I built some new sailfish rods for a customer with Alps guides. They were the same length as his other "favorite" rod which had older chrome boat rod guides. There was such a difference in friction between the 2 systems that he had to increase the drag setting substantially on the new rod to achieve his 12 lb setting.

The length of the rod has little impact to the drag setting, but the number and style of guides add friction and drag, depending on the guide surface.

Terry

I was recently playing around with testing drags and found some interesting results. Rod guides added 15% to the reel's drag. Didn't matter if the guides were 7+1 Fuji SiC or 4+1 Aftco rollers, 15% more when the line was on the guides as compared to straight off the reel. The SiC guides were wiped down and checked for any knicks. The rollers had been disassembled, cleaned, lubed, reassembled and wiped down. I believe the line plays a major role in the equation as well. I was testing with 80# mono. Now that I think of it, I will re-test with the 60# spectra that is underneath the mono. Also, don't forget an empty spool is going to have twice as much drag as a full one. Or is it 4x at empty and 2x at half? I forget.

That's interesting. I wonder if the 15% is a constant for that line or if all rods would be about 15%. I'd be interested to know how you make out with the other line.

Patrick Rutledge