Hello all!

Im building a st 10105-2 for myself into a spiral wrapped float rod. I will be extending the blank about 5 inches to make it 11'3" (extension like in tom's article but with carbon tube instead of aluminum). Its an extra fast, medium heavy rod rated for .5 to 1.5 oz. 8-20lb line.

I have never built a spiral wrapped rod, and there is no guide spacing chart on nfc site. I like to use that a starting point before testing rods. I am buying torzite guides for it, and like the look of a 4 guide transition from 0 to 180 degrees.

Does anyone have a ballpark figure on how many other guides I should get? I always get 1 or 2 extra, but with torzite, 3 or 4 extra can get spendy, so I want to have some starting point.

Handle length will be longer for balance, maybe 16-18 inches from butt to start of reel seat.

If they show a chart for that blank in a standard guides-on-top configuration, just use that as a starting point but put the guides on the bottom of the rod. You can keep the butt guide up top and dial in your transition to the others any way you want.

.........

Try 4 1/8, 8 3/4, 13, 18 5/8, 24 5/8, 33 1/2, 44 1/2, 56 1/2, 69 3/8" and then you're going to have to figure out your transition guides in there somewhere around the last couple guides point, as I have no idea what you like. I myself would never put that long a rear grip on the rod, it will hang up on everything you want to do while fishing, especially with foul weather gear on, 14 inches is plenty, at that length my 0 degree guide is in the 89" from the tip range. You'll never get a balanced rod that length, trust me. Lastly, I would just run a piece of yarn, fly line, etc. through my transition guides as a straight line reference instead of playing the angles game, it's faster and works just as well. For future reference when you change the length of a rear grip, you change the whole guide train layout as you also change the reel position, you have to have a starting point to have a finishing point. Guide choice depends on any knots, line used, and freezing temps on the water, etc. I remove any spool restrictions on the reel when float fishing, helps in mending and free spooling to extend the drift, educated thumb use only.
Hope I helped.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2023 11:01AM by Spencer Phipps.