# my new WRI 7dust



## skunk king (Mar 25, 2008)

after months of delays and waiting for various reasons, I'm finally able to build out my 7-Dust. 

As of now, I have the real seat and grip on, the guides are only taped on. I'm testing a theory out with this rod. I'm hypothesizing that placing the guides at mostly an equal distance will provide better distance than the cone strategy of them getting gradually closer until reaching the end. I'm betting the loss in energy from the line bouncing as it comes off the rod is a greater deterrence to distance than friction from the extra guides. I have 14 guides on the rod. A size 16 at 22 inches from the real seat, size 12 at 14, size 10 at 12, size 8 at 10, and 10 size 6s spaced 5 inches apart the rest of the way. So it has a lot of small guides on it. 

I do gradually decrease the spacing between guides for the first 4 guides. The remaining 10 are equal distant. I didn't on the first 4 because I didn't order enough guides to follow it through 100%. 

It's also an acid rod. For the rotation, first guide is at -6, and the next 2 simple align to form a straight path for the line to the bottom of the blank. I didn't place them at specific angles, just eyeballed. 

I haven't been able to field test it yet, but it takes line off smooth as silk just lobbing 3 onces by the side of the house. I'll take it for a true shakedown this afternoon. 


Any thoughts on how this configuration will perform vs. a conventional setup? I think I'll retape the guides and try a more conventional setup for comparison. I think the friction on modern guides is negligible. Ceramics are incredibly smooth and since we're dealing with curbed surfaces on the line and insert, only a tiny portion of the line is in contact with the guides. I'll post more once I'm done with my testing.


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## AtlantaKing (Jul 7, 2002)

I don't know about the acid wrap, but will the size 6's pass a shock knot? I think I went with BMNAG 10's for my last four guides to the tip. I generally run a 60lb shock leader on my 7-Dust and haven't had a problem.


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## skunk king (Mar 25, 2008)

haven't done a full cast with it yet. 50lb shock leader on 20 pound test passes through with lobs just fine. Spider-hitch to no-name.

I'll learn more this afternoon.


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## Ryan Y (Dec 1, 2005)

Friction on modern guides being negligible, I would think the least amount of guides possible would benefit you more as there are less guides for the line to hit. Besides, on the cast I don't believe that fishing line is always touching every guide. Just my opinion. The number of guides are more suited to fighting the fish without line touching the rod and forming a better arc.
If I could get away with putting on a stripper guide then the tip, I would do that. Intresting though.


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## Tacpayne (Dec 20, 2008)

All you can do is try. I would think that more guides on the tip especially would slow the recovery of the rod during a cast. The size would also concern me greatly on having knots catch, but who knows. I'm with Ryan I would think that the fewer the guides that allows the job to be done would be best.That is the good thing about building rods yourself you can try and if it doesnt work try something else. Ive played around with some smaller guides on my rods and have to say make sure you pick something with long enough foot to be properly secured for what type fo fishing we do. I put a light weight 10 on my CTS and have to rewrap it now due to the short feet not being real stable. I did damage teh rod myself, but noticed cracking in the epoxy almost instantly. I say give it a go and let us know what happens


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## dawgfsh (Mar 1, 2005)

The 16 at 22" would be my consern


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## skunk king (Mar 25, 2008)

just got back. I made a mistake in the post above, I used 10 size 8s, not 6s.

That said....

I waited a little too late to get a lot of casts in and do all my testing. My normal field had kids playing sports on it so I went to a local pond. I put a brand new Saltist 30 open face on it(first cast with that particular reel), 20 pound Andies line with a 50 pound Andies shock leader tied with a spider hitch to no-name. Threw 6 ounces 5 times. My normal field is marked, so I couldn't get reliable measurements, but it looked to throw around 150 yards with 10 yards standard deviation. I think one was close to 160, but can't be sure as it was getting dark. That said, the 7-dust is one more fine blank. I felt very confident throwing it. With the small guides, I had a lot of control and the line seemed to flow off a lot smoother than on my Fusion Mag which is set up in a conventional manner with larger guides. 

I'll have to wait for the weekend to try a conventional setup. But I liked the feel of this so much, I'm a little timid to switch it up. It felt very smooth. I even got to test some pullage as I got snagged on a log and pulled it in for a bit. Feels like the 7-dust is also a great fish fighting blank.


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## skunk king (Mar 25, 2008)

got the testing done and here are the results.

I was throwing the above configuration about 170 yards. I reconfigured the rod following the spacing recommendations for the fusion(really all the heavy WRI rods), but still with the smaller guides. The results, I was throwing 10-15 yards further with the conventional/ WRI recommended setup. So my hypothesis was wrong. I got the best distance using the conventional setup when compared to the acid rod using the exact same blank, reel, weight, and even knot. (WRI 7-Dust, Saltist 30 Open Face, 6 ounces, spider hitch to no-name)

I did like the fish fighting feel much more with the acid rod setup. It felt like nothing reeling in the weight. I could feel the weight pull more with the conventional setup. It wasn't horribly worse, but I did notice it, especially when pulling on some stumps I snagged. But this could have been from the tip being counter to spine with the conventional setup because I placed it for acid rod and didn't rotate it when retaping for conventional. 

So I'm going to stick with the conventional setup for my drumming/distance rods. I may go acid rod for plugging rods where distance isn't as important and I spent more time reeling. Would defiantly use it on a boat rod for trolling where fish fighting is all that matters. 


P.S. the 7-Dust is a 6 once throwing machine. This looks like it will now be my favorite rod. 

The final configuration is guide sizes 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 8, 8 at 17,19,22,25,29,35, and 46 cm. for my next experiment, I would like to see how these guides do vs. larger guides. My only way of comparing now is vs. my fusion mag which has this same configuration, but starts with a 20 something guide and ends at 12 or 16(I forgot which). Sounds like a good reason to buy another blank


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