I will be building a 9 foot 5 weight Sage RPL Graphite III this winter. I got the rod several years ago from Sage as a warranty relplacement. My question: is there any reason not to use single foot ceramic lined guides on this rod. I have built several rods all with single foot guides and really liked them. I have been doing some research on this Sage blank and I have seen some conflicting infornation on the best guide to use. FYI the rod Sage replaced for me was a 9 ft. 5 wt. that I built with swingle foot guides.
Any input welcome.
Thanks
Joe Luebeck

Joe, I built a Sage VPS 6 wt last year with single foot ceramics (Fuji BLAG) for the running guides, double foot ceramics for the line taming group - it casts great. I don't believe there is a reason to not use the ceramics on your blank.

The Alconite single foot ceramics should be fantastic on that rod.

Another vote 'rat cheer' for Fuji Alconites. Sorry, I'm listening to Jeff Foxworthy. Ralph

You must be a " redneck " LOL

Alconites will, no doubt, do a great job on that rod. However, if I were you, I would go with at least smoke/SICs or Titanium/SICs on that blank. The general slickness of Alconite vs. SIC seems negligible when used on casting/spinning rods, but the SIC seems MUCH slicker when used with fly lines. I'm personally fond of the new AST fly lines from Sci Anglers. When used with SIC guides (and good guide spacing), the result is just phenomenal shooting ability.

If it were my blank, I would use Titanium SICs. I would start with sz. 10 high frame single foot stripper, followed by two sz. 8 strippers, the first a high frame single foot, the second a fly guide, all 4" apart. Then, I would immediately transition to sz. 6 running guides all the way to the tip. I would also put my first stripper about 32" from the butt of the rod. That's just my personal opinion, but a set-up along those lines will shoot line incredibly. With the fast action of those RPLs, and the slickness of SIC, you'll have a cannon.

According to Jeff, yessir. Ralph

I probably know the answer to my first question, but here goes.

Why don't rod companies use single foot guides instead of snake guides?

I know there is not set pattern (each rod is different), but how many guides would you put on this rod and how far apart?

Andrew. You are a bit out of the box here. Why the 10 instead of a 12? Did you really mean a stripper-tamer-tamer? I am about to rebuild a 6 weight boron for fresh and would like to hear your explanation.

Sean, Loomis and St. Croix use single foot wire a good bit but can't or won't seem to make the leap to single foot ceramic. I understand many UK fly rod manufacturers use single foot ceramics. Cost does not seem to be the major reason as you can put some very inexpensive ceramics on a fly rod and get noticeably improved performance and durability. Not as cheap as wire guides but only a couple bucks more even at my retail pricing. I think they are just timid about losing market share from folks who want a traditional look.

On a 9' 5wt. rod, I usually end up with 10 guides plus the tip. Spacing is usually action-dependent. In general, more closely spaced guides near the tip to protect the soft tips of fast action rods and guides more spread out on more moderate action blanks. At least, that's how mine usually end up.

thanks

I built a Sage RPL 9', 4 wt last year. I used the titanium SIC single foots. I love it. I would hate to put too many, too heavy guides on that crisp and nice a blank. If I were to try to build that rod cheaper, I would still use the titanium SIC on the top section and for the tiptop and maybe switch to Alconite for the rest of the way down. And maybe a steel framed SIC stripper. You can tell I think the SIC is a little slicker than the Alconite.