I'm building a 6' spinning rod with Flexlite guides, it appears that the choker guide should be at 47.5" which puts the size 25 first reduction guide at 24" from the reel (Shimano Sienna 2500). This seems too far, am I messing up somewhere?

Thank you,
Ken

Ken,

That's a little far out, but not overly far. It's not uncommon for my butt guide to end up in the 22"-23.5" range on a spinning rod. Do some test casting to see if you have line slap issues on the cast, and move the guide around a bit to see if you can get more distance.

You have a few options depending on your preferences.

1. You can bend the frame to get a little more height for the butt guide, as the ring supports are rarely perpendicular to the foot. This can get you an extra few mm in height and bring the guide back toward the reel a bit.

2. Something I do when working with the 27x method is, after the choker is placed, to tape a piece of line to the reel shaft and run it through the guides. Then I orient the rod so the guides are on top. The weight of the line causes the line to droop down toward the blank a bit from the straight line path (similar to the path a power line takes between poles). This line path will bring the butt guide a little closer to the reel and use slightly smaller guides in the rest of the reduction train.

3. Place the butt guide where you think it should go, test cast, and move it around a bit to see if you can improve the performance, while keeping a bullseye pattern in your reduction guides according to the new guide concept method.

Joe

For a reel that size it's not overly far. I'd expect something along the lines of 21 to 23 inches right off the bat. As Joe said, you may be able to bend the guide a little to obtain more height, which will automatically move it a little closer to the reel. You may also have some other options in guide styles that offer higher frames. At any rate, tape up the guides and go cast it. You may find it's right on the money as is.

What size and type line are you using?

...........

Thank you for the responses; I will be using 8lb Big Game probably..

Happy new Year,
Ken

Be safe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/2013 02:18PM by roger wilson.

8lb line is pretty flexible. If you wanted to move the butt guide a little closer, or even the choker guide for starters, I doubt you'd have any problems whatsoever. Just tape them up and go cast both ways and see if you can tell any difference.

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Thank you all; I appreciate the advice. Can I infer from this that if I were to use a lower frame guide like a Minima 3 size 25 for a butt guide I would be better off using the Fuji system?

Ken,
Generally speaking on a spinning rod, I think it is generally not the best policy to use a lower frame guide.

I personally don't like the steep angle the line has to make when it comes off any reel to go through the low frame guides.

But, to each his own.

Be safe