I am about to assemble a St. Croix Imperial 6', 2 piece, 2 weight fly rod (nice quality/deep burgundy blank). I wish to use light wire single foot guides instead of light weight double foot guides.

Here is the spacing chart that St. Croix recommends for their Imperial 6', 2 piece, 2 weight fly rod that they build using light wire double foot guides:

Tip 3.5
4.5" 1
9.5" 1
15.0" 1
21.5" 2
29.0" 2
38.0" 3
48.5" 10

My questions are as follows:

Would I use the same corresponding size light wire single foot guides to the light wire double foot guides listed above? (I re-iterate light wire because there is a big difference in single foot guide wire diameter sizes when you are trying to build on such a small diameter blank. I originally ordered the regular Batson and Pac Bay guides for this 2 weight rod and they seem too bulky and heavy when laying them out on the blank)

Does anyone else make a light wire single foot guide other than Batson/ALPS. I am considering RECOIL guides, but they seem a bit pricey and I do not know how their light duty/freshwater RSF single foot guides compare in size and weight to the Batson/ALPS LWHSFGP series?

I would greatly appreciate anyone's expertise on this matter when it comes to light weight fly rod building. Thanks!

Any spacing chart is a starting point. I don't like Recoils myself your choice. I would use single foot wire chrome guides First from the tip I would put it 3 - 3.5. Tip protection. marking where the handle will be hold it and act as if you are going to grab line then put the butt guide maybe one or two inches above that, make it to your liking. ' rod 6-7 guides. A static test and test casting will tell you more.

I would go with a 10-12 ceramic stripper - a high frame may work well depending on the reel and line path.

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/2010 02:33PM by bill boettcher.

I build my 2wts as follows:

Stripper: 1 XLXNL 10 followed by 2 #4 LWHSFGP and 4 #3 LWHSFGP Batson guides. These are light wire chrome. I prefer the Batson single foot because they are so well finished I have to do very little dressing to the feet.

They have tip tops to match.

To avoid any confusion, single foot and double foot size numbers are not comparable.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/05/2010 06:30PM by Phil Erickson.

Peter,
The guide sizes and spacing posted by St Croix are quite capable of being utilized as stands.
Guide sizes between single and double foot are very similar.
I would suggest using light wire Titanium guides for the top 2 or 3 guides to keep guide train inertia from overcoming the blank. You'd like to feel the line rather than the blank and you don't have a lot of line weight to begin with.
My personal choice for guide size and spacing would be as follows.
Distance from tip inches, guide size and type
4.1 in. #1 single foot light titanium; 8.9 in. #1 single foot light titanium; 14.7 in. #1 single foot light titanium; 21.5 in. #2 double foot snake; 29.7 in. #2 double foot snake; 39.4 in. #3 double foot snake; 50.9 in. #10 double foot alox.

If you'd like to push the envelope and reduce the inertia further you could opt for a 6 guide set-up as follows. If you cast light tippets or want very quick damping.
4.6 in. #1 single foot light titanium; 10.3 in. #1 single foot light titanium; 17.5 in. #2 double foot light titanium; 26.3 in. #2 double foot snake; 37.3 in. #3 double foot snake; 50.9 in. #10 double foot alox.

Be forewarned the titanium guides can be noisier than traditional but the reduced inertia is worth the price in my book. Better feel, lighter stroke, quicker response.

Eugene Moore

Leave out the intermediate sizes and you'll reduce weight and inertia even more. You only need 2 different guide sizes on that rod, the stripping guide and then all the same size running guides. This will also provide a much straighter line path than if you use a host of different sizes.

Using a host of different size guides is for the human eye, not the line.

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Tom,

Thanks for your input, I would like to use the Batson/ALPS light wire single foot guides and a double foot stripping guide. This particular St. Croix blank takes a 3.5 tip top. What size SF guides and stripper would you recommend?

I'd use a high frame spinning style size 10 followed by # 1 single foot wire guides all the out.

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