Hi,
Has anyone built a TFO BVK 9' 7wt fly rod using SF guides and how do you like the results?
Thinking about using a Struble U-15HF reel seat, full wells Grip, PacBay N 16-12 strippers, Minima 4 size 6 guides.
What did you use?

Reel seat:

Strippers size and brand:

Guides size and brand (ceramic or not):

Did you taper or go with one size:

Thank you for your replies,
Ron

depending on your knot/leader connections you should be able to go a size or 2 smaller in the minimas for your running guides and get rid of the 16 stripper. you may need one more than 6 runners depending on that rod. you can figure that out when you test it. the minima opening is slightly bigger than a normal ceramic

would a BVK 5wt 8'6 help?

I recently built the BVK as my 2nd fly rod.. haven't casted it yet as i am waiting for 72-120 hr curing period for the finish..

I built it up with REC RSFX1 x 5, RSFX2 x 3, RSNX4 x 1 & RSG12 x 1 as stripper. Tip was a REC RTTUL-S 4.5 (though recommended size was 4, it was a tight fit and light sanding of the paint on the tip did nothing). Total of 11 guides including tip.

Reel seat was a PacBay Channel CL7RC-T (I might be using this mainly in saltwater, so I didn't want to use any wood inserts, like I did with my TFO Finesse 2 wt)

-
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day..
Teach a man to fish, he'll be broke!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2012 10:08PM by Christopher Tan.

I'm going to give you another non-response to your actual question because the BVK I just finished was an 8 wt and I used REC snakes instead of single-foots. I can comment on the Struble U15-HF. It is super nice and the green one looks sharp with a carbon fiber grip (Thanks to Dick Ross) and metalic green trim on black wraps. It is very slim. Slimmer even than the seats on most of my trout rods. The reel foot on my 8 wt reel wouldn't fit in the hoods but the company sent me a new foot with a tighter radius on the bottom of the foot and it solved the problem. My other higher-end reels fit no problem. I haven't even cast the rod yet but will this week before I head to the Bahamas next week to give it a real workout.

If you aren't worried about getting into your backing then the smallest guides and tip-tops are practical, except if you use 12' or longer leaders where a nail knot could get pivoted sideways in the guide train and pop a tippet. The connection between fly line / shooting head and backing / running line would be a concern for me. Some hefty, long-running fish have been landed on 7 wt. rods and there is the possibility of a broken leader caused by a line twist or a nail knot or even a spliced loop jamming up even for a moment in a too-small guide train. Snake guides will allow larger obstructions to pass through them than ring guides of equal diameter, and I believe Recoil snake guides are lighter than minima guides with an equal opening. Single-foot Recoil ring guides weigh less than minima guides of substantially smaller diameter, and Recoil guides will NOT corrode, nor do they have inserts that pop out or crack.