My buddy and I were out fishing today. The temperature was about 26 degrees, and the wind was blowing about 30 mph. We were fishing on the Mississippi river in Pool 2 - near the St. Paul, MN airport.

With the temperture and blowing wind, I was having a lot of problems with my guides icing up.
I was joking about the fact that we were right at the end of the runway, and if the pilots were having this problem, they would not be flying.

It was not a big deal, since the temperature of the water was 38 degrees, so by dipping the tip of the rod into the water, it would quickly melt the ice back out of the guides for the next cast.

However, as a lark, I was wondering if anyone had ever entertained the idea of having a heated guide on a rod. This would be used for long rods, fishing in below freezing weather as I was doing today, or for ice fishing, when you are fishing out of doors with no shelter in below freezing weather.

For either case, it would not be a big deal to have a wire connected to a rod to run to a heater in the blank.
Of course it would do no good to heat the blank, rather it is necessary to heat the guide ring. I suppose that if one were using the solid stainless steel rings, that one could fabricate a heater of sorts by connecting the guide ends in series through a current limiting resistor to a 12 volt battery normally used for the boat, or for the depth finder.

The fishing was fine, and the big fish are migrating up the river for winter staging. Since this pool is only catch and release, there are multiple opportunities to catch a nice trophy in the waters of a major metro area.

Thanks for any thoughts or consideration.

Roger

There is an easierway. Those sprays that are used to keep frost off windshields work great to prevent ice buildup on guides.
Dave

David,
I suspect that you are right.

This reminded me of the time that the family and myself had gone to Yellowstone Park in December for a winter tour of the park. The outside temperature was -54 degrees.
We were riding in a Park - Bombardier. i.e. a tracked vehicle that had originally been built in 1936 and kept in running condition. However, the defrosting of the passenger windows was non existent. So, on each side of the machine a quart bottle of pure antifreeze was on the floor. The driver instructed us to use the bottle to drip antifreeze along the top edge of the window and let it drip down the inside of the window - coating the window. The excess puddled on the floor. The result was a very good - frost free view of the park.

There were other snow machines of newer vintage made from converted 15 passenger Chevy and Ford vans that had excellent defrosters on all windows. These new machines had track and ski assemblies added to the chassis, to make snow travel easy in the park.

If you ever make it to the Park, bring along some of your custom 2-4 weight fly rods and spend some time in the summer time fly fishing the various rivers in the park. Some of them are catch and release, and some of them allow you to keep one or two fish.
These rivers do provide some of the very best fly fishing in the country for various kinds of trout.

Thanks again for the tip on keeping the guides free of ice. I expect that this would also be a help, if using an ice rod - in the out of doors, with no heated shelter - ice fishing as well.

Take care
Roger

I would think a 9 volt battery somehow attatched to the butt of the rod with the wireing running up the rod and wrapping around the base of the guide would work. However, you would still stand the chance of melting the rod coat. Dont know, JMHO.Definetly something to play with and apply for a patent as soon as you get it perfected.

Roger - long ago when fishing in Michigan was still new, we often stood in watere just above freezing in our rubber suits and drifted small baits down the rivers for salmon and steelhead and browns. We used Coleman lanterns to keep warm and to melt the ice off the guides after a litttle while. in the stream.

We also found out that heating a guide, whether with electricity or flame, had the unfortunate result of sometimes messing up the glue where the ring meets the frame - resulting in a lost ring. Sometimes the finish would come off the frames. Sometimes a bit of carelessness would kill the threads and finish. And sometimes it was just too bloody cold to fish, without a shanty and an auger.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods