I build quite a few rods a year but very few bass rods, and those are for finesse applications. Ive got a St Croix SC479HMF and a SC576MHMF coming, What do you guys recommend for guides especially in the mid and tip sections. I build spirals exclusively and prefer the lightest setup that will work. All help appreciated.

Fuji K series running guides, with the belly guides in the middle. If using with heavy mono or floro be sure to put a larger tip top on so when the line makes the bend at the tip it does not hit the blank.

We have heard from some builders using KB guides the full length of the rod for heavy applications like Flippin' and A-rig. Just a question of diameter in the top section. If it's large enough, KB is a good choice.

I would say that you should also be very mindful of going with larger running guides than you might originally have anticipated. Anytime one punches, by definition, there is a lot of vegetation involved. This vegetation can mean anything from dense, leafy plants, all the way down to mossy scum, or even worse, that felt and cottony material that we get in a lot of reservoirs here in the South. They can all gum up and clog up your guides, however, those last two, are a real pain in the behind and there is nothing worse than having to clean them out of tiny little micro guides.

Just my two cents.

---Carlos Saravia

Don You have arroused my curiosity here. Why would someone want a spiral wrap on a flipping stick?


Tom

Bel Air, Matyland

Regarding why I would want a spiral on a flipping stick. Less strain on guides and blank with fewer guides. I haven't built a casting rod with the guides on top since the days of "Robert's Wraps" about 40 years ago. The advantages and necessities of a spiral are certainly more magnified on the UL casting rods I have built through the years but they are certainly also present on all rods.

Don Baker Wrote:
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> Regarding why I would want a spiral on a flipping
> stick. Less strain on guides and blank with fewer
> guides. I haven't built a casting rod with the
> guides on top since the days of "Robert's Wraps"
> about 40 years ago. The advantages and necessities
> of a spiral are certainly more magnified on the UL
> casting rods I have built through the years but
> they are certainly also present on all rods.


Don
Thank you for your response. My thoughts were in casting which you don't do in a flipping stick. So your comments on the strain and number of wraps makes sense.

Tom