For a simple spiral bumper on a 7'bass rod is it better to use a #6 Hardloy casting guide or a #6 Hardloy fly guide. My steup is #10 casting stripper, bumper, #8 casting 180 guide and #6 fly to the tip, all Hardloy.. The fly guide holds the line a little closer to the blank, but the casting guide will be much more durable.

Andy:

I've recently built 2 such rods & have used #8 fly guide with a forhan wrap. They really cast well. In fact they seem to cast better than the tradional method of wrapping a bait casting rod.

Hope this helps.

Mike

If you are taking these rods out of a rodlocker on a bass bat without placing them in sleeves - a spiral wrap rod you need to take care and rotate the rod when removing to keep it from hitting on any internal bracing in the rodlocker. Most will just jerk the rods out and those are the guides that will recieve most of the abuse. I typically use three double foot guides until I get to bottom just do they will not get damaged when the rods are pulled out of the rodlocker. I use Fuji Alconites which are low.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2008 04:48PM by Bill Stevens.

It really doesn't matter whether you use a single or double foot. At that location on the blank any weight difference won't amount to a hill of beans and if the double foot guide will be more durable for you then I'd go that way.

Remember that you can reshape the frame on the casting guide to get it nearly as low as the fly type single foot guide.

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

I agree with Bill in the use of double footed guides until you get to the bottom of the rod for durability.

Take care
Roger

I have started using 3mm micro guides for the bumper. That puts the line as close to the blank as possible, and the guide is so small that it ends up being very durable since it is less likely to get hung up in the first place. I really like how my latest system works even though it is a bit different than what many people are doing, 6mm double foot stripper, 3mm micro bumper, 5mm single foot first 180º, and 3mm micros the rest of the way including the tip.

I went ahead and used the 6mm double foot bumper. thanks for all the replies