I have a couple questions for you and then a couple thoughts... Is the 13' Breakaway (I assume another AllStar blank) really necessary? That's a tall rod under any application but how effective will it be on a 1.5 OZ plug? Even though it's rated 1-3, you certainly aren't loading it at 1 ounce, right?
I have not built a concept guide rod and have only seen a few of them so far. I know MikeT at capecodtackle has worked with a guy that's built a few concept rods. The idea makes sense when you think about it. You're basically coralling the line quickly and reducing line slap through the remainder of the blank. But is there a point where so many more of the small guides necessary for that setup on along rod will create enough additional friction that it negates the advantages of the "concept" setup? You would need something like twelve guides + tip + collector guides for that tall of a rod, maybe more after you do the deflection test.
I'm just throwing things up against the wall here, see what sticks, but that's an awful lot of rod to throw to get smaller plugs, typically not far flyers to begin with, to cast a long way. What are you going to cast? You may have a rod/reel that exceeds the total distance capabilities of your plugs. Some plugs like swimmers aren't going to really go any further that a well built rod br cause they just lack the ooomph to make it the rest of the way. If you have a properly chosen rod that loads up well, say on a 2oz darter, there may be some point where your rod that is 99% optimized for $400 won't offer any advantage over a 90% optimized 10-11' $200 rod.
Distance Tournamnet casting uses weights that are optimized for just that and every few feet you tweak out mean something but you are still limited by your gear. Actually fishing, you might build gear that is too well tuned for fish catching plugs to take advantage of....
I may rebuild my XRA 1205 this spring to tweak it a bit and soup up a mag elite just for that - real distance but it will still be geared to fish. If the fish are beyond the 100 to maybe 125 yards I can get that thing to, I'll just miss them. But 125 yards is almost 400 feet, how much further than that do you need to get? How often can you cast & retreive 300+ feet with a 3oz plug and still
catch fish with an intact shoulder
... I remember a day at the Andrea 2 years ago when I used a 3 oz weight to carry a teaser out to get fish that were 200 feet offshore in a 20-30mph breeze, I got a few but that was real work
....
Again, just my thinking....
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