I'm planning to build 3 two handed rods for skagit casting. I plan to use recoil stippers and either single or double foot heavy duty recoil snake guides. Do any of you have suggestions on stripper and snake sizes to use for these? I'm not a commercial builder and I don't have the luxury of a supplier close by to eyball the sizes and ensure my connections will pass, so I'm hoping someone can give me suggestions for the following: Rainshadow 13' 7wt, Ranshadow 13'6" 8wt, and a 15' 10/11 wt? I just need stripper and snake sizes; I can figure out the spacing. Thank you,

George

What connections are you having to deal with? Loop to loop? Or just a line to leader knot?

.............

Loop to loop. Factory welded loops in some cases; but I'll also have loops made of 50lb braided mono.

They are in the Batson forum section under recipes. Size is size the line doesn't care which type guide you put it through.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2011 05:27PM by Spencer Phipps.

If you are going REC all the way - I would use #20 stripper on all.

I would use #4 snakes on all. Snakes have about 15-18% more room to pass line / knots due to the "side-door" effect.
If going with s/f - #4 on the #7 and #8; and #5 on the 10/11wt.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2011 05:52PM by Herb Ladenheim.

Hi Spencer,

For Stripper guides, I would start with a size 20 or 16, sort of your personal preference, then step down from there. If you take the recommended guide sizes from Batson's website, here's the 7wt recipe, converted to the recoil sizes (tip to butt guideP

RSNX4
RSNX4
RSNX4
RSNX4
RSNX4
RSNX4 (I add one more here than the Batson Recipe for a 13' rod)
RSNX5
RSNX6
RSG12
RSG16
RSG20

That's 11 guides total for a 13' spey rod. I like the line distribution better with 11 guides than with 10. You can use the same list for the 13 1/2' 8 wt as well and adjust your spacing. For the 15' rod, you probably want to add another running guide. Also, this recipe uses 6 different guide sizes. You can adjust this by stepping down quicker, say from 20 to 12, then 3 ea of the RSNX 6's, then the RSNX4's as your running guides.

I wouldn't use any smaller than a size 4 double foot snake guide as your running guide if you are planning to cast a Skagit line (Rio or Airflo). The bellies are thick and there are a couple of welded loop connections as you mentioned. If you want to replace the double foot guides with single foot, the sizes correspond so again, I wouldn't recommend anything smaller than a size 4 for running guides.

Hope this helps. Shoot me an email if you have more questions.

Terry

old post, but question?

I read a lot about weight and how it is not good to have heavy guides, (especially around the top of the rod). By adding an extra guide, are you not defeating the idea of weight? Thinking about the guide, thread and epoxy.