Hi fellows,

On my next fly rod project, BAF907-4, I decided to give a REC recoils a shot. So far I have been using Fuji's guides and therefore I'd like to have second opinion about sizes of recoils I thought to use in this rod project. Setup would be

Strippers RSG16 adn RSG12
Guides 1xRSFX5, 1xRSFX4, 3xRSFX3 and 3xRSFX2
TipTop RTT-S (or should it be RTT-L)

Are these sizes good for 7wt rod? Is there anything I should know about recoils before placing the order?

Thanks for your help,

Antti Kymäläinen
Finland

Antti,
The guide setup you are considering looks good. I have built rods on both the light and regular recoil guides. Both should stand up to use.
The only thing I had to be careful of is the amount of finish I allowed to overlap from the wrap to the guide and rod blank.
It all looked good until I started showing friends how the guide could bend and return to their original shape. The bending action caused the overlap finish to separate from the guide and the blank. The fix was easy, but on my second rod, I applied finish only to the wraps, which is my preferred method anyway.

Antti, your snake guide sizes look fine. I'm building a 9'9" three piece 7 weight for steelhead with Recoils now, and those are the sizes I chose. For me, however, the number of guides of each size depends on where the guides are located on the blank. On a four piece rod, for example, I would expect either four or five guides on the tip section. If four guides are on the tip section, I would make them all the same size, then increase the size on the next section of the blank. If five guides are on the tip, I would use either two or three of the smaller size, and two or three of the larger, depending on the blank. Also, in this latter case one guide would likely be directly on the ferrule. If your blank has tip over butt ferrules, the diameter of the female ferrule is probably going to be larger then that portion of the blank where the next guide will be placed. You may need to increase the size of the next guide to make certain that the line will have a straight path through the guides. You would be wise to order an extra size 3 and 4.

I do not like the Recoil tips, and use Fuji titanium framed tips with SIC rings for rods heavier than a four weight. Same for the stripping guides. Just a matter of personal preference.

Thanks guys,

Like you said Dan, I also have used Fuji's in strippers and tiptops earlier. If I choose to use them (TSVSG for strippers and TLST as tiptop), how they match with recoils when color is concerned? It's hard to say since I don't have guides on my hands and have to rely on information I can have from catalogs and manufacturer's homepages or ask from you who have been using both already...

Is there something else or is it just looks, that makes you choose fuji strippers over rec's? I know they are more durable due sic rings, but since my rod is going to be used in freshwater there is not necessity to use them. I'm probably trying to convince myself not to buy TSVSG's again, but can't help myself, love those guides ;)

Thanks, Antti

Antti,
I have found out that the color of guides doesn't have to be same. I have a factory Gatti where strippers were black and snakes where chrome and I didn't even notice it before I replaced them with Fuji SiCs. It actually looked pretty cool.

Jari

The Recoils have a little more shine to them, but they are fairly close in color. I prefer the looks, but I also prefer the SIC rings. The size 16mm Fuji TNG titanium weighs only 25.3 grains on average, and the 12mm only 14.5. I'm sure the REC strippers are even lighter, but I still don't like them.

I ordered a couple of the REC strippers but they were too ugly to use. The REC guides are pretty bright, close to chrome. I really liked Dan's response. I would use a SICs for the strippers and tip top. I think you may find you need another couple of 2s, and less 3s. In any event, I would not use RECs on any blank heavier than a 3 or 4. You are just killing your performance. Use all ceramics, maybe the new titanium nanolites.

I appreciate your input you did to answer my question. Your answers made me rethink whole issue again and result is that I ordered full set of good proven titanium sic's from fuji but also set of single foot recoils. I want to see recoils in order to figure out what's all the fuzz about with them. Then I can make comparison by myself. Rec tiptop and strippers I discarded. Maybe then I end up using still my favorites TSVSG and and TSG or use recoils instead of TSG :S


Thanks, Antti :)