Good evening. First post. I have a bass crankbait rod for lures 3/4 to 1 ounce (St. Croix Mojo BassGlass, 7'-04", MH/M) but under heavy load the line rubs the blank. Personally, I don't like that. So I have two questions: 1) In your opinion, is line rub really a problem or not? 2) If I would re-position the guides (and add some) how do I go about determining the new placement for no line rub? and 3) Would it be a better idea to just re-position my guides in a spiral wrap? Thank you for all your help. Jim

Unless you're using your reel as a winch, the line may touch the blank but since you would never be retrieving under load that's about all it's going to do - touch.

However, one rule of good guide placement is use enough guides that the line isn't going to touch the rod. The smaller your guides, of course, the more of them you'll have to use to achieve that.

The spiral wrap gets rid of the rubbing, period.

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Welcome Jim

#1 Is line rub a problem? Potentially...yes. The fact that there is rub, indicates that the line is transitioning from some guides at a sharper angle than others.
What does that mean? Maybe not much, but over the course of a day of catching a lot of fish and not retying you line at all....it could amount to some line stretch.
This would be worse if you like to boat flip too.

#2 You can see where the rub is now by loading the rod. Imagine what it would look like if you could add another guide in that area.
That rod already has 9 guides. If I had to guess...it needs another guide in the middle?

#3 Spiral wrap. It would certainly solve the line slap issue. I have a few like this and I like em ok...but dont make my own like this any more.

It's not ideal and, if you're @#$%& bent on eliminating it, it can be fixed by adding and/or re-positioning a couple of guides. That said, if it were me, I wouldn't worry about it. It's not hurting anything as it's a bass rod. It's not like you're trying to crank in a 50 pound fish.

What Tom and Daryl said.

To eliminate it with an on top build start with a 10 double foot or Fuji RV6 about 19 inches from the reel level wind guide, then locate runners, single foot fly guides of your choice (some are a little higher than others) in a size 5.5 or similar, and locate them with the two line static load test at Anglersresource.net.

[anglersresource.net]

The advantage of a two line load test is that the guides do not take the load of bending the blank, and they can be moved without unloading the blank. It is actually easier than a one line test.

Chris Catignani Wrote:
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> Welcome Jim

Thank you!

I better explain a little more, so my reason for asking this question makes more sense.
I am a shorecaster, and I have equilibrium problems. The lakes here are all lined with riprap (or broken-up concrete) and I have fallen in three times, bending forward to grab or net the fish. So I have taken to actually LIFTING the fish out of the water, over the riprap, to where I am standing. When I do that, this rod bends a great deal, and the line rubs badly. I think that the rod has adequate deadlift power, it's just a noodle. Unfortunately, I love fiberglass rods.

With two answers mentioning the spiral wrap as an acceptable answer, I think that's what I'll do. Local people with whom I spoke didn't think much of a spiral wrap (some didn't even know what it was) but I was hoping that the people here could give me a more knowledgeable and more professional answer. The fact that the line rub problem is completely eliminated is, after all, a powerful attraction.

Another advantage is that I won't need to buy new guides (I'm cheap!).

Is there a video tutorial on aligning spiral-wrap guides????

Thanks to all of you! Jim

It should be pretty simple for you to convert your rod to a spiral wrapped rod. Basically, the spacing for your guides can remain the same. Cut off all the guides, except for possibly the butt guide. Cut the thread on top of the guide foot with a razor blade or utility knife, and peel off and unwrap the thread. I prefer a utility knife because I feel it’s safer and gives me more control. Once the guides are removed, scrape off and clean up any excess epoxy the best you can to get it smooth. Don’t fret over getting it perfectly clean because the guides are going back at the same location, so any flaws will be covered with the new wrap. The butt guide stays on top, the next guide with be off set at about 60 degrees, the third guide will be off set at about 120 degrees, all the other running guides will be placed at 180 degrees. You can spiral to either the right or left side, doesn’t make any difference. Some people like to spiral to the reel handle side, so when the reel is placed handle up on the deck or ground the guides will be off the deck. Others like to spiral to the opposite side of handle for a more balanced look. Spiral direction is up tp you. Once you have the guides taped on, run your line through the guides and adjust the angle of the two offset guides to get the straightest line from the reel to the first 180 degree running. Put a bend in the rod to see how the line follows the curve of the blank and adjust accordingly. Then take it out and test cast. I think you will be impressed as to how well a spiral wrapped rod performs.
Norm

Thank You! I'll set about working on the rod this weekend. This will be my first spiral wrap, and I figure it will be VERY interesting! ;) Jim

Look at the thread from 6/3/21 about Pete Holloway's "Easy Spiral System". It's a good start to understand the spiral wrap.

My opinion is to use the rod as is, from your description the line rubs when you are "dead lifting". When dead lifting the relative movement or "rubbing" of the line on the blank is insignificant. I doubt if it would even dull the finish.

How long have you been using the rod, does it show any signs of abrasion. My guess you will get tired or lose interest in the rod long before any signs of distress appear.

Plus it saves you money and time.

Have fun.

Based on your description of what is being done with the rod when the line actually touches the blank, if you aren't going to add more guides to protect the blank from over flexing between guides, because that's more than likely what is happening, then I agree with John, and I'd leave it as is.

A spiral wrap is going to eliminate the line touching the blank, but unless the guides were poorly spaced from the factory, it isn't going to eliminate the reason the line was touching the blank when under that kind of load.

Regardless of whether you leave it conventionally wrapped, or change it to a spiral wrap, I'd be adding more guides.

A local guy who dabbles in rodmaking advised me to think about it some more before I make a decision. He didn't want me to rip into the rod and then regret it, I guess. So ... I'm glad I checked back in here before i started work on the rod.

Give me some time to think this through, please. Everything considered (including the fact that I'm lazy and tend to take the easiest way out) just adding a few guides may be the best choice.

Thanks for all the help, though. It's appreciated. Jim

Just to be sure we're on the same page ..... when I said I'd be adding more guides. I meant I'd be stripping the guides off the rod and repositioning them so that they were closer together in the area of the blank where needed. Which means you'd invariably be adding more guides. In your particular circumstance, there is no substitute for setting up a two line static load, and using it to place the guides.

Doing so lets you see the line's path in relationship to the loaded rod. And for your use, you're going to need the rod to have a heavy load on it as you place the guides.

David Baylor Wrote:
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> Just to be sure we're on the same page ..... when
> I said I'd be adding more guides. I meant I'd be
> stripping the guides off the rod and repositioning
> them so that they were closer together in the area
> of the blank where needed.

Oops!

(Just kidding. This is what everyone has been telling me. I just wanted to add guides where the blank was the weakest. Now I'm back to either 1) a spiral wrap (I know a guy who can help me ... he lives about 35 miles away.) or 2) leave it alone.

Judging from the number of people here who are trying to hit me over the head with a hammer, #2 is looking more and more plausible. :?D :?D

Jim,
As others have posted - strip the rod, add 3 more guides and reposition all of the guides to completely eliminate line touching the blank - EVER>