Hello.

I have a question. I am experimenting with a rod build. Now I have been around reading a long time but am very short on actual practical experience. I have a spare 10' two piece full flex 3wt rod blank. A person from down under said you need a lot of flex in a two handed rod. So I decided to make my 3wt a spey. He said it could be done. He refers to it and the wee TS ....wee trout spey. I have had some custom work done on it for me. Now I am ready to add guides. On a normal rod up to maybe 7wt I prefer single foot small undersized guides. I use Fuji Alconite BLAG #6. Now I have built some flexibility into this rod just for fun. I can disconnect it and add an 8" slip on slip ring grip and fish it in tight quarters as a 5wt...fly rod...or hang an open face spinning reel on it and fish various ways. From lure casting to even flies. I can remove the 8" grip and put the ten foot rod back together. Now the permanent grip is a 12" with a 1" diameter cork grip with slip rings and a removable fighting butt. So in this case I can fish it again...as a single hand rod...with a fly reel on it or a spinning reel. I can remove the fighting butt and add another 12" seamless cork extension....so the slip rings now have a full 24" of grip to slide up and down on. So now I can place a reel anywhere I want to on the rod and fish....again as a fly or spinning rod. But....the idea is to play with it as a two handed rod. I have learned that spey rod designations do not correlate straight across to single hand rods. BTW this rod is for inland trout...stream/ponds/lakes.

Anyway, sorry for the above lengthy explanation. The real question is can I still use single foot guides...similar to the Fuji's or do I need stronger ones with side supports?

Biggest question is what size guides should I put on it? I am not familiar with the diameter of Skagit heads, Scandi heads, Spey lines, or the size of guides I must have to pass those lines....and the associated knots they will have.

Any suggestions would be extremely appreciated. I have no idea what size to use...I just know I like small and I like single foot. But too small and it wouldn't even handle a skagit head.

Asking for a little help please.

Thanks in advance.

Jim

Just use the 6'syou normally use and it will be fine. I put Forhan locking wraps on my spey/switch rods and have never had a problem. Make sure your finish gets into the tunnel so it produces a "shoulder" on each side of the guide foot. The problem with spey casting is your not arializing the full line to load the rod. When you make the D loop there can be an awfull lot of line left sitting on the water that doesnt help you in any way to load the rod. You will just have to experiment to find what line casts best. BTW I have an 11 foot "4" and It casts best with an AFTMA 8 double taper.

Scott,
Thank loads for the info. I am quite surprised I can use the Fuji Alconite Blag 6's. I thought the skagit and spey lines had much larger diameters.
Appreciate the info. Especially the info on the line that works well with you 11" 4. I happen to have a 10' 4wt blank I intend to add a one foot extension and build it into a two hander...as well as a 10.5' five wt. So the info on the line that works well on your 11' four is most helpful to me.
thanks for the info.

You may end up building your own spey line for your WTS. Most of the off the shelf versions start at 5 wt and up, maybe too much for your 3 wt rod. However, with a little crafting, it shouldn't be too hard to make up a Wee Spey Line for your rod. You can start with a WF 3 wt line and add some interchangeable tips as is done on a Rio Windcutter line. Probably a floating, intermediate and a type II or III sink would be all you need. Or, you could just try spey casting the 3 WF line and see what the performance is like. It sounds like a fun experiment though.

If you go the interchangeable route, you will probably need to step up to #7 guides to pass the connections. If you don't, you can stay with 6's. I would use the SF wire frame guides, either regular fly guides or recoils for weight and extra ring opening though.

Keep us posted on this project.

Terry

Terry, thanks for your information as well. More good info and learning for me. I would prefer the changing heads. I like to have a floater, a sink tip, an intermediate sink, and a full sink on my rods.

The guide size is my concern. I am not sure anyone has picked up on it but I am not talking a typical wire snake size #6. The ceramic Fuji Alconite SF is a lot smaller. Hang one....I am going to go find one and measure the ID.
Blag #10 = .28 ID
8 = .22
7 = .18
6 = .15

I understand skagit heads are heavier and therefore must have much larger diameters than single hand fly lines. Thus my concern. I would want this rod to pass almost any skagit head and knot....and a single fly line up to even a 10wt DP. Because I have no idea what line will make the rod work. You think maybe all ceramic SF #10's be good to go with? I use the same size from stripper to tip...and even the tip is the same SF. So it is important for me to get the right size.

I have 3 other blanks I am going to do this to just for fun. So learning a lot on this one. I just don't have experience, or any skagit, scandi, or spey lines. So I don't know how big to go to cover my guide needs.

Look into the Pac Bay Minima Guides. Their size 5's have at least as much clearance as the Fuji #6 Alconites, and weigh about one third as much.

I second the vote for Pac Bay Minimas. Their 6 is the same size opening as anyone else's sz 8 ceramic, but considrably lighter. And I would opt for the sz 6 MInima, instead of the 5. It just seems to pass the loop to loop connections a little better, IMO.