A spin on the rods as we know it!

[Mikey]

Spiral Wrapped Rods--No longer a skeptic!

Spiral Wrapped Rods--No longer a skeptic!

Written by slappy

Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:09

This article originally appeared in On The Water Magazine

As we were getting our gear ready to hit the water, I passed a new
spiral wrapped rod that I had just built to my fishing partner. He took
one look at it and reached up to align the guides, “it is a one piece
rod” I told him. He held the rod up and looked at the guides twisting
around the rod and said, “why?” Just about everyone who owns a spiral
wrapped rod has had this same experience, although this style of
wrapping has been around for years, there are still many experienced
fishermen who have never seen a spiral wrap and even more who have never
fished a spiral wrap.

For those not familiar with spiral wraps, a spiral wrapped rod is a
conventional or baitcasting rod where the guides spiral from one side of
the rod to the other—the first guide and the tip are wrapped 180
degrees apart. This gives the rod a very odd appearance; it looks like a
two piece rod with the top half facing the wrong direction. With a
standard conventional rod, all guides are wrapped on the top side of the
rod; with a spiral wrap, the first guide is on the top of the rod
followed by one or more transition guides that move the line to the side
of the rod, and the remaining guides to the tip are on the bottom of
the rod, just as they would be on a spinning rod.

Spiral wrapped rods have become increasingly popular in recent years,
but they have been around for a very long time. I recall reading an
article about spiral wrapped rods in a national fishing publication in
the mid 1970s; even then this wrapping style was nothing new. Internet
forums have helped spiral wrapping gain popularity in the last ten years
or so. These forums have exposed more people to spiral wraps and let
users share their experiences with their spiral wrapped rods. Spiral
wrapped rods haven’t hit the mainstream, but they are getting close as
more anglers make the switch.

The popularity of spiral wrapped rods is due to custom rod builders,
there aren’t any major manufacturers that sell a factory wrapped spiral
rod. Custom rod builders have long lead the industry in materials and
rod design, and many builders now try to convince their customers to
spiral wrap all conventional rods. Rod makers depend on repeat business
and the biggest selling point of a custom rod is performance, many
builders now think that the highest performing conventional rod that
they can build is a spiral wrap.

The primary function of a spiral wrapped rod is to reduce the torque
that an angler has to fight when the rod is stressed. When a standard
conventional rod is flexed by pulling on a fish, the pull of the line in
the guides creates a twisting force that tends to turn the rod over.
With a spinning rod, there is no comparable effect as the guides are
already beneath the rod. With a spiral wrapped conventional rod, these
forces are negated; pulling on the rod keeps the rod in the proper
position, guides down and reel up. A simple trolling experiment
demonstrates this: using a standard rod holder with no gimbal, a
conventional rod will flip so the reel and guides are down, but a spiral
rod will remain in the reel up position.

Many of us have used conventional rods for such a long time that we
no longer notice these forces at work because we have trained ourselves
to counteract them. But watch a novice fisherman cranking in even a
small fish on a conventional and you will often see the reel wobbling
from side to side as the angler struggles to control the rod.

The forces that an angler fights against vary—those forces are weaker
when fishing a light rod for largemouth bass and considerably stronger
when fishing a trolling rod for tuna. For the tuna fisherman, the forces
are strong enough so that the benefits are obvious, but the bass
fisherman may not notice a pronounced difference. However, a benefit of
spiral wrapping light rods is that the builder can use lighter guides as
well as use smaller and fewer guides. With the line moving to the
underside of the blank, single foot guides can be used in place of
double foot guides and it does not take as many (or as large) guides to
keep the line from touching the blank.

There are several methods of aligning the transition guides to move
the line from the one side of the blank (thinking of the blank as a
cylinder, the reel is at 0 degrees) to the other of the blank (180
degrees). The first method that I saw used was a slow transition that
moved the line gradually around the blank. On these rods, the first
guide is set at 0 degrees and each subsequent guide is offset 30 to 40
degrees until a guide is placed at 180 degrees. These rods have a clean
look, but they may not eliminate torque caused by pulling on a fish
because too many guides are on the side of the rod. Transitions using
fewer guides are very popular now; two popular builds are a two guide
transition and a one guide transition. In the two guide transition the
first four guides from the reel are set at about 0 degrees, 60 degrees,
120 degrees, and 180 degrees. A one guide transition puts the first
three guides at about 0 degrees, 90 degrees, and 180 degrees. I note
that the guide locations on the blank are set at about those
positions--experienced rod builders may have systems that puts the
guides at slightly different angles and are the most effective for a
particular blank or type of guide. Faster transitions using only 1 or 2
guides puts the line on the underside of the blank before the main flex
point of the rod, and this is a key to reducing torque when the rod is
under stress.

Spiral wrapping does have its critics, not everyone agrees that the
spiral design is a better fishing tool, but the funny thing is that most
of the critics have never fished a spiral rod. By nature I am a skeptic
and I didn’t believe the claims of spiral users—until I tried one.
Critics argue that spiral wraps are much ado about nothing, the torque
encountered by pulling on a fish is not very strong and that spiral
wrapped rods are poor casting tools. After trying spirals, I have to
disagree with these points.

I have spent most of my fishing career with a conventional rod and I
have never found it difficult to overcome rod torque while pulling on a
fish. Most of the time I fish with light and medium rods and in this
class the torque is weak and easy to overcome. In heavier rods I did
notice the torque, but never thought that I needed to work to minimize
it. After trying a spiral wrapped rod, I realized that I had been
working harder than I thought to keep the reel upright. I was so used to
the feel, that I didn’t realize how much extra effort I was applying.

I was very skeptical about the casting ability of spiral wraps
because of the angles as the line moves through the guides. I was
surprised when I cast my first spiral wrapped rod; there isn’t a
noticeable difference in casting distance. My favorite kayak jig rod has
a 2 guide transition and I can’t tell the difference between it and a
conventionally wrapped rod. I built a light baitcaster with a one guide
transition. I thought that the light rod with sharper line angles would
impact casting, but it hasn’t. In fact, I built the rod so light because
I did it spiral and I actually increased the casting distance, but more
on that later in the article.

It isn’t hard to think of applications for spiral wrapped rods in New
England. Just about every type of fishing provides an opportunity to
improve rod performance with a spiral wrap.

The most obvious use for a spiral wrap is a heavy stand up tuna
stick. A 50, 80, or unlimited class rod and a large conventional reel
require significant effort on the part of the angler just to keep the
reel pointed the right direction during the heat of the battle. Fighting
a fish standup is hard work and the torque forces can be reduced with a
gimbal or a harness, but a spiral wrap will give the angler an
additional advantage. There are even special roller guides made for
spiral wrapping heavy trolling rods, the All American Roller Guide
Company has designed special rollers for spiral wrapping that are
appropriate for any heavy class rod.

Most of us don’t spend much time fishing stand up tackle and the best
use that I have found for spiral wraps is for building lighter rods. By
lighter rods, I don’t mean lighter action, I mean lighter weight. Light
weight rods bring out the true performance of the blank and keep the
rod feel closer to the feel of the original blank. Sensitivity is a
function of stiffness and weight, so reducing weight on a rod will
increase its sensitivity. Spiral wraps allow builders to use smaller
guides because the line goes under the blank so a higher frame is not
required to keep the line from touching the blank. A guide set can be
made significantly lighter by changing from double foot to single foot
guides, even on 20 and 30 pound class rods. I also use one fewer guide
on a spiral rod than I would on a conventionally wrapped rod. Removing
weight from the tip section of a fast action graphite rod can have a
tremendous impact on sensitivity and performance.

The light build with a spiral wrapped rod can be used to create rods
for many of our local fishing opportunities. I spend most of my time in
the salt throwing big plastics on fast taper graphite rods like the
Graphite USA 85 XF or a Loomis Hot Shot rod. These extra fast rods have
lighter tips that are enhanced by using smaller and fewer guides. For
these rods, the performance enhancement isn’t so much the reduction of
torque; it is the reduction in weight of the guide set, especially at
the tip.

Earlier I mentioned that I increased the casting distance of a rod by
spiral wrapping it. I recently built a Lamiglas LMB844 as a freshwater
and schoolie rod. I started the guides with standard double foot Fuji
titanium SIC guides and after the transition, I switched to small single
foot Fuji titanium SIC fly guides. This kept the weight down and
retained the light and sensitive feel of the blank. The rod is much more
responsive than if I had wrapped with standard double foot guides and
it casts better!

The light build can be modified using heavier components to make a
great cod stick. Whether jigging or bait, many anglers get tired as they
reel up and have to rest the rod on the rail and reel. In part they are
doing this to counter act the torque of the rod and keep their reel up
as they crank up from the depths. This is a perfect application to build
a spiral rod with lighter guides. Reducing the weight of the guides
will increase sensitivity, make the rod more comfortable to hold, and
make it easier to bring the line back from the depths.

For the trolling crowd, spiral rods are nice to have in the rod
holders. Without a gimbal, the pull on the line will cause conventional
rods to flip around and face the wrong direction. Wrapping trolling rods
spiral style will keep the reels facing up and the pull of the line
will hold the rod in the correct position.

By now you are probably wondering why you don’t see spiral rods in
every tackle shop—there is only one reason, they look odd! Spiral
wrapped rods don’t look like other rods and most anglers don’t
understand the benefits. As I mentioned earlier, there are no production
spiral rods available. One local company, Local Hooker Rods, does make
spiral wrapped rods though.

Your best options for a spiral wrapped rod are to build it yourself
or to consult a local rod builder. Not all rod builders do spiral wraps
and it is beneficial to find one that specializes in spiral rods. An
experienced spiral builder will work closely with you to pick the right
components for your needs. Rod builders who make spiral rods are among
the most knowledgeable in the business and can select the highest
performing components.

For
those of you who are skeptical about spiral rods, try one. I was a
skeptic until I made one myself, now this year’s winter projects involve
taking apart several older rods and rebuilding them as spirals

[Oatums]

I know they work, but I don't like the look of them. I'll be sticking with the old style.....

[Saltwater Bass]

Awesome read, I have noticed that a few fisherman fish these styles. I wonder why not more? I know it's not the price because they are custom. The fisherman I'm talking about all fish custom rods. Interesting, and a question ill be asking at the next tournament event..

As for the beg fisherman (please take the beg term lightly, I'm no expert), it's so true. You do see them with the struggles of the rod turning on them( I just don't have the rod turning in my hands) . Interesting to see what someone has done in a creation of one persons miss use of the conventional rods.

[redrock55]

I have used one before, I have no complaints about it

[Saltwater Bass]

I hear casting is a plus on these rods