# Distance casting rod (English) guide spacing



## gundalba (Oct 29, 2006)

I am currently building a 12'6" performance English rod for LONG DISTANCE plugging/metal casting purpose and got curious on this subject.

I heard some of the distance casting rod being built with lighter guides and wrapping method to retain as much crisp tip action as possible.

But how about guide spacing?

Some of common practice I heard in rod building is using temp fix on guide and do few test casts to "fine tune" the spacing done with load test previously.
Providing that one is happy with all the ring sizes, I am somewhat at a loss here what else to look for here.
Specially for distance casting rods, is there any different aspects in "fine tuning" guides spacing that one should look into?

Any input in this subject will be greatly appreciated...


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

gundalba said:


> I am currently building a 12'6" performance English rod for LONG DISTANCE plugging/metal casting purpose and got curious on this subject.
> 
> I heard some of the distance casting rod being built with lighter guides and wrapping method to retain as much crisp tip action as possible.
> 
> ...


Post this on the Rod building forum and you might get more responses. That's where the experts chat up rodbuilding for the most part.


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## Black Beard (Jan 25, 2001)

I speced up a number of 12ft 6in rods while with Penn and may be able to help.

Firstly, are you using conventional or spinner? 

How would you describe the action, slow taper through action, fast taper tip action?

Better yet, what is the blank?

BB


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## gundalba (Oct 29, 2006)

Black Beard said:


> I speced up a number of 12ft 6in rods while with Penn and may be able to help.
> 
> Firstly, are you using conventional or spinner?
> 
> ...


Thank you for your offer to help BB. 

Last night, after some waiting, I decided to wrap the guides on in place so mainly based on load test (bending rod and making sure all the distance between line and blank is even) the guides are in place.
Though I am still very interested in learning on guide spacing factor specific for distance casting rods if there is such a thing (Thus did not specify the blank in my post).

Anyhow, below is all the information I can think of;
Blank: Conoflex Nevada 13
Reel: Abu 5500 CS ME, 6500 Rocket and BG, 
Line: 30lb braids mostly, may be up to 50lb if really have to...
Guides: Fuji 20 ring MNSG as gathering ring, followed by a T-MNSG 16 then T-LMSG 12-12-10-10-10-10. 10-T-MNST Tip.

I get more kick out from casting FAR then catching a fish but West coast striper, halibut is what I am usually after.

I did an hour of test cast and watched how nice the line gets gathered up but could not get much out besides that..  

Cheers,

Troy


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## gundalba (Oct 29, 2006)

Additional info...

Butt to reel distance is ~29", first guide is about 5" (I am not near the rod so first guide location is just a rough guess from memory) below spigot on the butt section. I came up with first guide location by shaking the rod hard and try to see about where the blank begins to bend noticeably.
I am not sure this makes sense but had to make a decision somehow... LOL.


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## Black Beard (Jan 25, 2001)

Took a while, but this is the official Conoflex spacing for the Nevada:-

Inches between guides from tip:-

5 - 7 - 9 - 11 - 13 - 15 - 20

Guide sizes based on Fuji:-

10 - 12 - 12 - 16 - 20 - 25 - 30

Unless you have very long arms 29in from butt cap to reel seat may be a little long when tossing light lures.................

BB


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## gundalba (Oct 29, 2006)

Thanks for your info. BB,

It appears to me the data is for the dual purpose build...
I hear you about reel seat position. I am about 6' and built my other blank(10' 6") at 27". Even that, I found, is longer then most factory rods I see on the market. But this made the plugging almost no efforts with my way of holding the rod (Conventional/Palm seat/handle under arm pit while walking down the beach).
I've tried same geometry on Conoflex and found it became so tip heavy, it was obviously not going to work out for the plugging use. Least for my style of fishing.
I debated long on adding counter weight instead, but really did not want to add few onces of lead.
Thus decided to move the reel seat couple of inches above and give up on palming the reel while working on the plug and hold the fore grip section instead.
To my surprize, it still allowed me to cast same way I did which is a bit of hybrid between OTG and pendulum. 
My apology on babbling and getting back to the initial question;
Assuming that I am following the factory guide spec., what should I look for from test cast to "fine tune" the rod for distance casting? Is this "test cast" necessary or even useful?

Regards,

Troy


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## Black Beard (Jan 25, 2001)

Hey Troy, you obviously found the same spacing chart that I did!

Understand about the balance, but would add that if a rod needs a balance weight then something is wrong!

Hope it all works for you anyway, and don't apologise for babbling, it is something we all do at times - LOL 

Good luck - Neil


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## gundalba (Oct 29, 2006)

Hi Neil,

Thank you and I feel honored talking to you.
When you mentioned Penn, I had a suspicion that I might be talking to that famous world record caster but so focused and excited on my Conoflex, I didn't even check your profile.
Great stuff on your web site.
May be next time I will post more casting related questions and get to talk to you again.

Regards,

Troy


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## Black Beard (Jan 25, 2001)

Thank you Troy, look forward to it - Neil


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