That's a great question Mike. I put a lot of thought into the spectra,, it has been my experience with it back in my spinning rod and baitcasting days (GASP!!!), that i have never had a problem with guide wear.

I do not foresee a big problem with it, as the rod in question is really specific to steelhead fishing that I do maybe 2 weeks of fishing out of the year. When using the lighter tippets 4 - 8 pounds, I have had some steelhead run me into my backing, but those were rare occasions. And I might be fishing wrong, but when I am reeling a fish in, I never touch the backing or the fly line. Especially if I have them down to the backing (I am a self admitted amateur when it comes to big fish tearing into backing so I could be doing this completely wrong)

I am adding spectra backing for peace of mind of having that much backing on there just in case, while getting the line that I want on there.

your thoughts?