Hi; I would like to build an 8 weight fly rod for bass fishing and I'm thinking of using single foot ceramic guides. I'm not sure what sizes to use. I've looked in past posts and can't figure out how to compare sizes of ceramic single foot guides to either snake guides or single foot wire guide sizes. Does anyone have any recommendations or is there a formula or table?

Thanks in advance;

Wayne Blake-Hedges

I built a 7 weight for bass fishing with ceramic guides and used a size 12 for the stripper and went down to a size 7 at the tip top. I had actually ordered a size 16 so I would have two stripping guides but the guide just looked too big so I didn't use it. I used a single foot v-frame spinning guide as the stipper and single foot ceramic fly guides for the rest. If I was going to do it over I would use all v-frame spinning guides.

With that setup I have no trouble shooting plenty of line.

There isn't any kind of table, but the Pac Bay site lists the ID's of both single foot wire and ceramic guides so you can figure it from there.

Good luck. I think once you've tried the ceramics, you'll probably want to replace all your snakes.

Here's a suggested set ~ 16 ~ 12 ~ and then #7 single foots the rest of the way. I've done 8 wts like this and they work great.

Use the smallest ceramic guides that your knot(s) will pass through easily. If your leader is always shorter than the rod length you can get down to size 5 or 6 without any trouble. WF 8 wt line will pass smoothly.
Some folks will tell you to go no smaller than 7, but I think you can determine that for yourself once you have it setup.
Kenneth Prager

For what it's worth, I use the exact same set up as Mike above for all my 7 and 8 weights for bass and pike.