Hello All,
Ive built a few conventional rod setups for bass fishing and have decided to give spiral wraps a go. Currently Im sitting in Afghanistan working so Im putting my wish list together. I have read many informative post on here about spiral wrapping but would like more specification or recommendations on guide ring material for braid in the 30-50 lb range as far as durability. Also I would like recommendations on the smallest butt guide diameter. Once again I am just looking for overall recommendations or past experience. Id like these rods to have multiple purpose due to Kayak throwing anywhere from Jig/frog/worm to shallow water cranks anywhere from 3/8-1/2 oz weight range on average. For guide placement I plan to set 0, 90, 180 and static to test place others. I would like to use 3mm on the runners. Here is what Ill be working with:

MHX MB843 and MB873
Lews: Pro Magnesium Speed Spool, Tournament Pro G Speed Spool ACB and BB Pro
SK2 reel seat with split grips Winn or Carbon Fiber

Braid doesn't hurt guides, the dirt and debris that collects on the braid is the problem. Any ceramic guide is impervious to braid and anything it will collect within reason, I've got rods that are 20+ years old that have had nothing but braid on them, 65 and 80 lb. usually. Same frame weight and ring styles you'll be using on much bigger fish.
Check out the KR concept for casting rods and use the info you find there for your spiral wrap. It's not as technical, or important as you might think as long as your 90 degree guide doesn't display any side loads on the guide throughout the rod's use.

The 0 - 90 - 180 set up works well, but you could just as easily go to the Simple Spiral 0 - 180, and dispense with the 90 degree guide. This is what I use on all my crank bait trolling rods. Essentially you just set it up like a guides on top rod and once you have the stress distribution worked out, you just flip all the guides to 180, except for the butt guide.

If you find the line rubbing the blank lightly between the 0 and 180 guide, you can go back and install a 90 guide between those first two to keep the line off the blank, but in this case the 90 degree guide is not part of the regular guide spacing as it would be with the standard 0 - 90 - 180 spiral systems.

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Just pertaining to the all purpose use of the rods you propose building ....when I think jig / frog / worm rod, I think medium heavy power at the very least, with a fast or extra fast action. Not really the type of rod you'd want for crankbaits.

Consider using a premium material tiptop, like SIC, as that is the guide that will groove first. I have had grooved tiptops, but never a grooved guide other than the tiptop. I like the Fuji casting setup, too. The 6 mm RV works fine.

I’ve been messing around with a spiral wrap on a NFC Delta rod and I’ve noticed when I aligned the butt guide to 30 rather than at 0 I got better casting distance with less effort. I did the 0-60-120-180 wrap then set the level wind in the center, ran the line through the guides, and moved the butt guide until the line was centered in the guide ring. Seems to have less friction when the butt guide is off-centered.

To add to David’s point frogs, jigs, worms... anything with a straight shanked hook get a fast action rod while cranks or anything using trebles pick up a moderate action rod. The slow bend of a moderate rod helps keep treble hooks pinned in the fishes mouth while a fast action rod help drive the hook point in. A do all rod to me would be a 7’ medium heavy with a moderate fast action.

Final spiral placement I’ll end up doing is 18-68-128-180.

Hope this might help.

For you guys that have used spiral wrapped rods for bass fishing do you see any benefit from it.

I have one spiral 3-8oz Swimbait rod and I’m currently building a chatterbait rod. I haven’t noticed any benefits from bass fishing with the Swimbait rod but my biggest bass to date is a 3lber on a A-rig. I do use the Swimbait rod for saltwater so I wanted that style wrap for hard fighting fish like king Mack’s. I don’t think Bass fight hard or long enough for spiral wrap to be that beneficial. The chatterbait rod I’m doing has a glass tip so my thought process for that one is to have the guides in a spinning rod placement (first guide at 5” from tip) to have more vibration and less guides overall. I was test casting the chatterbait rod and was getting very good distance with minimal effort using a 1/2oz crankbait. Im not sure if this is due to the spiral but I was happy with it.

Thanks for all the replies.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2019 10:38PM by Steve Gardner.

Paul Luechtefeld Wrote:
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> For you guys that have used spiral wrapped rods
> for bass fishing do you see any benefit from it.

Definitely when I accidentally get a good size musky on. :)

John Shear
Chippewa Falls, WI