Can I use Ceramic ring guides instead of snake guides?If anybody has any ideas please let me know.
Thanks
LilJoe
Sure you can. Eagle Claw does it with their lightweight rods.
Don’t know for sure but seems like it would start to add too much weight.
I have a Kilwell 11ft rod with full ceramic guides and it is a good rod, not sure how it would go on a smaller rod.
All the best.
Mike
I think it depends entirely on what you are after. Fuji makes some specifically for fly rods. I think Eagle Claw uses spinning guides because they already get them for dirt cheap due to the quantity they purchase, if they don’t make them themselves. These are single foot guides.
For a knockabout rod, this would be great. If you are trying for a custom built rod on a Winston or T&T blank, then no. But for a knockaround rod on a $7 Ebay blank, why not?
Inserted ring guides are available in several different materials / thicknesses with more frame choices than you can shake a stick at. While not as light as wire guides, the weights have been drastically reduced. I prefer inserted rings on my personal rods for several reasons, but number one would be quietness.
Check out Fox Statlers site for some great thoughts on fly rod design… Especially on guide choice!.. I’ve changed my habits when building rods!
www.willowford.net
Absolutely you can use insert guides on fly rods. As indicated above, Fuji makes fly rod guides in about every series they have. American Tackle also makes a fly guides with a variety of inserts, as does Pac Bay. I prefer single foot wire guides myself, but the insert guides work very well with 6 wt + fly rods. They are particularly well suited to the new sharkskin type lines.
My ideal rod would have ceramic guides.
That was interesting. I’ve heard something about this a couple of years ago from a friend that was designing a rod for the Canadian Youth Fly Fishing Team. He was mentioning the use of more guides than we currently use on rods today. If you’ve actually used Fox’s formula, let me know how you think it feels like. Is the trade off of more weight worth it? I suppose it’s worth experimenting with. I’m not too keen on using ceramics all they way up the rod. I’ve seen rods built that way though. I haven’t take one out to cast so I really can’t comment.
I took a rod out for a day that had many more guides than usual. To me it seemed to really cast line out well. I noticed that there wasn’t as much bow in the fly line between the guides. My guess it that it reduced the drag, but it’s only a guess. It would be neat to see some slow motion video of someone casting rods with the traditional guide spacing vs. one with more guides to see how they perform next to one another.
TT.
If you use his top choice guides… Yes it’l cost ya some… But why skimp on YOUR rod?.. But frames like frames for eyeglasses have come a long way!! And the weight of the Titainium these days really makes this a moot point… Some spend $100 on lines to try and get what they want out of their rod… Guides are cheaper than that… N do more in the long run… Of course I Don’t go out n Update my rod every year either… Not that I don’t have a spare blank lest I need to relocate a guide set someday!! Foxes site is indeed interesting! As I feel is the man! Ummm pssst…Notice his River Bottom colored Sculpin?!!..! N a few other patterns! He’s also edited that page… As guides changed… So did his top choices! And he also goes bigger on ring sizes… Look the rod pics over real well… Those are not “Fly” guides either… They are infact spinning rod guides as Fly guides are much shallower n allow the line to touch/slap the rod blank…another drag…! He takes each rod out and test casts them before actually wrapping the guides also… His rods are also available in Left, Right or neither handed models… Further reducing drag! N yes! It makes a difference!
The weight of todays graphite fly rod blanks, are only a a couple of ounces in weight. Having built most of my own fly rods, I have no problem with using snake guides, and stripping guides. Even some of the older fly rods that are fiberglass and split-cane in my collection are not a problem to cast, when fly fishing. The split-cane (7 weight, even has it’s original guides for silk fly line) that I use the Cortland Sylk Fly Line for fly fishing.
Your the rod builder, do what you want, follow your heart. If it does not workout to your satisfaction, you can alway remove the guides and try something else.
~Parnelli
With the advent of titanium single foot snake guide by REC and a choice of light- duty or heavy-duty guides, I have done some experimental rod building and have these suggestions. I prefer the light-duty guides for rods up to and including five weights. I also suggest adjusting the guide setup to place a guide on the ferule or ferules (depending on the number of sections of the blank). I also suggest a minimum of 17 guides (including the Tiptop) on a nine foot rod and three coats of Poly-Urethane Varnish, by U-40, per guide wrapping. Guide wrappings can be refreshed every year or every other year by simply cleaning the existing varnish with alcohol and applying another coat. The smallest suggested guide opening is a number 4 with a regular loop tiptop guide.
For heavy use five weights and larger weight rods I suggest REC’s heavy- duty single snake guides, or if you want an extreme shooter rod, I suggest the new American Tackle, Nanolite Ring, Titanium Frame, Fly guides with a couple stripping guides. I suggest a minimum of 16 guides, including the Tiptop and at least four coats of poly-urethane. For regular use rods, a #6 single foot is the smallest opening guide and a large loop tiptop guide. For extreme shooters use a minimum guide opening of 10 millimeters and the tiptop should be another 10mm running guide, not a tiptop guide. Tiptop guides set lower on the blank and do not come in 10 millimeter openings and will cause a choke of the line at the end of the rod. Beware of extreme shooters because of their incredible shooting ability and speed, it is not uncommon, when the last two yards of the fly line is leaving the rod, for the line to come off the ground so quickly that the line will wrap your hand on the handle twice. Adding an extra guide will not cure this problem. The only way to stop this from incurring is to have plenty of excess line laying on the water or deck of the boat.