I went out this weekend to test cast a 8'6" surf rod and on the four or fifth cast my line got hung up somewhere. The 2 oz egg weight went flying off and took with it all of my running guides (it's ok if you're laughing). To add insult to injury, my wife asked me abou 31 times whether I was sure I should be test casting so hard while I was looking for the aforementioned guides. I told her that I thought so, but she thought I should ask someone who "knows what they're doing". So here I am asking the question.

The guides were in place with surgical tubing and masking tape and the previous casts went pretty well. I would say that I started with a 60% strength cast and the last one was about 90%.

Guidance, similar tales of woe, etc. would be much appreciated.

The type of lure/sinker weight and applied effort in making a surf type cast generally requires more than a piece of surgical tubing or masking tape. Obviously, it everything went flying off, you were applying too much load for the guide attachment method you were using.

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

I know the feeling Nate. Electrical tape works for me. When sliced down the middle of the roll with a razor it peels off in a thin, manageable width.

Just be thankful the sinker didn't hit a passerby. A 2oz weight launched by a surf rod can be lethal.

For example: My brother (a FD Paramedic) told me of a surf fisherman at Jones Beach (NY) whose end tackle got snagged.
He raised his rod and applied full pressure to set it free.
Suddenly it did free up and the sinker came flying...
and sadly... hit him smack in the eye imbedding itself in his brain.
He was killed instantly.

I will give electrical tape a go and see if I can keep the cost of a test cast under $20.

I defintely hear you on the safety concerns. Luckily for me there's a housing development that never got started near my house. They clear cut the land and laid out the streets but that's as far as they got. It's like having my own personal landing strip.

Don't you hate it when your wife is right and you know you will never here the end of it. Next time make sure she stays home LOL or you could just do what she told you to do it works for me.

Nate,
I use 1/4 inch wide masking tape.
For the large guides with the long feet, I use two rods of tape. If I am going to test cast, I use at least 4 wraps of masking tape.

For the short running guides, I use just one row of masking tape.

One thing that I have found that is very very important is the use of:

1. Have a very very clean blank, with no oil, finger prints or anything else on the blank.

2. Then, when using tape to hold the guides to the blank, I will use my finger to pull off lengths of tape to temporarily stick them to the board on the top of my rod building bench which has been previously tacked off with masking tape. I leave a good length of tape on the board to use for taping the guide to the blank. I always handle the tape from one end of the tape with my fingers. But -- --- very important --- when using the tape to affix the guides in place --- NEVER-- use any part of the tape that has been touched by your fingers.
Your fingers have skin oil on them. If you let any portion of the tape containing skin oil touch your blank, you lose a great deal of the holding ability of the tape.

Good luck
Roger

I have had electrical tape come loose when casting on warm days and masking tape rip off. When I visited a friend in Australia, a rod was set up for me using PVC bagging tape. Although it is similar to electrical tape, I was able to cast all day in temperatures reaching 100 degrees without the tape coming loose. Cast to about 650 feet were made using the taped on guides. Since the tape is thin, several layers can be applied.

Here's a link to the tape that I recently purchased. I'm not sure if it is exactly the same as the tape used in Australia.
[www.findtape.com]-


Don

Don Becker

try elastic thread it can be bought in Walmart for less than $3.00 you can wrap it on your guides cast and if there is any adjustments to be made the guide can be moved a 1/2 inch or so in either direction. I test all my surf casting rods that way.

By far the best tape I've found to secure guides is the aluminum tape. Super sticky.

Mo