Anybody have anything negative to say about TiCH guides on a fly rod? I am wondering why you would use Stainless when TiCH is not that much more. Does the coating wear away? I continue to see mid to high end rods with stainless guides, am I missing something???

The commercially made rods, high end or otherwise, just use the same old thing. I have one rod with TiCH single foot wire guides but I haven't fished it enough to give you any advice on it's longevity. I do have a rod with Hopkins & Holloway black chrome snakes that have not held up well at all. If it wasn't such a pain, I'd replace them with single foot ceramics.

Hi Mike--aside from the bottom line, it seems a mystery why high-end brand rods don't use better guides. YES, the TiCh coated snakes do hold up much better than their hard-chromed equivalent, which are of course better than the straight S/S snakes which are less commonly used. I find Hopkins & Holloway DLC coating to be the best of all the wire options, but nothing compares to zirconium or SiC - class ceramics. Here's an interesting link on guide wear [www.hopkinsholloway.co.uk] .

We always recommend stepping up to TiCh if you're set on snakes or sf wire guides--in the case of the latter H&H standoff's with DLC are the best in my books.

Hey--it's a custom rod...it should be better than the off-the-rack-ers anyway! :)

Warmly,

I have used Ti guides almost exclusivly for the last 3 years. They seem to be holding up as well as anything else, and they look a bunch better.

I think many people (myself included) feel that TiCH guides are overkill on a rod used for freshwater. From what I have read a good quality stainless steel hard chromed snake or single foot snake will hold up for years and years in freshwater especially if you clean your flyline regularly. I think this is a true statement. I have a fly rod that I bought around 1985 that has hard chromed snakes and they are still in good shape. I don't fish saltwater but it is a different story from what I have heard and read - the only sensible way to go there would be TiCH or ceramics. I have used both TiCh and chrome on the rods I have built and have been pleased with both but I actually like the look of the chrome guides better.
And the cost difference is not insignificant. In general the TiCH guides cost 2 - 3 times what the standard chrome guides cost - at least where I have priced them.
Greg



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2005 07:16PM by Greg Mitchell.

Check the Rainshadow/Forecast site. I have used there TiCH guides and am more thna happy.

David Banaka

No problems with the TiCh guides, but I once grooved a set of Forecast black-chrome SF snakes pretty severely in only 3 months' fishing. This was in winter in SE MN where the majority of the time the line was covered with a thin layer of ice.