I'm getting ready to build a St. Croix 5C70MHF rod and was considering going micro guide. I haven't done one before. I would appreciated any suggestions on guide sizes, spacing, and any other tips.

Thanks,
Ron Greenbank

Fairly heavy blank. Intended as a jig rod or a swimbait rod?

Size 4 Micros sit low to the rod. To keep the line off the blank may require additional guides with a traditional build. Consider using a spiral and making all your under guides 4's. Use an 8 on top and one or more 5's for the transition/bumper.

Ron,

I'm assuming you are building a bass rod or inshore type rod. If not, please correct me, as things may change a bit. For a casting build, use a static test and put the guides where they need to be. It's really that simple. When working with micros, if you try to keep the line off the blank, you'll end up with way more guides than you need. I tend to space them so the line touches the blank between the guides. If the line dips below and twangs like a guitar string when you rotate the rod, the gap is too large.

For a conventional build, one size of guides will work great. If you actually using a fore grip or grabbing the line for flipping, you may want to go to a bit larger butt guide.

For a spiral, I typically start with a double foot 6mm guide and use single foot fly 5mm and 4mm in the transition and go to the smallest guides I plan to use. Again, pay consideration to the fore grip or grabbing the line if need be.

If the build is a spinning rod, follow the NGC and use micros as your running guides. The only modification I use is to put a 5mm guide at the choker position and then on to my smallest running guides.

Joe

Completed my 1st teo rods with a combo of Fuji micro guides and Fuji Alconite spinning butt guides(2-3).
Looks sweet and casts great.
Kudos to Tom K. for publishing ROD-BUILDING GUIDE !

Ron;
1-what do you intend to do with this rod (types of techniques)?
2-What size and types of lines do you intend to use?
3- What are you looking t o catch with it?
4- How rough are you on your equipment?

Hi Ron,
If you've got big bumble fingers like me your going to drop a few guides and maybe loose the little critters. I found tying a piece of thread to the guide ring and taping it to the rod or work bence helped me out considerably.
Steve Gardner is a guru with micros so I'd be answering his questions and taking note of the answers.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

I would echo the spiral wrap suggestions. I have no idea whether line touching the blank under stress is that bad of a thing or not for bass rods. I just know it's been said over and over again not to let it happen and you can do a spiral with micros and not need any additional guides to make that happen. Every bass rod I make for myself is spiral wrapped with micros. It has zero negative effect on the rod as far as I can tell and feels lighter and more sensitive in my hands. The non-torque aspect may not have a big advantage on bass rods (though I'm sure it does chunking an A-rig, DD-22, or any other high resistance bait all day), but I see no reason not to do it. I too would reccommend that you spiral the micros.

I'll be using it for bass fishing. Mostly jigs and small swimbaits. 8-12lb. line. I'm not rough on my equipment.

Ron