Guide Spacing

[RCaillouet3]

Well hello again all. I hope that everyone is doing well.

So I have a delimma. I built a H&H IM6 9' 4 weight just recently. I am currently in love with the rod. BUT, my 12 year old has now laid claim to it now that she has fished with it once. It seems as though my handy Sage 9' #6 is about to take a back seat!

Well, now that I have a need for another kit ... like any of us need a reason to get another rod ... I am planning on building another 9' #4 IM6 from H&H. This one will be a 4 piece rod instead of a 2 piece though. But before I get started I need some help with guide placement. On the first rod, I just went with the reccomended guide placement from H&H. And this leads me to some questions...

1. When building a fly rod, what will changing the locations of the guides do for a rod???

2. I can understand if you place more guides closer together, you can make that section "stiffer" with the thread wraps and epoxy. But is that about it?

3. Let's say that do to ferrule placement, I have to move a guide a little bit. What effects on the rod would I get by moving it either closer to the tip or butt of the rod???

4. What size guides and tip tops do you guys use on your rods?
I am wanting to use single foot guides and maybe a little larger tip top for this rod. I am wanting something that can cast a little easier to longer distance than the 2 foot snake guides.

5. Will larger sized single foot guides and larger tip top do the trick, or does it matter that much???


Thanks for all the help everyone!!!

Sincerely,
Reg

[Farmer Bob]

On rods 4wt and under single foot chrome guides work well. I assume your casting under 50 ft. Using an SIC type ring in the guides will not pay off with short casting distance rods. I found the spacing guide in H&H catalog works well, I have tweaked the guide distances a 1/2 inch up or down and not gained anything in performance. I built two Forecast rods one with standard fly guides and one with extra large guides and after fishing both side by side found no great advantage with the larger guides. Now I use the smallest guides possible, buy guides that are just large enough to get your line and knots through. I perfer an oversized tip top. If a guide falls near the ferrule then move it to the ferrule and conserve tread wraps. On a 4 piece rod you will have some wrapping just to protect the ferrule, on those areas I use a tread that blends with the color of the blank and use no CP. so treads become invisable. I built two 3 wt's with guides closer together the added weight dampened the performance... FB.

Reg;
I use Al Cambell's spacing chart. Got it glued to the wall over my bench.

P.S. I solved the wrap epoxy problem by switching to the Cabela's packets. You get an even mix every time!

[PanFisher]

Anybody Interested send me e-mail.

I just finished updating my Guide Spacing program. Wrote it in Visual Basic .NET. It will allow you to calculate Guide Spacings in four different ways:

?Generic? ? 70% the length of the rod
?MidFerrule? ? Place a guide on the center of the middle ferrule.
?Custom? ? Place Stripping guide at the length of the intended casters arm. Allowing for better reach in line handling
?Design-Your-Own? ? Do your own thing, set the first or Stripper guide where you want. Use the number of guides you decide.

This new version allows you to open as many forms as you wish then compare the calculations. It uses the formula provided by Dale Clemens book ?Advanced Custom Rod Building?. The formula is credited to RodCrafter Jeffery D. Bahere of Depew, New York.


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Let No One Walk Alone
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Bill

[RCaillouet3]

Farmer Bob, thanks for the input!! I am planning on using the Charcoal IM6 blank with Garnet thread as I have done on my 2 piece rod. I don't use CP, and the wraps turned out to be a dark blood red color. The looks is quite nice on the charcoal! As for moving the guide to the ferrule, I must assume that it doesn't have any effect on ferrule strength?

Jack, thanks for the info on Cabela's packs! I am thinking of trying something different on my next rod. I have an uncle that builds and repairs spinning rods down in Louisiana. He actually told me to try using clear finger nail polish thinned with a VERY LITTLE acetone. He says it works very well, and is easy to clean off if you need to. He also tells me that it goes on as thin as water, it just takes 2 - 3 light coats to get it right for use though. Just might try it!

PanFisher, I received your emails, but for some reason the program wouldn't work. It might be my dumb black box thingy that most people call a computer. I can't wait to win the powerball and call it "anchor!" Man I hate these things (computers) sometimes!!!

Well, keep the advise coming; and thanks for all that have helped me so far!!!


Sincerely,
Reg

PS Jack you were right, the first fish ... heck every fish for that matter ... that I caught on MY rod was spectacular! It was alos nice to catch it on a fly I tied!!!