Gooday,
I'm new to rod building...working on rod #9. I've fallen in love with spiral wrap rods to cast jigs for stripers, bluefish, and tuna off the Jersey Coast. I love the concept and realize the benefits even though fellow fishermen in the area are slow to accept it. I love it on my 7' Graffighter to "yo-yo" jig for tuna as having the guides on the bottom keeps the Depth Hunter braid from catching on the guides as it does when the guides are on top.
My question is this: Will thread be strong enough to hold #10 double foot boat guides on the bottom of a heavy tilefish rod? I'd like to use an 80-130lb ish, prob 8' long, glass rod. Sometimes up to 4 pounds of lead is needed to find the bottom in up to 700' of water. That much weight puts quite an arch on my old 8' Ugly Stick. I typically use an "out rodder" and an 8' rod to keep the line away from the boat and the rod really wants to twist. I think ideally the guides belong on the bottom, if they will stay. I thought I would double wrap the guide feet with D thread. Can this work? Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Jon

It'll hold.

Hi Jon,
'd" thread is stronger but you get more wraps with "a" thread. Either will work and you can put on a coat of finish between the overwraps for more insurance. Rollers don't get pulled off 130lb game rods and some of them cop a lot of punishment.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

Hello Jon. So far I 've built 2 rods specifically for tilefish( mostly off the Jersey coast ) Both 8 ft. glass composites , acid wrapped with 1 overwrap of D thread with zero issues. And I believe the benefits of an acid wrap really shine fishing tilefish with a manual reel. 80 -130lb. sounds like a lot of rod for tilefish IMO unless maybe you are fishing an electric reel and 4-5 hooks out of a rod holder. But if I were to build a rod in that class I would definitely do 2 overwraps. Ralph

Gentlemen,
Thanks for all your input. I'm gonna give it a shot.
Thanks,
Jon

Jon, you should come to a couple of NERBs Gatherings when I start them up again and check out teh TIlefish blanks and rods taht some of us build. IT's difficult to find blanks taht are suitable for tah tfishing in teh length that you are looking for. Righ tnow gatherings are on hold until my shop is rebuilt, although I'm gonne try to do one in NJ in January.