If you have seen many of my custom rods, you know that the majority of the casting rods are built using the spiral guide placement method.  It has become my preferred method of guide placement and I’ll attempt to explain why.

            The spiral guide placement was first patented in 1909 by John Scanlan of Chicago.  It was made popular by Chuck Roberts, who ran a custom tackle store in Kansas City, Kansas, in the late 1970’s.  The spiral wrap was referred to as the “Robert’s Wrap” by another famous rod builder, Joy Dunlap, and the name stuck.  Controversy still surrounds the exact origin of this guide placement method.  The spiral wrap has fallen in and out of favor over the years, but it has recently experienced resurgence in popularity among many bass and saltwater anglers.

There have been numerous variations of the wrap.  The first one I saw was the Erhardt rod that JC Worthin was using when I fished my first Federation Qualifier at CJ Strike in 1998.  The guides were spaced closely together and got to bottom quickly, resulting in some sharp angles for the line to traverse.  It was my opinion that this would cut down on casting distance.  Other methods use less severe angles, resulting in casting distances equal to conventional guide placement.

Other individuals have continued to perfect the spiral wrap.  Rich Forhan has developed the Revolver ® System.  It works well for most fishing applications but seems to work best to bring the line to the center of the spool, when using “tight-line” techniques, such as spinnerbaits and crankbaits.  Its purpose is to prevent the line from piling up on one side of the spool.  It does this by positioning the first guide about 5 degrees in the opposite direction of the spiral.  Essentially, the edge of the guide that the line will contact is placed in the center of the blank.  This often results in puzzled looks when someone sees it for the first time.

Another method is the one made popular by Ralph O’Quinn.  The first guide is offset at a 40 degree angle, in order to get the line to the bottom of the blank as quickly as possible.  As odd as it looks, it works well with “loose-line” techniques such as flipping and pitching.   The line piling on one side of the spool doesn’t seem to be an issue when used for this technique.

Now that you know where the spiral wrap came from and a couple of different versions, what the heck is the advantage of the spiral wrap?  Its main function is to move the line to the bottom of the blank, where the blank twist is eliminated.  Is that important?  Think of it this way.  When your guides are positioned on top of the blank and you apply a heavy load to the rod, the line will naturally seek the lowest point possible.  It doesn’t matter if it is a large fish or just a stump root you set the hook on.  In order for the line to achieve its lowest point, the blank will have to twist downward.  On some of the higher modulus blanks in particular, there is a tendency for those blanks to break.  When the guides are positioned on the bottom of the blank, particularly on the tip section where the blank will flex the most, the twisting motion is eliminated.  This results in a decreased risk of blank failure.  Yes…if you use a “Hickey Hookset”, you CAN still break your rod!

One other advantage of the spiral wrap is when utilizing a casting rod for the drop-shot technique.  With the tip top facing downward, you have a decreased risk of looping the line around the tip of the rod as you shake your bait.  That loop could be disastrous when that big fish finally bites in the final moments of your tournament!

The next time you see a spiral wrapped rod, you won’t have to ask yourself what the heck the guy was drinking when he put those guides on!  Give me a holler…I’m always anxious to talk about “crooked guides”.