Adding guides to rod

[oddbudman]

Hey ppl,

Recently I purchased a 7'6" 4-8kg berkley tournament inshor spin rod. The rod itself is nice and light and it has all fuji bits with sic guides. I got the rod primarily to use to flick little 10-30gram slugs at pelagics and for fishing 1/4-1oz plastics for tuna and reef work.

After catching a few fish with the rod, i am feeling a little disappointed with the rod's performance - it just feels kinda flexy in the butt when i try to load it up when i'm hooked up with good size fish.

This came as a surprise to me as it seemed pretty nice in the shop when I decided to buy it.

Anyway, on one trip back to the boatramp, I looked at my rod sitting next to my friends nitro.

My rod only has 7 guides, my friends nitro distance spin magnum butt has 9.

I'm trying to find out if part of the problem I am having with this rod is a lack of guides to help transfer the load of the fish properly to the rod.

The current guide locations are as follows:
Tip, 150, 170, 200, 210, 230, 330

Would more guides help this rod perform better? Is it much of an ordeal changing the guide locations?

I spent a fair amount purchasing the rod in the first place - so would be interested to know if the rod can infact do what I want it to.

cheers,
oddbudman

[el_carpo]

Hi Oddbudman,

First, I would suggest trying to return your rod and getting one that would serve you better. The place you bought it may let you do a trade in. You shouldn't have to perform an operation on your rod to make it do what it should have done in the first place. If the purchase was recent enough and the rod is in good shape, you shouldn't have a problem. You can call them and see what they'd say.

Having said that, I can tell you that changing guide locations can have an effect. One of my rods broke at four inches from the tip and I decided to add a new tip right at the point of the break. Well, that didn't go so well. The tip and the second guide were too close and it created all sorts of problems. The line twisted and would tangle around the guides. To fix it, I had to remove the second and third guides and place them further away. I used my brother's rod as a guide to proper guide placement and it worked.

Whatever you choose to do, I wish you the best. I hate it when I shell out good money for bad product.

[DR]

if it is flexing in the butt, nothing will help, it sounds like you would prefer a fast taper rod that when fully loaded the butt still feels strong. as the tapers soften the load moves further down the blank, i hate a rod that loads down into the foregrip. While slower tapers have their uses for different styles of fishing, i find it's not a huge compromise for my style of fishing to stay with fast tapers.
adding extra guides will not fix your problem, if anything it can make the sloppy feeling worse.
I don't see any advantage to having 9 guides on a rod unless it is a really soft taper,sounds like it is a 'new concept' type spacing, which personally, i haven't decided whether is just marketing hype or not..6 was always adequate, 7 was good, each blank is different & should be built accordingly, no good putting 9 guides on something that works fine with 7, just adds to the sandbagging effect.

if not happy with it sell it on here & buy another, this time put a reel on it in the shop & load it up, that will give you a better idea of how it will feel.

as an afterthought,, you are not fishing with braid waay above the rods ability & overloading it are you, that can have a similar effect.
the whole fishing 20lb braid on a 12lb rod thing has a lot to answer for...:-/

[oddbudman]

Thanks for your input DR.

I am running 15lb braid, with moderate drag, but nothing i would consider over the top. I have a few other (lighter) graphite rods that don't seem to have this flex in the butt problem when put under similar drag pressures.

Anyway, looks like i'm off to the rod shop then. I'll take the reel next time.

oddbudman

[finga]

Anyway, looks like i'm off to the rod shop then. I'll take the reel next time.

oddbudman
Sorry to hear about the rod mate.
But as DR has said....you know the rest.
The best thing you can do is take the reel and go out into the carpark and have a fight with a shop assistant fish.
Then you'll know right of the bat if the outfit connects with you or not.