Anyone have any experience with spiral wrap conventional/casting rods? I will be buying a 8-9 foot rod and was wondering about this design. A gimmick or a functional design evolution?? Thanks in advance

Fair winds

ab

never used one but had a friend that uses one both tuna fishing and surf fishing. he says it drastically helped balance the torque on the reel when bringing in a fish to fight (i hope i worded that right)... anyways, he said he loved the feel it provided. im happy enough with my conventional surf rods that it has not given me enough motivation to buy one myself... the design is still something that im trying to adjust to as well.

mike

Makes sense for lifting tuna or jigging cod. Doesn't make much sense for casting. Also, I can't say I've been aware of any torque on a SURF rod built conventional.....maybe if you didn't use a foregrip you'd notice some.

I have a 13'6" s conv. rod I use with a avet 5.6 casts very well and is great for landing fish. It does tame the torque of the reel.

Also have a 7'6" flounder rod and a 7' chunking rod (boat) both acid wrapped

built three rods with spiral wrap
one to a fellow vet, one to a brother in law, and a 1087
for myself. the 2 were boat rods and both were happy with results [the only concern with one was how the spiral went-mine went to the right]
its seems that if the spiral goes right and ur reel is to the right u may have a balance issue. i didn't see any loss of distance on 1087. i think the best part of design is that if done properly the rod will do 90% of the work and ur shoulder and back take less of the strain. just my ho.
i got a lot of help and opinions from another site. and if u can get used to the oddity and look of the rod.
good luck with build
paul
:fishin:

all "conventional rods" will torque. this is due to the line forced to stay on top of the blank due to the guides on top, whereas the line wants to be at the lowest point on the rod, the bottom. depending on how stiff or heavy powered of a blank you have, you may or may not notice it. with a spiral rod setup, you could hold the rod on the fore grip (top) and rear grip (btm) with open palms as pressure is applied to the line going thru the guides and the rod will stay upright - reel on top. sometimes, there is some line leveling issues depending on the method built, but if you are leveling w/ your hand it's not noticed.

all rods i build now for jigging or bottom fishing utilitze spiraled guide layouts.

several people built FW rods spiraled w/o problems. many have built surfcasting rods spiraled and love them.

so, it's not a gimmick. fish one and then find out why they work.

all "conventional rods" will torque. this is due to the line forced to stay on top of the blank due to the guides on top, whereas the line wants to be at the lowest point on the rod, the bottom. depending on how stiff or heavy powered of a blank you have, you may or may not notice it. with a spiral rod setup, you could hold the rod on the fore grip (top) and rear grip (btm) with open palms as pressure is applied to the line going thru the guides and the rod will stay upright - reel on top. sometimes, there is some line leveling issues depending on the method built, but if you are leveling w/ your hand it's not noticed.

all rods i build now for jigging or bottom fishing utilitze spiraled guide layouts.

several people built FW rods spiraled w/o problems. many have built surfcasting rods spiraled and love them.

so, it's not a gimmick. fish one and then find out why they work.

Got any pics of 10' surf rods you've done? Would be cool to see one spiral wrapped. :uhuh:

Thank you all for your responses. My intention is to use the set up for casting and from what I understand that is a suitable application. Why spiral wraps sometimes called "acid wrapped"? Also, I use a left handed retrieve on my conventional reels. (I am righty but we won't get into that). Does it matter which side the bottom guide is placed? The rods I have seen have the guide closest to the reel tilted off line, down on the same side as the reel handle. For a lefty would one want it off to the left? Not explaining this well hope my meaning is understood. Thanks again for your replies.

ab

first thing that u want to do is spine the rod [google it its easier than trying to explain] the reason the first guide is a little off center is if u use a levelwind reel [won't lay the line back on the reel properly if it is straight up. couple of pics of my 9' with abu 6501 [left handed]. just google acid wrap rods and u will be amazed at the amount of info out there. good luck with ur build
paul
:fishin:

sorry the pics are not better

Spinners don't twist , regardless of where the spine is because the load is on the bottom of the rod. Sometime the spine will make a conventional torque but mainly its because the guides are on top and want to be on the bottom while under load as seawolf said.

Spiral wrapped rods do relieve fatigue on the fisherman. Its a great idea for rods that see heavy loads like boat rods with conventional reels. The guides can be spiraled from the top to the bottom of the blank in 3 or 4 steps like every 45 degrees or every 60 degrees. You want the last 4 or so near the tip dead on the bottom of the blank opposite the reel.

Some have said spirals on a long casting rod will cut distance , some say no. I think it depends on exactly how its built.

Makes sense for lifting tuna or jigging cod. Doesn't make much sense for casting. Also, I can't say I've been aware of any torque on a SURF rod built conventional.....maybe if you didn't use a foregrip you'd notice some.

Numb actually I think by that statement you would fish stiff blanks... I have a conventional wrapped lami 136-3m blank... ITS SLLLLOOOOWWWWWWW action like retarded.. lol and The way it bends would be actually ideal for this application... Similair to a 120-1l wrapped convench the wat the rod flexes along spine makes a huge difference with this style... Just my .02 though..

Hi, Yea I have used them and made a few. only as others have said cuts down on torqe and if made correctly still will cast nicely.

Good luck

Dan

Thanks--I do appreciate everyone's insights. Looking forward to it.

ab