I have really grown to love the spiral wrap on my casting rod builds, so much that I have basically incorporated into every personal rod I make. To date these have been more the pitching type rods, chatterbaits and lipless rod styles... My question is this, would there be any limitations to the use of a spiral wrap on techniques such as a jerkbait or topwater application. Something worked with a tip down style. I personally don't see any negatives myself, but have yet to build/fish one for this application. Just wasn't sure if the spriral wrap would not be best suited for these or if you think it would be perfectly fine. Leaning towards the latter, but respect the expert advice.

It would be fine. The major benefits of the spiral wrap are had while fighting a fish. As far as working any of the type lures you mention, that doesn't put a lot of load on the rod.

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Tip down is a no-no for spiral wrap...teh exact thing you are trying to prevent will be caused with a sprial wrap in this application. I learned the hard way making a musky rod for myself like this for a trip. After an hour I switched to a conventional wrapped rod and it was so much better, Might be different for lighter lures.

It depends on how you fish those lures. I generally point my boat in the direction of the target, cast, and work the lure with the rod to the side perpendicular to the direction that I cast. In this case, the rod loads on the side. It doesn't matter whether the guides are on the top or bottom, some torque is still there. If you fish by pointing the rod at those lures and work them by snapping the rod in a downward motion, then conventional is the way to go. I have cranking rods built both ways and have no qualms with how either of them fish, but part of that has to do with how I fish them.

Tom Kirkman Wrote:
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> It would be fine. The major benefits of the spiral
> wrap are had while fighting a fish. As far as
> working any of the type lures you mention, that
> doesn't put a lot of load on the rod.
>

This X2.

Tom is right on target. Short and simple answer, and right on target. Spiral wraps are for load only and won't affect any way you choose to fish it.

Because of this site, I have become a huge spiral-wrap advocate for my saltwater applications. As for freshwater, I am a trout guy, not bass, so I use spinning gear which automatically puts the guides where they should be; on the bottom of the rod. The positive effects of a spiral-wrap are so profound for my applications that I see no negative aspects, including casting distance when live-bait fishing for Calico and Yellowtail. Therefore, I am very interested in Billy’s comments but do not quite understand his point; hopefully he will explain further. I am here to learn.

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

Mark have you tried the Cagey Hook Wrap method of spiral wrapping yet? In my opinion it is an improvement over older methods to date. It has straightened line flow under load, and zero side loading of any transition guides.

I make a medium light spiral wrap (Forhan style) rod for inshore saltwater species. These are for artificial baits and can cast top waters, plastic jig heads and spoons. I have not found a limitation using them for speckled trout, redfish, flounder, blue fish, snook, pompano or other species found in the Gulf bays and waters. Retrieve low or high, cast right or left, no problem. The only limitation I have heard of is when trolling and the bite is very subtle or soft, where the fish takes the bait and swims along with the boat. With the tip up it is more noticeable to see that something is messing with it and you need to set the hook.

Kent,
The CH spiral-wrap method you described a few weeks ago is similar to the method I developed for myself over three years ago. As you, I concern myself with producing the straightest line path with the blank loaded (fish on!) as well as unloaded (casting). Additionally, I get the line to the bottom of the blank as soon as possible to reap as much benefit of the spiral-wrap as possible which is especially important the shorter the blank is. While the placement of my reduction guides is unorthodox, they work flawlessly. I adjust the rotational position of the stripper and next guide so that the line just misses the blank by .060in. Basically, and just to pick rough numbers (I have not actually measured as I see no point = I don’t care = it doesn’t matter = every blank is different anyway), my stripper is 30* towards the direction of the spiral, the second guide is 120* and hopefully the third guide is at 180* although another transition guide may be required. I do not concern myself with line stacking on the spool; a level-wind reel will eliminate 95% of that and if a non-level-wind reel is employed, the angler would have to thumb the line onto the spool anyway. Depending on the blank, achieving a straight line path both loaded and unloaded may require a bit of a compromise.

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

Joe's answer further explained my point, with more on the water experience. I was stuck fishing the middle of the boat so I had no choice how I retrieved. Not sure which part of my post was un-understandable.