I'm swapping my Slammer 560 with a 706Z and have it spooled with 30 lb fireline. With the monster size spool, should I really have an extra large size first guide, or should I be ok with the 40 on my rod? It's a 10' 1208, so there is a decent distance between the reel and first guide...

thanks,

-spence

If your going with BSVLG guides I'd go with a 50 for your gathering guide. However, I personally would set it up using BHVLG guides for the first two. The layout would be:
BHVLG 40HH, 30H, then BSVLG 25, 20, 16, and 12, with a 12 ring tip. I'm wrapping the same setup on mine as we speak. If you want the spacing I'm using, PM me.

You should be fine the way it is.

You need to make sure that the first guide doesn't choke the line coming through. Whether you need a 50 or a 40 depends completely on the size of the spool and the distance of the reel spool from the first guide.

Make a few casts with just an oz or two of weight and watch the line going through the guide, if it's hitting the sides (and you might even hear it), re-tie a 50.

with braid, memory of the line is not as big or an issue as with mono. especially after the braid has "broken in". you should be fine w/ a 40mm guide w/ braid, but you may need a 40hh. also, you may be better off and cast farther w/ the slammer because of the spool design. the z series reels have a wider/slower loop coming off the spool when casting. best advice, tape the guides on and go cast.

Thanks for everyone's comments. I think I've got it all worked out.

-spence

FWIW, I still go with a stripper guide that's larger or at least the same diameter as the spool I'll be using. There are a lot of people who feel that's a waste of $ and weight, that it doesn't matter. But, the only way I've found to minimize choking (and "hearing" the line singing through the guides and therefore causing drag) is to use large guides, especially the stripping guide, selected for the particular rod-reel combination that you have in mind. I realize that this means you can't just build an optimal distance rod and instead have to build the rod to fit the reel you'll use with it.

I found that Fuji CERMET guides produce the least drag, but at over $50 for a 30 mm light spinning guide, I haven't used them. I use SIC guides and they're expensive enough. But have had to use a Hardloy BSVLG50 for the stripper (because their largest HVSGHH is a 40mm (and that's too small), followed by High Frame SIC HVSG40HH, then H30, etc. down to smaller SVSG all purpose ones out to the tip.

What's worked well for me is to mount the reel and measure the angle of incidence to the rod--BTW, I have yet to find a mfr's rep who knows what this important angle actually is for any reel, so I measured it myself for all my reels. Then, conjuring up trigonometry I had during the 1950s, computed the choke point using the diameter of the spool as the base of an equilateral triangle and a zenith where the line hits the rod from the center of the spool, and so forth (see explanations of Fuji's "new guide concept".)

With rods less than around 10 feet, the ideal choke point is often past the rod tip (depending upon the reel's angle of incidence), a feature that will affect distance a little tiny bit. Reels with zero-degree angle of incidence to the rod (many Penn's for example), will cost a little bit of distance, because you have to "bend" the cone when you cast and that causes drag on the bottoms (sides away from rod) of guides. I use Shimanos because they have between a 2.5-degree (Sustain 6000) and 4-degree (Sustain 4000) angle of incidence and thus allow you to avoid "bending" the cone because the cone is naturally angled toward the rod. The Sustain 4000 has a 41.2-inch choke point; the 6000 has a 90-inch choke point (measured from the spool face). BTW, I use the same idea for my conventional rods, but use the width of the spool in place of the diameter of spinning spool--incidentally, the affect is that using traditional conventional rods with small guides causes a lot of unnecessary drag and costs a little bit of distance. Actually, I really think the ideal conventional guides would be rectangular, with the stripping guide a little shorter than the width of the spool and about an inch wide!!!

Once that cone of spiraling line coming off the spool is identified, I then use guides just a hair larger than the diameter of the cone on down the rod to the choke point. I also use a lot of them to reduce sagging between guides. From the choke point outward to the tip, I use the same sized guides (SVSG10s.)

With this setup, I hear no singing of line through guides (just a gentle whisper) and feel no drag, and think I get the max. distance out of the rod-reel combination, even though that doesn't mean a damned thing if there's no fish on the end!!!

Just my 2 cents worth.

Building a new rod is one thing but changing an existing rod is not as easy as just moving or resizing one guide. To do it right you need to respace all of them if you start playing. I would just use it as it is. lots of rods have a 40 BSVLG gathering guide and with the limp braid , I think you'll be OK.

Once I learned how they are measured I figured out I have a 50 anyway. Fixed my reel position and now I have very little bend in the line even with the 706. All is well - thanks - spence