I'm in process of ordering a 10 ft and a 12 ft crappie blank. I plan on ordering Fuji Alconite guide set BYAG 309 which includes 30J, 16J, 10J, 8J, two 7J, and three 6J guides. According to Fuji his should be able to do a 9 ft rod. By my feeble math I should add three 6J guides for the 10 ft and nine 6J for the 12 ft. plus the tip tops. Please someone with more experience check behind me for errors and are these guides good for this build. I also would like a suggestion on what length grip to use with a Cadence 1000 or similar reel to have a "neutral" balance. I need some help to get started and be close. TIA

Good luck getting balance on the 10 ft. let alone the 12 ft., grip length alone won't help. You can't hang that much rod and guides out there on the other side and have a comfortable length grip also. Your guide selection is way to large in my opinion, with a 1000 reel, I can't imagine needing more than a 16 mm to start of with unless your using heavier line than most use.
Using the reel as a counter weight while using a Skagit style grip would get you closer.

Albert,
I am a big fan of Fuji in general, KL-H spinning guides in particular for light builds. Consider KL-16H, KL-8H, KL-6M, KL-5.5L for the “fast choke” reduction train followed by two KBs and the rest of the runners KTs of your chosen size with a LG tip top. Go as small as you are comfortable with to reduce weight toward the tip. Consider having at least 12 guides on hand for the 10ft rod and 14 for the 12fter = better to have an extra or two than having to pay additional shipping for one or two guides.
You mentioned a desire for a “neutral balance”; with rods that long it is virtually impossible without adding an unpleasing amount of weight in the butt. That is why I suggest using the lightest guides possible and only as many as absolutely necessary; you may get by with 10 and 12 guides respectfully, possibly less but that will depend on static load testing. Also, keep the length of the thread wraps and epoxy finish thickness to a minimum = it will help quite a bit.
You may find that a rear grip length that puts the butt just past your arm pit advantageous for such long rods to help reduce strain on your wrist.
I am curious as to the suggestions of the veterans.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Spenser,
Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a “Skagit style” grip?

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Curious as to what blanks you are using? I agree with Mark as to the guides to use if you are casting jigs or a float and fly (jig) with a spinning reel. If you are not casting but jigging and just using the reel to hold line, the rod can be set up differently with the reel at the very end of the rod to give some balance, similar to a fly rod.
Norm

I'm looking at the Speck rods from Gt Bit Outdoor. Thanks all for your suggestions.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2020 11:22PM by Albert D Allbritton.

Albert,
I would put an 18 inch rear grip on the rod with no fore grip.

That way, when you cast, you can cast with your hand all of the way to the back, for distance and then move your hand up to the reel for fishing a balanced rig.

I have done this with a lot of my longer rods and it works very well.

Actually, I would use a size 16 match guide, a size 10 guide next and then size 5 guides to the tip with a size 5 tip top. Depending on the speed of the blank, use more or fewer rods to keep the line following the contour of the loaded blank.

You will have a well balanced rod that will cast a country mile with the long grip and when casting, use both hands to maximize your casting distance. Easy to use two hands with the long rear grip.

Best wishes.

How do plan to use this rod? Dipping, casting, drifting, spider-rig, etc?

Consider using an "underspin" closed face reel.
You can then use a fly style grip, mount the reel seat all the way back,
and maybe a metal fighting butt or weighted butt cap to help the balance.
You can then downsize the guides to something like 12 butt, with size 6 or smaller on out.
If you are using a slip-bobber set up you will probably want to use nothing smaller than 5's or 6's for runners.
We have set those up in the past and they fish very well for panfish, etc.

Best wishes,
Ron Schneider
Schneider's Rod Shop
Mountain Home, Arkansas
[www.schneidersrods.com]
mtnron40@yahoo.com
870-424-3381

Hi Ron,
I may have read your post wrong, but if you use slip bobbers with a closed face reel, what type of bobber stop are you using?
Thanks

Thanks Norman and Ron. I have never given thought to mounting anything other than a fly reel at the butt of the rod = interesting. I want to be just like you guys when I grow up.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

I plan on using these as a "bream buster" most of the time for panfish and occasionally casting jigs for shad. I use both thread style and rubber bobber stops with a bead. Thanks for the suggestion on the closed face underspin. I ordered the guides today starting with the 16 working down to 5s.