Building an 8 wt stick and having a debate with myself, as I often do, about the size of my running guides. I was thinking size 8 ring running guides as they should pass all the knots that I have. The rod is for king salmon and often they run into backing, would it be dangerous if I even went to 7 ring running guides? The weight savings is barely any so for sake of knot passing the 8's sound dandy...am I on the right track or have I derailed?

The smallest guide that passes your knots nicely is the guide to have, I use 8s on my 10 wt rods for chinook. If you are using Fuji Alconite 7s the rings are a little bigger ID than most, the Titans look like they might be the same, they pass my 8 wts just fine. Not sure about shooting heads however.

I use 7's on my 8 wts and have no problem. But I can't think that using 8's would really make that much difference. I know it would make some, but maybe not enough to really matter to the end user. If you don't know what he's going to use line and leader wise, it might actually make sense to go with the 8's and plan on the worst case scenario. I just don't think it will harm the rod performance to any great degree.

Hay Jason
When you start to answer yourself, your in trouble

Hey Jason-

I have built several 8 and 9 weight rods all of which have used ring guides. I agree with everything stated above and feel strongly that if you have to generalize, 8s are going to work for your running guides and will pass your knots. I personally prefer the Fuji SICs with titanium frames.

However, I recently purchased and began fishing some floating 8 and 9 weight Wulff Triangle Taper lines. While I really, really like these lines, the size 8 guides are NOT big enough for the thickest portion of the line's taper. The line hangs up and doesn't flow that well (with maybe 30 - 40 feet of line out and a 10' leader - that's where you encounter the thickest portion of the line). Normally you will have more line than this out, but when I was bass bugging along the shore from a boat it was a problem.

Before this experience, I would have told you 8s will always work. Now I am not so sure. There may be other lines/tapers out there that pose the same problem. I think the best answer would be to buy the 8s, tape them on, and then test cast on the water with the largest diameter (probably floating) line you will be using. The 8s will probably work, but if not you can still correct. I hope this helps. Good luck!

Bill