is good. For 10 and 11 weights, I like a 20 (a 20 would probably work on bigger fly rods, but I've never built one bigger than an 11-weight, so I don't have firsthand experience there). Just about any double-footed guide will work, including the Batson or the Fuji Alconites. Don't tear yourself in knots over this; either will work, and the differences between them, for this application at least, are very, very small. One thing that has worked well for me is to use high-frame spinning guides (SVSG-style) for the stripper guide and the next one or two guides, then switching over to ceramic single-foot fly guides the rest of the way up the rod. A lot of guys use casting guides here, but I've come to think the spinners work better here.

From the stripper, reduce the guides as fast as you can to your running guides. One other thing I'd suggest is confirming that size 7s are going to be big enough to pass whatever knots/loops/leaders through your guides. 7s should be OK for this, but it's much better to confirm before you wrap than to find out afterward.

And I'll offer one other bit of unsolicited advice: don't beat yourself up too much over this, or worry too much about configuring the rod. For my money, configuring the guides on a fly rod is much, much, much easier than doing so on a spinner or a convench rod. Once you get the right-sized stripper, and put it in a good spot, the rest of it's really a piece of cake. Take your time and you'll do fine. Good luck.