HI ALL,
1 ) Is there a formula for picking guide size for bait casting rod ? As an example use a 6' to 8' Bass/Musky/Pike blank.

2 ) How about a surf rod, over 10' up to 13' w/casting reel

3 ) Would a "bumper - spiral" wrap make much of a difference, besides maybe less guides on upper half of rod ?

Thanks, Dave
PRRODS

Well for crankbait rods, I am now using all micro guides on the Castaway 8 foot blank. Guide size still depends on what is going to pass through them. If you have knots you have to consider them.

There are 3 things that set the size of the size of the guides on a casting rod.

For butt guide:
1. Need for line clearance, either for keeping the line off of your hand on the foregrip, for grabbing the line while flipping, or for getting the best transition in a spiral wrap.
2. Width of the reel spool. On wide arbor spools, it may be necessary to use a larger guide to prevent sharper than necessary angles when the line passes through the butt guide.
Guide frame style and ring size can make a difference here as well.

For the running guides:
3. Do any connections need to pass through the guides?
Here use the smallest, lowest frame, lightest guides that will get the job done.

If you use guides that fit those requirements, regardless of application, and do a static test to position the guides along with a little test casting, you should have a rod that performs quite well.