I have two projects coming up and need a little help. My first project is a vertical jigging rod 5'8" line weight to 150# and will be fished with 80lb braid. It will be spiral wrappped. It will have the new Boss reel on it and will be pulling some serious drag. Does anyone have any suggestions on guides? How large should the butt guide be to keep the line of the anglers hand? Has anyone spiral wrapped any of the blanks have suggestions on spacing and guide sizes to start with ?

Second is, do you think the Batson XN guide will hold up to 35lbs of drag when wrapped under the blank spinning rod style?

Thanks all!

For this purpose, no smaller butt guide than a 16. Occasionally I have to bump it to a 20, but generally a 16 gets the job done well, and I wouldnt recommend going any smaller than size 10s for running guides as you will inevitably end up with a knot somewhere that wants to pass easily and quickly.

I have found the Fuji MNSG's to be perfect in both weight and durability for this task also. I have a couple rods I am buildling for a customer with American Tackles new Virtus series, which I believe are on par with the Fuji MNSGs, except maybe just a little bit lighter in weight.

Those guides are light for that. You need to use the beefiest guides they make if you want to have a insert ring type of guides. The ST look like they may work. Those Virtus guides Sean mentioned are strong too, carefull theres are two different types a light and heavy series. Designated by VH and VL at the end of the model number.

Contact Mike Pederson at Riley Rods. His site is to the left. He is the GURU on Vertical jigging!!! He will answer any question that you can come up with because he has done it!!

Kevin

I love the Virtus heavy guides too (they say they are rated for 50-80 but I'm not sure when put under tension on a spiral wrapped rod - I did use them on a 20-50lb 8-foot Calstar Grafighter spiral wrapped and love them) , but for that heavy of an application I would go with boat rod guides Fuji BULG or American Tackle BBLG. Just my opinion. They are definitely heavier. They also make them with the titanium nitride gold ring BGSG. I guess if it's one of those small diameter jigging blanks the boat guides may not work. If that's the case I'd go with the Virtus heavy.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2009 01:21PM by Mike Hudkins.

Your project is the same class level as my current project. I am building a Jigging Master 500g in spiral for big dogtooth tuna for use with an Accurate B2-30. I built my first spiral a couple of years ago on a Jigging Master 400g and love it. The spiral configuration I found great for vertical jigging and really reduces fatigue for me as well as eradicating that infernal fouling of the braid at the tip. I would suggest as Tom Kirkman suggested to me that the simple spiral configuration will be most suitable, if for no other reason than the lack of length available for a slower transition. For this same reason you may find that you have to bring the stripper guide back closer to the reel seat, especially if the blank is slow actioned. I used a 20mm stripper, followed by a 10mm bumper, a 12mm 1st 180 degree followed by 10mm's for the remainder. The fuji MNSG series are easily capable of handling 40lbs of drag as many spinning set ups have attested to and survived. I like the Alps 316 models too,and they are a lightle higher stand off than the Fuji models. AmTak Titanium "Virtus" guides look promising, but I have not handled them yet. I would also recomend that you test the guides spacing on a 90 degree deflection with your chosen drag setting.

Like Earl, I use a simple spiral (almost anyways, 3` and 177` for right turns and 357`/183` for left) 10" apart give or take an inch. I've used ALPS XN's and Fuji MNSG's and they are fine but I prefer The Fuji SiN Concept's with a 'Casting' SiN for the bumper (lower profile) . They are indestructible and hold up to angler abuse as well as the long trips to and from the deep water. Like Neal also said the first guide gets real close to the reel seat [www.rodbuilding.org] and the height of the size 20 keeps you from getting your fingers sliced off from screaming braid. I use size 8 runners for rods under 200g and size 10 for over. If your braid/mono knot can't run through a size 8 you need to find a better knot. I also agree with guide placement while loaded these rods are not for casting just straight drops.

Earl, if you like the JM's you'll really like my TT's, lighter and thinner and better jig action. The JM500 is a telephone pole and way over priced (actually over marked-up).

Riley Rods-Hard Core Grips to Go!-----Carbon Fiber - Composite Grip Store-----Capt Mike's Blog-----No Excuses Fishing Charters



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2009 09:41AM by Mike Pedersen.

Hi Mike,
I'd love to try your TT's out, they look interesting, and the name of "Thor Thunder" is great. I get the JM's because they are available here in the region with a good deal of backup from a very enthusiastic team, and they have also proven reliable. We fish in quite deep water here in the Philippines, often at 600 feet or more, and the JM's were designed by the Taiwanese who fish the same type of waters.
I'd also agree with you on the Fuji Silicone Nitride II's, they are virtualy indestructable and will take a bashing better than the MNSg Fuji's, so certainly they'd be a viable option.