I have a North Fork Composites 8 weight F890-4 Gamma Beta fly rod blank. When you go the the NFC website they provide the guide spacings for this rod blank (they show 9 guides) but do not give the recommended guide sizes. I did use the CCS guide spacing calculator with 9 guides and guide #1 & #9 locations matching the NFC chart to get guides sizes. Then when I check those guides sizes against other rod blank manufacturer guides sizes the CCS guide sizes are smaller than any of those. Not sure what to really do now other than guess.

Does anyone have information or recommendations for the guide sizes to match the NFC published guide spacing? Thanks for the help.

P.S. I have tried Emailing NFC but no response after a week. Seems everyone says they never respond so I am trying a different path with this great group.

Double post.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2021 03:18PM by Spencer Phipps.

No one knows what lines and knots you may be using, fresh, or salt, so they err on the side of caution to ensure everything will work for you, I often have smaller guides on my personal rods. It also makes a difference whether, or not the manufacturer is using single foot, or snake guides as far as sizing goes on their charts. My rod for saltwater is 16, 12, 5, 3s to the tip, 10 guides, my freshwater rod I built to be my boomer that I now know really wasn't necessary for my sucess is 16, 12, 4,2, than 1s to the tip, 10 guides.
They are both snake guides.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2021 03:19PM by Spencer Phipps.

I'd be tempted to use 10 guides = blank length in feet rounded up plus one. Yes, it adds more weight than 8 or 9 guides but ought to be a sap to get a near perfect guide locations vs taper via load testing.

I'm not a single foot guide guy. I'd use an ATC MicroWave MW18 stripper, followed by a single #4 snake then #2 snakes for the rest.

I'd also use an over sized tip top loop.

LMX (Lamda Beta) 9' 8wt / F-890-4. 10 guides; Used Seaguide 16 RS Ti frame (80"), 10 RS Ti frame (68"), REC Double foot snakes #5 (57 7/8”), #4 (48), #4 (38 ½”), #4 (30 1/8”), #4 (22 ½”), #2 (15 ¼”), #2 (9 3/16”) and #2 (4 ¼”). I did this spacing to have 4 guides on the tip section and used #2 to lighten that section, you could just do #4s to the tip. With a natural cork grip the weight came out to 4.1 oz total rod weight. Do a static test and pay close attention to the tip section because that section is not as uniform as the rest of the sections in thickness so you may need to adjust the space after the 1st guide (2nd, 3rd and 4th).

16 - 10 and then 2's to the tip. You do not need more than 3 guide sizes to do it.

Let mention that when I mention #2s on to the tip, this would be for a standard WF line. If you are using shooting heads or anything with a loop to loop connection I would move up a size, or two. Use what you need to use to easily pass any connections you're dealing with.

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i just built a CTS 8# and used all REC guides: 16, 12 REC CERECOILs and then #3 REC double-foot snakes. Primary use will be saltwater.

I did just order a couple of GammaBetas and noticed they recommended 9 guides rather than 10.

9 guides on a 9 footer is doable. 10 is easy. I would not use any more.

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I always use 9 guides + tip top on all my 9’ fly rods. Started a long time ago after seeing how T&T (who spares no expense on build quality) built their rods

Because of their geometry snake guides will allow the passage of larger knots/snarls than ring guides of the same "diameter", and snake guides are frequently lighter than similar size ring guides. A couple of Forhan Wraps around each leg of a snake guide will prevent snake guide feet from backing out from under their thread wraps.

Mike McCoy of Snake Brand conducted an experiment for Scott Rods putting 16 guides on a 10' 8" 5-wt. In the test casting, they were exceeding all of the other rods by substantial margins! I have taken Mike's 16-guide chart and modified it for Pac Bay Arctos blanks (9' 3") and found a 13 guide train is excellent! The casting is stellar and the load of the rod is consistent over the entire length of the blank, withe the entire rod getting in on the action! Fighting fish is also improved as there are no dead spots, and the chances of breaking the rod at a point of higher stress is significantly lessened. The increase in weight is negligible as size 1 and 1/0 guides don't weight much and require very little epoxy.

I am currently wrapping a NFC 9' 5-wt with 12 guides, beginning with a 12/6 Microwave Stripper followed by a 4, 2 3's, 3 2's and 1's to the tip. I am very happy with how it is performing. Also wrapping a NFC 6-wt with and 11-guide train beginning with an 18/8 Microwave stripper with the same train, reduced by one of the size 1 snake guides. I can't say enough about the Microwave strippers, they are game-changers!

Rich