# AFAW 6&Bait rewrap



## SteveZ (Nov 30, 2006)

The 13' conventional 6 is wrapped with Pac Bay (?) guides 30-25-20-16-12-12-12-12 and a 12 top. Those small guides catch all the weeds and grass and ya can't get your line cleaned without going to the mess rather than reeling the mess to you. My rods with the smallest guides at 16 with a 16 top are way easier to fish when it is grassy.

Soooo...I am going to replace the four 12s with size 16 Fuji BLNAGs and put a 16 top on. The bottoms of the new guides will be about as tall as the old guides so guide height won't be a problem. I don't think the additional guide weight will be much of an issue on this beast. Comments???


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## Charlie2 (May 2, 2007)

*Guides*

You gotta do what you gotta do.

I'm presently experimenting with a 13 foot Surf and a 11 foot Estuary and the guides are still taped on the Estuary. The guides on the 13 aren't sacrosanct by any means.

It was common practice when we fished the flats to use bigger tip and runners when fishing the grass. 

Go for it , and tell us how you do, C2


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

You may be able to reduce the number of guides by one (replacing the 4 12's with 3 16's, but you'll have to play around a bit with the guide spacing set up to be sure.


Some go with bigger guides for the reason you mention (weeds) others because it is easier to see to thread the line thru in the dark, etc. Personally I 'm not a fan of bringing all that weed and debris down on top of my reel, but if it works for you- go for it.


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

I almost always wrap "heavers" with larger guides for that very reason. That and even though my knots have gotten way better, I still like the extra clearance for for them. No outrageously noticeable difference in weight in my opinion. I've wrapped every 13' blank I've built with a 30, 25, 20, 16, 16, 16, 16, T16.


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## eric (Oct 24, 2007)

replacing all the small rings with bigger ones...

but i think you shock knot, will definitely THANK YOU for 'opening up' a bit more. lOL xD


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## skunk king (Mar 25, 2008)

basstardo said:


> I almost always wrap "heavers" with larger guides for that very reason. That and even though my knots have gotten way better, I still like the extra clearance for for them. No outrageously noticeable difference in weight in my opinion. I've wrapped every 13' blank I've built with a 30, 25, 20, 16, 16, 16, 16, T16.


Ditto. I don't notice any weight difference.


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## SteveZ (Nov 30, 2006)

*Thanks for the comments!*

I have a factory AFAW Surf. Sure has lots of tiny little guides but that soft tip needs lots of guides. And the tip is so soft I dunno about putting larger guides on it. It is a niche rod anyway...will throw 4 or 5 oz a long way. I think it'll be good for stripers and have thrown 5 + a small head when the water was not weedy. Alas, I've yet to catch anything of substance on it. 

As for the 13' 6&Bait, if I was gonna rewrap the entire rod I think I'd try to get by with fewer guides. But I'm only gonna do the four 12s and top so will stick to the factory spacing. Too lazy to do the whole thing. BTW, this thing is a beast. It is a heavy rod but will throw 8 + a head further than my 1502s and will throw 10 + a head further than my 1569s. A younger, stronger guy might not wanna throw 10, though. Fights good, too. Caught several nice stripers on it this spring and a 6'+ sandtiger. 

When I wrap heavers I never use anything less than size 16 both for the grass problem and the shock knot. Works for me. So I guess I'll order some guides...and mebbe a new blank and a reel to go on it and mebbe some other stuff. It never ends...


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

SteveZ said:


> It never ends...


Ain't that the truth!!


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## Charlie2 (May 2, 2007)

*Rods*

SteveZ:

It's an addiction. You can always use another rod just in case. Maybe all the tackle factories will shut down or something and you need to be prepared. C2


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## SteveZ (Nov 30, 2006)

*Yup, it is...*



Charlie2 said:


> It's an addiction.


Waitin' on the UPS guy to show up with my new reel. Thinkin' 'bout a new heaver to put it on. Geez...


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## SteveZ (Nov 30, 2006)

Charlie2 said:


> tell us how you do


She's on the dryer...I'm gonna like this a lot better. Gonna put my new Saltist 20H on this stick and wrap a new one for the BY.


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## SteveZ (Nov 30, 2006)

*All done*

I'm gonna catch a lot of big fish with this stick. She throws just like she always did even with the bigger guides and top. I don't think there's much more weight on the rod if any since I used the lighter alconite guides. While I was at it I put recoated all the epoxy on the top half. Earlier I put a reel seat on it and wrapped the handle with cork tape. Ha, I got the only 13' 6&Bait like it! Now if I could figure out how to cut the weight in half...

The Saltist 20H is a neat little reel. Put 175 yds of 17# Tri+ on top of 125 hds of 20# braid so it has plenty of line. Even though it is a tad taller than the older Daiwa reels it fits my small hand a lot better with that relocated gear box. Don't throw as far as my 6500s but plenty far enough. 

Neatest thing about today was when the turkey came flyin' across the field 'bout ten yards in front of me. Worse thing is my poor old elbow...really sore. Gonna hafta lay off the casting for awhile.


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