I've been thinking about building a couple of new downrigger rods with mooching reels. Am I looking for the same rod blank properties that I use on DR rods for levelwind reels? Do you start with double foot casting guides and then go to F guides, or do you start with higher-frame spinning guides? Also, what am I aiming at for the fore grip on a mooching rod? I use gimbals on my spiral DR rods, but do you need them on a mooching reel setup? I've never seen a downrigger mooching rod setup in person, any advice would really be appreciated.
Thanks,
Tom White

I like spiral wrapped rods for anything I'm going to troll, downrigger or not. I use regular casting guides for my butt guides then immediately go underneath with low frame dbl or sf guides.

Spiral wrapped rods won't spin on you while trolling. But, unloaded the reel can flop a bit. You might consider the softer rubber gimbals that Fuji offers just to keep the reel in place while moving from spot to spot. If you remove the rods and stick the butt in your gut, they don't hurt like the sharper and harder metal gimbals do.

Beyond that, I have very little experience with mooching type reels. I can't really advise you on those.

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

Use the same guides you use on your other downrigger rods for the mooching reel rod, your first guide will be a litttle further up on the blank like a spinning rod because of the long foregrip.

Spencer,
How long of a foregrip is practical on a mooching rod?
Thanks,
Tom White

Been a while since I built a canadian style moocher. I used a 6 inch rear and 12 inch foregrip on my last ones. The new switch rod foregrip with accent rings from Batson would be the correct length and a nice looking grip. I believe the new grip part # is SW 1175-300.