I was hoping to get some feedback regarding Winthrop roller guides. They are far more expensive than most of the other manufacturers out there. Are their guides worth the extra $? I must say that they look well built based on the photo's I have seen.

I am building a 30lb trolling rod for a family member as a thank you gift and want to go with the best components available but thought I would check to see what you guys had to say prior to dropping $300 on guides.

Here is what I have tentatively decided on so far for the rest of the rod.

Blank: Seeker IGFA-30
Guides: Winthrop Tools, AFTCO, Pac Bay?????
Reel seat: AFTCO Unibut

Any additional comments or suggestions are appreciated. I have built nothing but flyrods up until now. An off-shore trolling rod is a new adventure for me and I really want this rod to be something special.

Thanks in advance.

I have heard good things about Winthrop but have not tried them. I just finished a 6455XH rod with a set of Stuarts and they are nice guides. American roller is another you might want to check out. I wouldn't use the Pac Bays I have heard much about them and they didn't come recomended.
On a rod as light as that # wise you might want to look at a good set of ring guides... maybe Amtaks turbo titanium or stainless. I don't think rollers are needed on rods below 80# IMO.

Thank you for your feedback. I was debating whether or not to stay with rings (spiral wrapped) or go with rollers actually. He likes to chase tarpon in the Boca Grande area of Florida but mainly goes after dolphin. My though process was to build him a rod that would stand up to a 100+lb tarpon but still be light enough to have fun with the 20-40lb dolphin they go after down in the keys. I was thinking the rollers would help the line hold up during a big tarpon's run but maybe I am going overkill a bit. Or.....should I be considering a heavier blank?

Again, trolling rods are new to me and I want to do this right. All feed back is appreciated.

I would go with the pac bay eliminator jnr or the stuarts both work well under load (IMHO look better too) save the money stick it in with a stuart tuffbutt or their bent butt or short straight and you got a very nice rod

Before making any other comment, I would ask if he plans to do this sort of fishing from a chair? Are we talking about trolling?

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More great feed back, thanks. I will check out your recommendations, especially the Stuart tuffbutt. I am not familiar with that one.

How do you guys like my choice for blanks? John you said you just finished up 6455 which is a Super Seeker right? Do you like them better than the IGFA series?

Thanks, sorry for all of the questions.

Hi Tom,

Wow, thanks for posting. I am honored. I am having fun going through all of my old Rodmaker magazines looking for ideas for this rod.

This will be primarily a trolling rod. When they fish in the keys it is usually about 30 mi out. They trail tube baits on the surface looking for debris in the water or birds. Once he hooks up he fights standing up with a gimbal belt for the larger fish. Although dolphin are the primary target they also land sailfish and cobia now and then depending on the time of year.

Tarpon in Boca Grande are normally jigged or caught with live pin fish or blue crabs. In that case the rod would be hand held while drifting through the Boca Grande pass.

I hope this helps. Thanks again for your assistance everyone!

If he's going to fight the fish standing up, you do not want an IGFA type trolling rod.

Not sure you want a short stand-up rod exactly but a chair type rod isn't likely to work well for what you have in mind.

Go through Volume 5 #6 on the article for stand-up rods and get an idea of what might work best for use in a harness. From there I think you can make a better selection.

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Keep in mind that many people down here catch tarpon bigger than that on fly rods with snake guides. So rollers do not have to be used..

Thanks Tom,

I will read that article tonight. I know you have to be vendor neutral but if anyone else has any suggestions for blanks for the type of fishing I have described please feel free to make a suggestion. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.

Without fully knowing exactly what he's going to be doing, I still have a feeling that what you should be after is 6'6 to 7' rod with a lighter tip, that can be trolled or cast but used to fight the fish in a hand-held fashion.

A chair type trolling rod is out of the question and a true stand-up type rod would whip these poor fish in mere minutes (maybe that's what he wants). I just have a suspicion that what amounts to a powerful, fast action casting/spinning type rod blank is going to be more in tune with what he's doing.

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I have been doing a lot of research lately to build a stand up 50 class rod. It will be used for Bluefin Tuna in the 150 to 300+ pound range. I have decided to go with a Calstar Grafighter blank, Aftco Unibutt (size 2), Aftco HD roller guides and top. My research has shown me there is no reason to stray from the industry standard, Aftco. As for the blank, it is either Calstar or Seeker that get the most reviews as the go to companies.

For you application you could do all rollers or do rollers for the stripper guide and top and then turbo guides in between. The Winthrop Tools guides are very nice. They are your Mercedes or Lexus. The Aftcos are going to work just as well. They are your Toyota or honda. I personally didn't care for the Pac Bay stuff. Didn't look and feel as heavy duty for saltwater applications. Plus when something needs replacing on the guides getting Aftco parts is simple.

Another thing to consider is the length of the butt (and straight or curved), fore grip and overall rod. I have a rod for Tarpon that is 8 feet long and rated 20-50. This stand up rod is going to be 6 feet long and rated 40-100. Two completely different species so very different gear needed. I don't know how similar Dolphin are to Tarpon so I don't know if the same rod and reel could be used on both effectively or enjoyably.

If you are fishing the big boca grande tarpon, and want to whip them in minutes before the sharks eat em, you will want heavy stand up tackle.

Stand up tackle for dolphin of any size really is overkill and you will end up with an angler gaffing a green fish at the boat who will then go nuts inside the boat.

If you want a true fight with the silver king or dolphin, you will want as tom said a 6.5-7ft fast to moderate fast action rod with either lightweight rollers or SiC ring guides. I dont see a reason for using anything above the lightweight rollers in this scenario. The reason being, is that generally most anglers do not use the drag to their advantage on 30# class line. How it should be done is start at 25-30% breaking strength, play the fish out, and as the fish wears out, increase drag, up to 50-60% of breaking strength. This will not only break the will of the fish, but also bring him to hte boat faster. Most people (any I'm guilty of this as well more often than not) leave the drag alone and play the fish out the whole time under the same amount of drag.

This is all outstanding advice. Thank you!

Based on all of your recommendations I did some more research last night and am likely going to change my game plan. I know that it is not necessarily designed for trolling but the Seeker II Blue Lightning inshore series blank sounds like a solid option for what you have all described. Specifically they have a 7' 20-30lb rated blank that sounds very nice. I was thinking about going with the American Tackle Ti boat guides spiral wrapped and a perfection or aftco aluminum reel seat and EVA rear and foregrips. I may go with a fuji gimbal with a cover or may just go with a standard butt cap. The blank sounds like it will have the perfect action and the blue color sounds very nice as well. I was thinking about doing a thread wrap or weave in the yellow/green/blue colors that dolphin have and a blue blank could set that off quite nicely I would think.

Any more feedback or does this sound like a better direction to be going in?

I think you're headed in a better direction now.

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Thanks Tom,

Do you or anyone else have any experience with this blank series?

I dont have the ability to play with these in person so my decision making will be based on what I read and the recommendations of people on this board. I know enough about fly rods to buy with confidence on line but I am not as familiar with these types of blanks.

Hi Marc,

Saw that you mentioned the American Tackle ring guides, good choice! Honestly, I think the titanium turbo guides you picked are outstanding for this project (NITR's if that was what you had in mind) light weight and flexible enough to be used on light rods but heavy duty enough to handle any hardcore battle with an unlimited line size capacity. For a 30# rod I would go toward the smaller sizes if possible.

As for the blank, you might try giving Seeker a call for their recomendation. I like the Super Seekers myself and would probably go with a 7' model. Maybe SS-CJB70F 20-30# or maybe a SS-CJB70M 25-40#.

Best Regards,

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company