John C Allgood Wrote:
> Although I
> am right handed, I use left handed baitcasters
> exclusively, so I spiral my own rods to the left.
> My fishing partner uses right handed reels so I
> spiral his rods to the right. I really don't
> consider the direction of the spiral to be a
> critical detail.
It is a critical detail because of how the rod bends when the person holding the rod is fighting a fish. If the rod is bending towards the spiral side then the angles of turn in the line flowing through the transition guides- under load- is reduced and minimized which address one of the reasons to build a spiral wrap in the first place. But if the rod is bending away from the side the spiral is on, watch the line flow under load through those same guides. Now the angles of turn through the guides will increased more and more as the rod is bent more that way- away from the spiral side.
This increases the line flow resistance under load the whole idea behind a spiral wrap is to reduce line flow resistance under load.
And, bending the rod away from the side the spiral is on, with short guides or micro guides will bring the line into contact with the blank.
So you are correct that the spiral should go around the blank on the same side as the reel handle, because of how a fisherman holds the rod when fighting a fish.
Its a 50-50 situation. Physics shows that doing it one way is beneficial to meeting the desired stated goals, and that doing it the opposite way goes against the stated goals which are found in one of my custom rod notebooks from one of the conventions- don't recall which one, but I will include a link to image of the page where it states 8 rules for custom rod building:
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1-The line should run as straight as possible from the reel to the tip of the rod.
2-The line should form as small of an angle as possible with each guide.
3-The line should touch only the top or the bottom of the guides in any fishing position.
8-The rod should track in all fishing positions without experiencing torque or twisting.
Spiral wrapped bass fishing rods is one of my specialties. I've made more than 100 of them over the last 25 plus years and I have continuously allowed the materials to educate me on how to make them, rather than finding some rules in a book and imposing the same rules on every rod made. It does not work that way because every rod bends differently, and every reel has different heights off the blank.
So to truly dial in the most efficient spiral wrapped rod, the guides are placed according to line from the reel aimed into the beginning of the 180's, and the guides in between are merely there to not do anything to the line except keep it off the blank really. Line flow through them under load- average 90 degrees- should be perfectly straight. That is the goal I work towards with every rod.
I have found that when done right, as the rod loads up with a fish, and combined with how I fish, placing the guides in the right position, that they actually move more into alignment as the rod loads up and it becomes more like a spinning rod under load.
And there is still some twisting going on. It can never be eliminated. But, if the guides are all on top, then we are dealing with a negative twist, but when build like a spinning rod at the tip, under load of a fish pulling from side to side, it will experience some minor twisting. but I can use this to my advantage on the same side as the spiral wrapped side because twisting towards the spiral wrapped side decreases the angular line flow to a minimum, but if on the other side, then any twist in the tip would be to the opposite side away from the spiral side and this would increase the angular line flow through the guides under load.
Again, it is 50-50. Physics says one way works better than the other. It just takes some trial and error to learn the minute details.
Notice in following image, that when under load, the line flow from the reel into the 180's is 100% perfectly ruler straight exactly as the guide book states it should be. And, the guides are positioned so that when under load, the line lays either in the bottom or top of the guide and does not exert any sideways force on the guides- also as required in guide rules.
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I've seen a lot of spiral wraps that are slightly off when put under load and show line bends through guides under load. I have some made by other builders, and can show their not so great line flow under load. Some of them I have stripped off the guides and redone them myself my way.
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Some of the key elements to great spiral wraps, is to one stretch out the 180 transition from reel to 180's. Some rod builders bunch it all up in less than 2 feet of rod blank and this shows angular bends in the line through those guides especially under load. My 180's begin when the rod exceeds 10% bend. And even that is not carved in stone. Sometimes what others would make strictly 180 degrees under the rod, I have learned to tweak them into the spiral transition at least for the first one or two 180's may be slightly off towards the spiral wrap as a continuation of the tail end of it just to make sure the line is straightened out more under load. I now use more than 50% or more of rod blank length to transition line flow from top of blank to underside.
And my stripper guide is never at 12 o'clock position. It was when I first started making spiral wrapped bass rods over 25 years ago, but not any longer. And, I have found trying to go with a set degree of angle to align guides does not work. Under load the line will show me angles in the line flow, And so since each rod bends differently and reel height is different, the angle and placement of the guides are dictated by straight line flow under load, not some preset ideas imposed on the materials. Let the materials be the guide through the process. And under load is key.
The first step I do for starting a spiral wrap is to stand the rod on the butt end and bend it to about 90 degrees and observe where in the blank it begins to bend more than 10%off straight. I put a piece of tape at that point and it tells me the 180's underneath go from there to the tip. So I install those first, and epoxy the guides closest to tip on along with installing the tip so I can now load up the rod, and I do not epoxy down the first 2 180's underneath because later on in the testing process I may find I need to tweak these slightly incorporating them into the tail end of the spiral transition.
Once this is done I work my way back to the reel observing line flow under load and letting it be my guide as to guide placement and particularly guide angle so that the line lays in the bottom or top of the guide per guide book rule 8 under load, and make sure the line flow under load does not side load any guides through the entire transition.
Here are a couple of examples of finished spiral wrapped rods showing perfectly ruler straight line flow through entire 180 transition while under load achieving the best results in agreement with the guide book requirements.
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These rods are addictive!
