Am building 6 wt. rod from Global Dorner. Oops, while mutitasking, glued handle so that the "hard" side of the rod will be the one that gets the line guides glued onto it.

Al's article says this may be okay for fighting "bigger" fish; I don't think I'll be catching lunkers on this.

I could mount the guides on the soft side--but then I would have to tie part of the reel on with some kind of string to make it work. Doesn't sound good.

Will mounting the guides on the "hard side" make that much difference in my casting?

Also, when all is done (after rod wraps are "painted"), is there something I need to do to give the rod a smooth finish (like storebought rods) or just leave the graphite as is. thanks.learner

thanks, learner