Can I get away with a 60 or should I go to a 70?

Per Mud-Hole 2006 Catalog, page 71:

Wire-Frame, Chrome-plated Stainless Steel
BRACED Line Guides with Silver Solder welds:
XBSG-70mm - ~$6
XBSG-60mm - ~$5

Close call. ... If you are fishing a lot of cold weather and nylon monofilament line or shock leader, and need distance in repetitive casting (lures) where the swivels are not keeping up with the line twist, I would go with the 70mm ring to reduce the line slap up front on the butt guide. ...

If you are staying at 20# test mono or under, the 60mm could be big enough. Above that or with a stiff mono like Ande, a 70mm should perform better.

Where you PLACE the guide can make a big difference. Test cast it and position it for less slap and more distance. (Maybe ~ 24"-30" in front of your reel spool.)

(If you are still using ANDE Pink or Clear, try instead the 1/4 lb spool of BERKLEY BIG GAME Green. It's the same price as the Ande and is much more supple and has as good knot strength and abrasion resistance. IMO, one trial will make a believer out of you, too. Old habits die hard, ...)

I doubt that the difference in the weight of the 70mm guide or the extra stiffness of a longer toe-spread on the guide feet is an issue. The extra height off the blank helps your casting, but is a bit more of an accidental banging hazard. But the guide is BRACED and really well anchored... Any (60-70mm) butt guide on a big surf pole sticks out like a sore thumb, so that is just par for the course. ...

Like I says, other than that, IMO, ... it's your call.
Good luck, ... -Cliff Hall+++, Gainesville, FL-USA*****



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2006 09:56AM by Cliff Hall.

Dale Cecil - If you would consider a move to the CERAMIC-ring guides, I think you would find that FUJI has some very nice HARDLOY guides that would be almost the same price as the those XBSG Wire frame guides. They won’t rust. Cracking nowadays is not as bad as when they first came out ~ 20 years ago. And performance is as least as good, if not better, all the way around.

Per Mud-Hole 2006 Catalog, page 68:

FUJI HARDLOY-Ring HIGH-FRAME SPINNING-SURF Guides
DOUBLE-foot, 3-Legged frame. Purple-ish ring color. Black finish over SS-frame.
BHVLG-40mm-HH $9. Also available in 30H, 25H, 25M, 20M, 16L. $7-$4.

FUJI HARDLOY-Ring Y-FRAME SPINNING Guides
SINGLE-foot, 2-Legged frame. Purple-ish ring color. Black finish over SS-frame.
BYLG-30mm $3.50. Also available in 25, 20, 16, 10, 8mm. $2.50-$1.00.


Per Mud-Hole 2006 Catalog, page 65 & 70: The FUJI ALCONITE-Ring Y-FRAME “CONCEPT” J-SERIES Guides are also an excellent, if not superior, guide series for this application. But ALCONITE C/BYAG’s will cost ~50+% more than HARDLOY BYLG’s.

FUJI ALCONITE-Ring Y-FRAME “CONCEPT” J-SERIES Guides
DOUBLE-foot, 3-Leg Y-frame. BLACK-ring color. Black or Chrome over SS.
BMNAG-40mm-J $8. CMNAG-40mm-J $11.

FUJI ALCONITE-Ring Y-FRAME “CONCEPT” J-SERIES Guides
SINGLE-foot, 2-Leg Y-frame. BLACK-ring color. Black or Chrome over SS.
BYAG-mm-J or CYAG-mm-J. About $4-$2, for 30, 25, 20, 16, 12, 10, 8mm.

Dale, if you use a HIGH-FRAME 40MM DOUBLE-FOOT BUTT GUIDE, with ALL the rest of the guides a HIGH-Y-FRAME SINGLE-FOOT Spinning Guides, then you will have a great set-up as well. It won’t rust and won’t cost maybe $5 more than your Chrome-ring wire-frame guides.

LAYOUT a 40HH, followed by Y-framed 30-25J, 20-16J, 16-12J, then 12-10J’s running on out to the tip. Some guys even go as small as 10mm for light tip rods. If you have leader knots, stay with 10mm or larger. … Top off the rod with a nice TIP-TOP Alconite BFAT or Hardloy B/PLT ($2-3 for either) and you can’t go wrong.

You can, of course, use brands of high-Y-frame guides beside Fuji (Batson Forecast, AmTack, etc) and do as well. I just picked one brand as my reference. –Cliff Hall+++