Hey Guys,

I am building a Batson RX6 9 foot 5 weight 4 piece rod and had a couple of questions.

On the Batson Website they recommend using Single foot Guides- I think that I would prefer to use the snake guides.

Guide sizing that they recommend is using four size 3 guides and four size 4 guides (All in Single Foot), what size guides would I use if I were to get Snake Guides?

Is there a good reason to use the single foot guides?

Also, any recommendations on color of thread to go with the blue blank? I want to use accent wraps and was thinking of a silver or white accent wrap to whatever main color I use.

Anybody have any pictures of one of these that they have finished?

Thanks for any help,

Josh

The single foot guides are lighter, plus reduce weight even more through only having one wrap and finish on each guide. Less weight makes the rod more efficient - it will react and recover more quickly. Obviously, this difference will be slight in your case.

Regardless of which one you choose, drop all the different guide sizes. For instance, if Batson's chart recommends both 3's and 4's, you can drop the 4's and just use 3's on out. This will give you a straighter line path and a further reduction in weight.

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

And for 5 weight size 2 give ample room (no needs to use bigger for me).

like Tom I would use single foot #3's all the way

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Super Tight Lines......Don

It's a 5 weight and you can use what you like. I tend to use singles for 5 and down, and snakes above that. It's just a bias, and plenty of guys use singles on heavy fly rods.

Snakes are tougher, and hold up better to rough handling.

Singles are lighter and easier to wrap.

If you are not too hard on your gear the singles are great and what I would use on a 5 weight, though I would use size 2s not 3s.

The Batson Snakes and singles are well made. If you are not picky about color, the stainless chrome ones are only about $1 each, so it's hard to go wrong.

Good luck.

Drew

I just finished one with single foots. I wrapped in a Royal blue tipped in sliver then finished with flex coat without a CP. the wraps sort of blended right in with just the trim showing.

Personally, I like single foots and I use the Batson single foots pretty regularly. Snakes will be fine to, just one more wrap for each guide. I usually use a #12 double foot stripper, followed by a #10 of the same style as the stripper, then #3's the rest of the way out on a 9ft 5wt. #2's would also work, just a bit small for my taste.

Thread, I have done several RX6 blanks and a couple of other brands that are Blue. Navy Blue with either red, silver or gold Metallic looks pretty cool. Dark Green with Silver Metallic will also look sharp, Thomas and Thomas used this combo on some of their rods that were Blue. Garnet will also work. I don't use color preserver on my builds unless the customer wants the Regular Nylon thread to look the same as it sits on the spool. Without color preserver it will go a couple of shades darker. For example the Dark Green (Fishhawk brand) with Silver Metallic on a Gloss Blue will look almost black without color preserver until you get it out into the sunlight, then the Dark Dark Green will almost blend into the blank, but give you a pretty cool offset of color. You have a gang of options here.

I am with Drew about #2 guides, no need for size 3 guides. And Bill because I like the look of thread without cp on a blank that has a colored finish on it, so the thread blends with the blank color.

I used garnet with CP on that blank, and the wraps really "pop". Royal blue and no CP to wrap the ferrules, if you want them to blend in. I would use #2 single foots, provided that they will clear any knots/connections that will be used.

George Forster
Fort Collins, CO

I've built a F906-4 that has been sent to me by error.
Wanting to preserve as much of the blank frequency as I could, I put only 9 guides on it instead of the usual 10, the first five being #1 single foot.

[g0nefishin9.wordpress.com]

Let me tell you that rigged like that, it's a sweet rod. Here's the static test:

[g0nefishin9.wordpress.com]

and here are my detailed views about the rod

[g0nefishin9.wordpress.com]

Using #3 snakes on a 5wt is in my view way overkill. #1 SF are more than enough, and as for standing the abuse, I don't know, I think a fly rod is not really meant to be abused in the first place. Your main reason to go as light as possible is rod stability, or tip bounce. the RX6 are very god for the price, but with too much weight on the tip, you'll send waves along the rod leg of your loops. you can correct that relaxing after the stop, but it's just a pita.

I used gudebrod royal blue thread. the color match is not bad, but not perfect. for a perfect match, I'd recommend to explore mettler polysheen series, the exact hue you're looking for must be there.

_______________________________________________
If I'm not going to catch anything, then I'd rather not catch anything on flies.

Prostaff Rodhouse
[www.rodhouse.fr]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2012 05:18AM by Laurent Keiff.

Laurent,
I too built on that blank with a 9 guide set-up.
You may have gotten a little more response with #1 single foot light wire titanium for the top 3 guides and an titanium loop tip top.
This might be construed as extravagant for this nature of blank but my customer selected the blank and was willing to pay for the additional guide train costs if the performance could be improved.

Eugene Moore

Eugene,
that's very interesting. I see how one would deem it inconsistent to put high end guides on a low end blank, but then, having actually tested one in two extensive lawn session, I can perfectly see how such an action would suit perfectly an angler's casting stroke. Were it be the case, there's nothing strange in choosing that blank and spending on the guides.

What did you think of the rod?

_______________________________________________
If I'm not going to catch anything, then I'd rather not catch anything on flies.

Prostaff Rodhouse
[www.rodhouse.fr]

Laurent,
Very attractive.
Did not live up to the performance level I require or recommend.

Eugene Moore