For those that don't care for spiral-wrapped rods . . .

Leprechaun

Kind of a Big Deal - In My Mind Anyway
Staff member
I used to be one of "those guys" as well. Fairly recently I've gotten much more tolerant of crazy stuff that seems to work. So for those that don't know, EverGreen is a super high-end rod maker in Japan that puts out some really nice stuff in the FW bass and SW slow-pitch jigging markets. Here's their latest tech:

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Nice rod in the "hyper-expensive" JDM rod world. Now check THIS wrap job out:

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Though it looks like my own first attempt at rod building 50 years ago, it is in fact intended to maximize rod sensitivity and casting distance, while reducing tiptop line wrap, by allowing the line to "Take the straightest path from the reel to the tiptop." I know, crazy, right?

Look, EverGreen is no fly-by-night entity. It is in fact a VERY high-end company, pretty much the international "tip of the spear" in rod design. Read the thinking on this - taking into account that its translated from Japanese:


For those that don't care to click on links they don't trust, here's as much as I can copy/paste - again in translated Japanese:

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"Does the "ZIGZAG guide" improve sensitivity?​

The "ZIGZAG guide" is an original unique to G-nius and has been verified for two years.
Mr. Tetsu Aoki was confident that the sensitivity would definitely increase, but regarding the rod sensitivity, unless there is a big difference, there is no big difference in the sensory sensitivity, and rather it changes drastically depending on the elongation of the line. my empirical opinion.
However, the "ZIGZAG Guide" amplifies the sensitivity by forcing the contact point of the line to strongly and surely contact with the number and certainty of the contact point .
It is not realistic that the line touches the blanks when the rod is not bent. It makes sense to be "sensitivity".
I was skeptical at first, but after using it fully for two seasons, especially in the 2021 TOP50 series, I was forced to admit it.
Now I've become so doted on that I can't bring myself to use anything else.


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The line (fishing line) originally does not touch the blanks unless it bends sharply. The secret to the good (or bad) sensitivity of the "ZIGZAG guide" lies in the rate of contact with the guide and Aoki's unique thread winding method that ensures that the guide is placed and transmitted to the blanks.

Is the flight distance okay? ?

However, there were still concerns.

It's the flying distance.

Doesn't forcing the line contact with the guide increase friction and reduce flight distance?

Furthermore, if it is a PE line, even an FG knot will hit the guide and not fly at all.

In addition, the PE line "does not get tangled in the ZIGZAG guide?" When…….

However, when I used the same rod with a fluorocarbon line and compared the normal micro guide specification and the ZIGZAG guide specification, no matter how many times I tried, the flight distance did not change at all.

The low coefficient of friction of the Torzite ring did not decrease even with the "ZIGZAG guide".

However, what impressed me the most about the "ZIGZAG Guide" was the no-sinker rig (" Triprotozoa " small and "Dice Rubber 8mm" ) that connected a 4-5lb fluoro leader to a PE line of size 0.3-0.4 with an FG knot. ) and it was time to try it.

I was thinking that I would never fly, but the comparison result was the unexpected result that the "ZIGZAG guide" specification had a longer flight distance than the normal micro guide specification and normal guide specification. .

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In the "ZIGZAG guide", the line is forcibly converged and continues to have a point of contact even in the state of rotation. This achieves a rectifying effect that does not let the line run wild and a tremendous sensitivity.

The reason why a light lure flies without problems on a PE line with the "ZIGZAG Guide"​

Will the PE line fly without problems with the "ZIGZAG guide"? Here's what I've come up with after testing:

The "ZIGZAG guide" has a small diameter and multiple installations similar to the micro guide, so it is installed at an angle, so the PE line does not flutter between the guides, and conversely converges straight and flies like a slide. is my opinion .

Checking the slow playback video etc., if the guide distance from the belly to the tip is wide, or if the guide diameter is large, the light PE line will pass straight through the guide while being pulled by the cast lure, but will ripple when the lure stalls. It flutters between guides like this.

This fluttering that begins at the start of the stall becomes resistance between the guides and reduces the flight distance.

Especially for worms that are light and do not fly, this PE line tends to flutter more prominently.

The same phenomenon could occur with fluorocarbons, but not as much as with PE.

Therefore , the "ZIGZAG guide" concludes that if even the hump of the FG knot can be tied to a minimum, the resistance between the guides due to the fluttering of the line caused by the stall in the latter half of the cast will be small, so even a light lure will fly well .

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By always having the contact point of the line on the guide side, fluttering of the PE line at the time of stall can be suppressed. Therefore, especially with a thin PE line around No. 0.4, the flight distance of an ultra-lightweight worm increases.

Furthermore, as for entanglement with the guide, since the anti-wrap guide is installed diagonally to the left and right of the blanks, it seems that it is easy to come off even if it gets entangled in the opposite direction."

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My thoughts: Well, there were many (especially including me) that thought that spiral-wrapped rods were an abomination on one of mankind's greatest creations - the high-end fishing rod. Now I own at least three that I can think of, right off the bat. Cutting-edge thinking evolves over time, that's called "innovative progress." Maybe EverGreen is onto something here. Maybe not. I just don't happen to have $700 to test the technology, but this particular company is not one to produce frivolous "one-offs" for the sake of being different. I tend to give such companies the benefit of the doubt.

Hey, they laughed at Elon Musk when he said he was gonna build a space rocket, right? Now he's beginning to seriously plan a mission to Mars. So why would a simple fishing rod innovation like this be crazy? I'll leave it at that, for now.
 

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