A rod wrapped in the normal fashion above a spiral wrapped rod.

I step aboard the party boat and lay my rod on top of the engine box. A few minutes later I return and there is an angler trying to twist my rod. He says, "Your guides are crooked and I am trying to straighten them out." He thought it was a 2-piece rod. My response is that it is a 1-piece rod and the guides are positioned that way on purpose. Oh, he says, and lays my rod back down. I then proceed to explain to him why the guides are where they are.

The above scenario actually happened, as well as many other similar stories. Most anglers are not familiar with a spiral wrapped rod. So what am I referring to? It is generally accepted that sometime back around 1910, a man named Roberts designed a conventional rod with the guides starting on the top of the blank and curving around the blank until most of the guides were wrapped under the blank.

Apparently, like many new ideas, this way of installing guides did not generate interest. The idea lay dormant for many years. I am sure a rod designer here and there has built his rods this way and was looked upon the same way as Roberts. I have been told that Daiwa marketed this type of rod in the 1980's, but it did not sell enough to keep them in the stores. I first became aware of spiral wrapping in the 1980's, but did nothing with it. The birth of the Internet and rod building sites brought spiral wrapping into the present day and the term quickly became a "buzz word." This rebirth also rekindled my interest and I was shortly thereafter hooked on this method of designing and wrapping a rod.

So what is a spiral wrapped rod and why build or own one? To understand this we have to start with the blank and its spine. Every rod blank when placed under a load, top pulled down, wants to turn to its natural position. When loaded, the outer curve is the top of the spine. A knowledgeable rod builder will use this to his advantage. On a conventional rod the guides will be placed on the top of the Spine. Now while fighting a fish the blank will try to rotate to this natural position. Except, when you install guides above the center of the blank and the tip is pulled down, as in fighting a fish, the rod will twist to the right or to the left. This is readily seen at the tip of the rod. This is due to the guides and line being above the center of the blank. You might not realize this as your hand is keeping the rod from moving. On lighter rods you may see the tip of the rod twisting side ways. You may also sense this torque/twisting by your hand being tired or hurting at the end of the fishing trip.

I have built a rod with 2 sets of guides installed on it. One set is wrapped conventional style and the other set is wrapped spiral style. This rod is used at shows as a demo to illustrate the torque/ twisting of the conventional style versus the steadfastness of the spiral style.

It is actually very easy to design a spiral wrapped rod. The difference is that you need an extra guide or two. Most of my bay, sound, and inshore rods have 8 guides, so for a spiral style I use 9 guides. Spine the rod and mark the blank. Install the grips and reel seat accordingly. Now use the static deflection method to determine where each guide will be positioned.

Static deflection!!! What is that!!! This very easy method to determine how many guides and their location is described in rod building books. You can also go to www.noreast.com, find Featured Articles and select the year 2005, months January, February and March. You will find 3 articles about Basic Rod Building. Included in the January Article is a description of static deflection.

Do the static deflection as you would for a conventional (guides on top) rod. Then rotate all but the 3 transition guides to 180 degrees, or the bottom side of the blank. Transition guides are the first 3 above the reel, and they lead the line from the top of the blank to the bottom. Because the static deflection was done with the guides on top of the blank, when you rotate the guides to180 degrees or under the blank, you will have a smoother flow of line and a nice parallel path along the blank.

It is very important that the first 180-degree guide, closest to the reel, is in a position before the flex of the blank begins when it is loaded. On stiff (little flex) blanks with the fast or extra fast tip actions, you will have several of the 180-degree guides before the blank flexes. This is normal.

What do we do with the transition guides? Remember these are the 3 guides just in front of the reel. This is where the fun begins!!! Still using the static deflection method, position these guides to move the line from the top of the blank to the bottom without the line touching the blank or the fore grip. Some designers accomplish this in a few inches, usually 4 to 6 inches. They place the 3 guides close together and are interested in getting the line to 180 degrees as quickly as possible. They are not interested in a smooth line transition. These rods are used for bottom fishing from a boat or bridge. The designers that are laying out the guides for a casting rod are more interested in a smooth linear transition of line from the reel to the first 180-degree guide. The 3 guides will be further apart. The first transition guide above the reel does not have to be at 0 degrees. You can off center it up to about 30 degrees. This will help the line get to 180 degrees faster.