Hi All,

I'm looking to build a light or U/L power spin stick 7' to 7'6" and considering Minima guides, which I've never used. Reel would be 2500 size Shimano, likely running very light braid, and throwing small minnows and jigs.

Any suggestions on train sizes or set-ups?

Are the Match frames a better option (a la Fuji KL-H) or stick with the SV frames?

I gather the F frames will work for the running guides?

Any reason to stay clear of these?

Thanks in advance.

Todd.

Not sure about your guide train but a 2500 reel to me is oversized for a light rod. I use a Shimano 1000, on a 6'6" med light power for smallmouth fishing.

Ray Zarychta
Glastonbury, CT

Todd,
I commonly use a size 2500 reel on ultra light rods, because I much prefer the casting distance and ability that I get by using the larger spool that is available on a size 2500 fishing rod.

For this setup, I would go with something like this.
A size 20 match stripper guide, SV guides in size 10 and 8, and then running guides to the tip in size 6, 5, or 4. Your preference. The tip top would match the size of the running guide.

Over time, I have found that I much prefer to use the height of the stripper match guide to have the height necessary to avoid line slap on the rod. You can use an SV guide if you like for the first guide, but if using mono, will likely end up with line slap.

Good luck

Moved this over from your duplicated post to keep things together. I really like PacBay Minima4 Match (M) guides coupled with the Minima4 F guides for ultralight spin rods using light braid. They give a very light and responsive rod that casts great. For your rod I would use M16, M8, and M5 for the reduction train and F4s for the runners. Use the KR GPS at Anglers Resource for guide placement. In my opinion this KR-like set up is superior to a NGC setup using SV guides. The Minima4 tiptops will hold up well for a relatively long time but are more prone to grooving than the rest of the guide train, if this is concern to you than use use a Fuji LG tip top with a 4.5 ring.
Norm

Some great suggestions there - thanks all so far.

Yes - I prefer the 2500 size reel for casting distance - clearly superior to a 1000 in that aspect, but as Ray mentioned, obviously not as light.

Norm - thanks for the excellent detail. Re stripper sizes, I have a preference for 25mm on my 2500 size reels, or 20mm at a pinch - do you think the 16 will hinder any casting distance? I’ve never tried such a tight choke on this size reel.

Todd.

Todd,
Easy to find out with respect to casting.
Pick up a size 25, a size 20 and a size 16 match guides for trial as a stripper.

Then, use the guides suggested for the rest of the train.

You can go ahead and tie on all of the guides - i.e. thread wrap all of the guides except for the stripper.

Then, try the 25, the 20 and the 16 for use as a stripper, using your preferred line and weight that would be equivalent to the lures and or terminal tackle gear that you use for casting.

Then, arrive at your own conclusion as to which of the three guides that you overall prefer the best.

All three of the guides will work. But, I expect that you will find that one of the guides work better for your needs than the two other guides.

If you are using pac bay minima guides, the expense is minimal and the education is priceless.

Be safe

Sage advice Roger, I’ll see how it goes. Thanks again.

Todd.

I can tell you with certainty that if you're indeed using very light braid (10 or under) and the reel is a 2500 size then a 16 mm guide at the appropriate height will perform fantastic , a 20 mm would be the absolute max i would go with . I have similar setups and tried all those guide sizes and with a 4000 size reel and light braid i actually found the 20 mm to be a bit too large .

My 5000 size Shimano loves the 20 mm ring with light braid .

Thanks so much Herb - I would never have assumed the results you’ve experienced.

Are you using the Match Minimas or the SVs?

Todd.

Herb, maybe if you used a 1000 reel and a 12 or even #10 guide your casting distance would be better than a 16 butt guide.? even better than on a 4000 reel.

It is not the ring diameter of the guide that is important, but rather it’s the height of the guide. Both the Fuji KLH and Minima M guides are high framed small ring guides. For example, the Minima M16 is about the same height as the Minima SV25, weighs less, and in my opinion performs better. If you are planning on using heavier braid (15-30) with this rod and reel combo, you can certainly upsize the reduction train to M20, M10, and M5, followed by the F4W runners. The M20 is about the same height as the SV30. This upsizing will not affect performance when lighter braid is used. The KR concept is based on a small ring high framed reduction guides that rapidly choke the line to small low profile runners. This concept gives a very light and responsive rod where the line just seems to shoot from the reel when a cast is made. In my opinion, either the M16 or M20 based reduction train will perform excellently. For light line the M16 train will perform just as well as the M20, and will certainly perform better than an SV based lay out. As for the total number of guides to use I would use 9 or 10 (ie 6 or 7 runners). For me, the KR GPS seems to give about one or two guides too few. I also use the KR GPS as a good starting pt, for guide placement. The M16 stripper would be placed at 19”” from the spool tip and the M20 would be at 20”. I use the choke point suggested and progressively place the other two reductions guides between the stripper and choke. I usually place the first runner about 9 -10 cm from the tip top, and then progressively place the other runners. I will static test using the two line method, and then test cast. Rarely do I need to move from my initial placement. Hope this helps.
Norm

Todd Redman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks so much Herb - I would never have assumed
> the results you’ve experienced.
>
> Are you using the Match Minimas or the SVs?
>
> Todd.

Apologies, i should have mentioned neither of the guides you mentioned , i did all my testing with the Fuji KL-H guides but as Norm said Minima's can be substituted . As said the height is key far more than the ring size. I was quite surprised at the results actually and was set on the KLH 25 for the stripper for all my inshore rods at first until testing proved i was wrong.

ben belote Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Herb, maybe if you used a 1000 reel and a 12 or
> even #10 guide your casting distance would be
> better than a 16 butt guide.? even better than on
> a 4000 reel.


Not sure Ben , i have never fished a reel in that size so i would need to do a lot of testing , i don't doubt anything you say though.

The thing about the 1000 series reels is that their spool loses diameter much quicker than a 2500 series reel does. It's the loss in diameter that affects casting distance.

I realize light braid is very small in diameter, but it doesn't take much of a cast to start to empty the spool on a 1000 series reel. I don't think (personal opinion) a 2500 series would feel out of place on a 7' or 7'6" rod. I use fluorocarbon as the main line on my spinning gear. As such, I use 3000 series reels for their larger spool diameter. They don't feel out of place on the 6'10" and 7' rods I have them on.

They did however feel big for the 6'6" rods I used to have them on. The 2500 and 3000 series Shimano spinning reels share the same sized reel body. The only difference is in the diameters of their respective spools.

As for the Pac Bay Minima guides. I have a set I was going to use on a drop shot rod I built earlier this year. I absolutely loved the lightness and responsiveness of the rod when I test cast it. The only reason I ended up not using them was because they were noisy on the cast. Noisy meaning the line rattled going through them. I ended up going with a set of Fuji KL-H and KT guides. They took out the rattling sound, but the rod does not feel as responsive, nor as sensitive as it did when I had the Minima4 guides taped on.

I have not experienced the Minima guides being noisy, but I almost exclusively use braid with an FG attached fluorocarbon leader or very light mono on some ultralights. I guess the stiffer nature of fluorocarbon coils going through the guides may be causing the noise. The KR concept was designed for use with braid, and braid really does flow through KR or KR-like setups very quietly and smoothly.
Norm