[Matt Henderson]

All,

Any tips on how to size the rod rings? I used the calculator off of the rod building forum but the rings appear quite small. A size two american pattern snake guide appears quite small for an 8/9 line weight but I have no real reason for thinking this other than looking at the guide visually. Will measure the fattest part of my AFS line once I'm home to see how big it is compared to the I'd of the guide.

Cheers

Matt

[Irvine Ross]

Matt

On my rod I used guide sizes

4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5,  and then 3 stripper rings 12, 16, 20

I looked at a factory built  14' #9/10 rod and then extrapolated a bit. I worked on the basis that if I ended up with the AFS head inside the tip ring when I was playing a fish then a bit too big was a lot better than a bit too small.

Cheers
Irvine

[Matt Henderson]

Thanks irvine. I think I need to buy a few larger ones! The threes look fine but they are tiny compared to the ones on my 15ft 10/11.

Cheers

Matt 

[Irvine Ross]

Matt

If you are ever over Aboyne way you are welcome to take a look at mine.

cheers
Irvine

[Matt Henderson]

thanks irvine.

I've had the vernier out and calipered the largest line I have a 10/11 AFS floating line.  The max OD is just over 3mm a size 2 snake pattern guide is just over 5.5mm so I'm even more confused now!

I measured on my 15ft 10/11 rod and the smallest snake guide is 7mm.  Having measured the guides I bought I'm going to move them all up a size. 

Regards

Matt

[Sandy Nelson]

Matt

I would tend to up the size by one from the reccomendations as well
american pattern snakes are taller than standard anyway
I tend to choose a tip and then size from that. Too large a tip and you can loose a bit of
control but too small and you may issues with flow. It's all good fun working it out but I would expect size 3 at the tip to be a good compromise and then follow the guide +1 for the rest.
Bigger butt rings are better too. Oooo..errrrr

sandy

[Matt Henderson]

It is good fun sandy but I guess my worry really is putting them all on, expoying it and then finding that its not good at casting because the guides are too big/small!  Not really sure I would give it a cast held together with masking tape!

So having upgraded the line size I make that

3,3,4,4,4,5,5,6,12,16

Does that sound reasonable?

Cheers

Matt

[Sandy Nelson]

Matt

sounds good to me, looks a lot like a SW 9wt pattern

Might be inclined to go 3,3,3,4,4,5,6,12,16,20 in line with Irvine on the Butt
The bigger butt rings will make it much better for shooting line, the smaller rings towards the tip will help keep the line tracking better and keep the tip fractionally lighter too

Just a thought

Sandy

[Matt Henderson]

thanks Sandy,

I'm going to order some more guides today and snake rings aren't that expensive so I'm going to get a few extras so that I can mix and match a little.  I'll get the wife to put a bend  in it (easy tiger!  ) once I've taped them on to see how it looks. 

Cheers

Matt