Here's a quick question for y'all.

I've only built one rod and it was a 7ft ultralight for trout, set up as a bass rod, which is the type of rod I am used to fishing. Micro guides, 27x, EVA foam, whole nine yards. Everything went perfectly and it is easily the best rod I have ever fished (it fits like a glove, casts like a dream, and the blank is amazing.)

My only real issue during the build was setting sizing and placing the reduction train. I just could not get the bottom rings on the reduction train to match that of the choker. I tried using a yard stick, taping a piece of thread, etc. It was always "off." When I was ready to give up, I read the bottom of the article, which mentioned that the reduction train should look as a series of concentric circles or, a bulls eye.

So, what I ended up doing was setting up the butt guide per the 27x and then choosing and eyeballing the other guides to make sure they were concentric all the way up to the choker.

The rod casts like a dream, and from what I can tell, this method definitely did the trick. I'm getting ready to build two more spinning rods this week though so I want to know whether I will run into future issues by placing and sizing my reduction train in this fashion.

Thanks guys,

Carlos

The lighter and more supple the line the more forgiving any guide system is going to be. You shoot for one thing but sometimes have to fudge a bit and just get close. Because line is flexible, it doesn't always require absolute perfection in order to perform very well.

Sometime when you just want to learn a few things about guide systems, try setting some purposely awful configurations. Test cast them. You may be surprised to learn that almost anything will work to some degree. You just get things to work that much better as your guide set up gets closer and closer to optimum.

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

Carlos,

You have the right equation for setting up the reduction guide train. Keep the "Bulls Eye" in mind and you won't be disappointed. Have you every tried the MicroWave guide System? I have found it to be killer on spinning rods.

Don Campbell
don@sensorfishingrods.com

I agree fully with Don on the Micro Wave guide train. You will like the system and very easy to set up . Killer results.

Rolly Beenen
Rovic Custom Rods

I second the "bull's eye". I just built a 10' rod using ngc placement but when I test cast I didn't get the distance I thought it ought to have. So after adjusting the reduction guides so that they are concentric I test cast and this time the distance improved markedly.