12 wt. fly rod/ Guide ideas?

[fishbite1951]

Picked up a 12 wt. 9' 4piece blank :thisbig: at the Lamiglas Get Together, looking for some guide suggestions from anyone that has built on this size fly rod and any spacing you might suggest. I don't worry about knots passing. May be used in saltwater, for sight fishing. I don't do snakes guides.

[StickFish]

Welcome to iFish - its sort of a custom around here to tell us a fishing or hunting story so we all get to know you a little. I'll look forward to reading it.

Now to your question - you have pretty much already pointed out the fact that you do not want ti use snake guides - for a heavy fly rod that is probably not a bad idea.

I'd probably usea blend of single foot and double foot guides with inserts and since you mention salt water I would probably use either a stainless steel SS316 to start or a titanium frame guide.

For SS316 I would probably stick with a blend of Alps LXn's like the XLXNZG at least two or three of them, than for the rest I use a single foot SS316 XPFZG. These would be polished SS with a zircon insert

If you go Ti look at the Fuji TLSG concept and TSG single foot - these would have a Silicon Oxide insert. Ti are a tad more expensive.

Hope that helps

[Bobbin for steel]

For a spacing start (and only a start) you can look at some of the manufacturers sites. Several post their guide spacings and you can probably find a rod similar to yours. That should get you in the direction anyway. Look up static guide spacing and do some test casting when you get it close to refine things.