I used to build surf rods for fishing behind dams in Texas (Denison and Possum Kingdom dam) 20 years ago using large stainless steel/chrome guides and now I am back into building rods and the game has completely changed so please help me optimize these 2 rods with the primary purpose of distance casting using spinning reel while keeping the rod as light as possible and the action to be as fast as possible and I understand that these are not really fast action rods. My fishing lines will be 20lb Power Pro Maxcuatro or 20lb YGK braid and the guides to be Fuji Titanium Torzite KL-H. These are the 2 rods I planned on building:

12' CTS Vapor Trail VT08, 3-5 oz paired with Shimano Stella FK C5000XG
13' CTS Vapor Trail VT09, 4-6 oz paired with Shimano Ultegra ULTCI4 5500XTC

I have done some research and looks like the 2 build options are either NGC or KR concept and I believed the KR concept is preferred so I will go with the KR concept unless someone knows of a better method to get more distance out of these two rods. I have used the GPS software with using the distance of the rod butt to tip of axle of 26" and the numbers are below for the 2 rods

12' CTS Vapor Trail VT08, 3-5 oz paired with Shimano Stella FK C5000XG
- Stripper - 20H
- 2nd Guide - 10H
- 3rd Guide - 5.5M
- Number of running guides - Undefined - Can someone give me a recommendation of this?

* Stripper position: 21.5
* stripper to 2nd: 16.44
* 2nd to reducer: 12.45
* 3rd to choke: 11.65
* total reduction train: 40.53
* choke point: 62.03 - Since my spool diameter is 2", SHOULDN'T THIS BE 2" x 27 = 54" AND SHOULD I USE 54"
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13' CTS Vapor Trail VT09, 4-6 oz paired with Shimano Stella FK C5000XG
-Stripper - 20H
- 2nd Guide - 10H
- 3rd Guide - 5.5M
- Number of running guides - Undefined - Can someone give me a recommendation of this?

* Stripper position: 21.5
* stripper to 2nd: 18.48
* 2nd to reducer: 13.99
* 3rd to choke: 13.1
* total reduction train: 45.57
* choke point: 67.07 - Since my spool diameter is 2.5", 2.5" x 27 = 67.5" so the GPS s/w is very close

Sorry for this long post and I really wanted to get this right so please help me and make revisions to the numbers above to optimize distance casting. Thanks for your input

You can reasonably set the butt guide and choke guide positions with the math. The other guides should be sized and placed to accommodate the line path.

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Bao
Please unhide your email address
Herb Ladenheim
US CTS Rep

Bao
Please unhide your email address
Herb Ladenheim
US CTS Rep

Herb, I just unhide my email so you should be able to see it now.