Reel seat size

[Jake w.]

I am building my first rod and I am wanting to do a bfs type casting rod, so I am doing a 2 pc 6' ultra light rod. I'm buying pretty much everything on mud hole, and I was wondering what size of reel seat and grips I should get. The butt diameter of the rod is .38 in.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

It depends on the size of your hand what you feel is comfortable. Seats are cheap enough to buy 16mm and 17mm and see which you like better for this rod. Blank diameter doesn’t figure in unless you use an exposed blank seat in which case it’s sized to the diameter where it will sit on the blank 

[BassinBrett]

I have built 4 BFS with Fuji ECSM and I like them very well.  The are easier to fit and install and hold the reel well.  You would need a 9.5 mm size.  

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

16 minutes ago, BassinBrett said:

I have built 4 BFS with Fuji ECSM and I like them very well.  The are easier to fit and install and hold the reel well.  You would need a 9.5 mm size.  

You can’t know the size unless you know the handle length

[MickD]

Unless I'm missing something, the only difference between 16 and 17 casting seats is the diameter of the bore and a little bit of length.  With some seats the there are multiple bore sizes, as Brett states.  Fuji ECSM is that way as is the ACSM, which I prefer.  3/8 inch is 9.52 mm, so with a butt diameter of 3/8, considering taper, best fit is probably the 9.5 as Brett stated. If too tight one can easily ream it out a little.  I see no reason to even consider a 17 seat for bfs. 

 

I like the Fujis that can be ordered by bore size as they don't require an added piece to deal with .  

https://anglersresource.net/product_categories/casting-reel-seats/

[spoonplugger1]

I'd buy the shortest grip length I could find, which today would probably be 7 inches, an UL blank with light, small guides like used today would have zero chance of a excessive, tip heavy balance problem, you could always shorten the grip with a hand drill, drill bit to fit and an exacto knife or similar. Mudhole Elite EBMG, or ECMG-11 guide set, NBRLMT tip top which is black to match black guides would be the easiest match in both color and tube sizes available. Frankly I'm concerned any 9.5 reel seat bore would be to big if any distance from the butt, Batson seats that are identical the the Fuji ECSM start at an 8.5 mm bore.

[Jake w.]

Thank you guys for all your help! I just ordered some things and I'm pretty excited for the build

[BassinBrett]

How do you like the Barton / Alps MVT Toray Trigger Reel Seat?  It would be nice to have an alternative reel seat to Fuji that works well for BFS.

[KCFinesse]

4 hours ago, BassinBrett said:

How do you like the Barton / Alps MVT Toray Trigger Reel Seat?  It would be nice to have an alternative reel seat to Fuji that works well for BFS.

I like the feel of the mvt's a lot and they are close to the top of my list. To me- there are a lot of uncomfortable casting seats out there (weird trigger shape, etc.), but the mvt and fuji ecsm are hard to beat. 

 

- Jared