Enjoy reading about the warm water ( and warm weather ) fishing on this Forum even though I don’t get the opportunity to do it myself.
While fishing one of our mountain streams yesterday, it occurred to me that I could finally contribute something here, something a lot of you have probably never experienced.
John
iv had the ice thing happen about 3 years ago while flyfishing for crappie in cyprus creek… make a cast, let the fly sink, hook a fish & land it then have to clean ice from the guides before casting again… wasnt raining either, just really cold but cought an icechest full that trip between 3 people that night…
Our Wisconsin trout season is now closed, since the end of Sept actually. If you want to play trout, you need to go to Iowa this time of year or another state where the season is still open. I went over to Iowa in October and the ice formed in the guides and made casting nasty until about 10:30 am. This time of year is now a late morning activity. I also hear about guys spraying their guides with Pam cooking spray which is suppose to help the guides not freeze up as quickly, but nothing works for long.
John, that rod looks a lot like my St. Croix Lengend Elites. I have three of them and love those rods.
Rick -
The rod is a Winston Ibis 7’6" for 3 wt. Great small stream rod, that they don’t make any more.
John
Cool. While I love the St. Croix Elites, my favorite, but not my most expensive rod is the Redington CPS, 3 wt. I love the 3 wt. 
Icing up is a common occurance during the winter when fishing for steelhead.
Line gets stiff also.
I haven’t found a good solution
Chapstick. S
We fish for steelhead untill the water freezes completely over. So icing is a big problem. Two of my friends broke their rods on the sameday a couple of years ago. When you get a steelhead on and the line does’t go through the eyes…something has to give. It is usually your rod.
I have that same Ibis rod. I like mine. I wish Winston still made the Ibis.
I hate icy guides! aaaarrrrrgggghhhh!!! lol. I heard to try pam or chapstick
Propane torch?
We had this discussion before. Just stick em in the water. Used to fish all winter when I was younger. Never caused a problem and works fine.
Bob
Bob, that’s how I fished SH on the PM in Michigan too. But it is not perfect and takes time away from actually fishing. However, I don’t think anything can be devised to keep it from happening other than 'battery heated guides" (no, they do NOT exist YET!) The answer might be someday be in a “special fly line” though (HINT: Bruce, ya listening?) Something designed especially for that. 
Spey rods and Alboline. Keep your line well greased with Alboline. With the spey rod you don’t have to bring the line into the guides so no ice can form. When you get ready to cast, lift the line off the water and give it a shake to shake off the water then cast normally. Also, with the spey rod you can wear real gloves!
fishbum
I know a walleye pro that coats his guides with vasoline when fishing rivers in the winter. I personally haven’t tried it, but I saw the pictures of the fish he was catching when nobody else was even trying. Biggies!
Haven’t tried the torch idea, but the chapstick works okay. Loon also makes a product called Stanley Ice Off that does pretty well for those who need a use specific solution.
I’ve been out chasing steelhead for the past few weeks. I’ve had one day where the ice DIDN’T happen. It’s aggravating but it’s just part of catching Great Lakes steelhead this time of year. I try to keep my rod in the water as much as possible. Other than that, I just run my hand up the guides and pop the ice out. Chapstick, vasoline etc…make the popping part a little bit easier but it doesn’t really stop the build up. There does come a time though, when it’s a loosing battle and that’s when I pack it in. Also when the ice chunks floating down the river get big enough to knock you over. That’s a good time to hang up the rod until ice out.
We now have about six inches of fresh snow…and it’s not stopping. I can hear tiny holiday decoration voices calling “put me up”. (“SHHH!!! Not until the US Thanksgiving!!” ) The felt souls on my wading boots are keeping me from getting to the river. Have you ever experienced what it feels like to walk on snow stilts? I love those lake effect storms. NOT! My brand new pair of rubber souled wading boots are sitting at my mothers house waiting and waiting for me to make the 130 mile run down, on Thanksgiving, to pick them up. It’s going to be a looooong two weeks.
LOL, been there, had my boots load up. Par for the course back then. Snow, ice, freezing hands, dripping nose, melted snow trickling down the collar. We called it ‘Steelhead Fishing’. Can you believe these guys out here fish in the summer in shorts, sun block lotion and wide-brimmed hats. And ‘they’ call it the same thing! Unbelievable.
I always dealt with ice in the guides by popping it out with my fingers.
Last winter I finally tried chapstick and it worked great. I applied it once at the start and it lasted the whole time I fished. Just don’t gunk it up in the guides because I would imagine that would be a drag on the line shooting through the guides. Also, it’s alot easier to pop ice out of snake guides as opposed to single footers.
Tom.