There recently was a thread on double stripping guides on tuna rods and the purpose of same. I didn't want to hijack that thread but I have the same question as it applies to fly rods.

What is the purpose of more than one stripping guide on a fly rod? It seems to me that the stripping guide on a fly rod will be subjected to stresses that the running guides will never see so a double footed, beefier guide is appropriate but why do you need more than one?

George, I'm no expert on building fly rods, but the theory is that the short gap between the two strippers will help tame the fly line to make further casts. I've never tried one, but the guys that have built them that way say they work.

George, I had looked this up a few years ago, even tried it on a rod. Technically it's not 2 stripping guides. If I remember correctly, its a normal stripping guide and a "taming guide". Mark pretty well sums it up in the post above.

Tony

OK, I should have been more clear. I'm not talking about the two strippers close together, I'm talking about a second or even third stripper located at the normal guide spacing. I really can't see any need for that second or third stripper other than maybe aesthetics.

There is only one stripping guide on a fly rod, the first one. All the rest are running guides.

The idea behind putting 2 guides, 1 of them about 4 inches past the stripping guide, is to control the line on the cast and prevent it from over- running the normal 2nd guide placement.

You can try this with any rod you own by simply taping on a guide in that position and seeing if you realize any benefit. With soft, supple lines, you might. With heavier or stiffer lines, you probably won't. But it's easy enough to try it for yourself.

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It dawns on me that George may be talking about ceramic guides, not necessarily stripping guides. Some folks refer to the ceramics as stripping guides and the non-ceramics or snakes, as running guides.

Most of the power in a rod is in the butt. On very heavy saltwater type fly rods you may see 3 ceramic guides used on the butt to withstand a longer period of use under heavy stress that would otherwise cut non-ceramics. Although, running guides get the same torture even without as much pressure on them and sometimes only last a few seasons at best. For this reason, many rod builders use ceramics all the way out.

The number of legs and feet on the guide is mostly immaterial from the standpoint of the line itself. On areas where the guide might be bumped and banged a bit, a double footed guide would be slightly more durable. But a single foot guide, wihin reasonable care limits, will do every bit as well in most cases.

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Good Morning George,

I bought my first flyrod from a custom rodbuilder in Sanat Monic back in 1961. He as also a tournament caster. The rod I bought was a 9 foot 7weight which I used for steelhead fishing. I oticed that this rod had three double footed guides which the rod builder called stripping guides The seconf guide from the butt was about 4-5 inches from the butt stripping guide. When I asked him why, he told me that the second stripping guide reduced line slap and gave longer casts. he also seaid that on long and heavy weight rods he also added the third double footed guide whih he calleld a stripping guide. Tom may be right that this third guide is just a running guide. On the flyrods I build I use the same method on long rods particularly if they are 5 weight and above. For lighter weight rods especially those that are shorter than eight feet that will be used for short casts on small streams, I use a single strpping guide. I test cast all rods I build and I do get an increase in distance and smoothness of the cast when using the line tamer guide. I admit the smoothness may be more psychological than physical. Recently I have also switched from snake guides to ceramics for the running guides on all of the heavy weight rods I build.

As always, you should test cast using the line tamer guide and without the line tamer guide and see for yourself if you get longer distances. I usually do 10 to 15 casts without a single or double haul and measure the distance. You will also need to calculate the average distance, and if you are anal like me, you can calculate the standard deviation and relative standard deviation from the mean to determine how much variation there is in your casts. The reason for the statistics is that the variability of the casts due to my inability to make two identical casts. I hope at least some of this helps.

Mike Blomme

Thanks all for the responses!

I've never tried the "tamer" guide but I'm going to have to play around with that and see how it works out.

On the extra ceramics or strippers, I can see an advantage from a wear standpoint on heavier rods.

I've built several fly rods over 8 feet utilizing American Tackle Titan single foot guides with the nanolite ring and solid titanium frame. Using those guides makes for a very long casting rod.

Again, thanks for the help. This site never fails to impress with the quality and quanity of information available here.

In regards to this "taming guide" which is often called a stripper guide by virtue of being a double foot ceramic...

Is this an extra guide in addition to the number of guides dictated by the standard of (length of rod + 1)?

The reason I ask...when people talk of this guide, it is always 4" ahead of "the stripper".

Thanks,

Tony

The line tamer guide, which is probably the best name for it, is added in addition to your normal guide number and space. You can take any rod you have now and install a line tamer guide without changing any of the other guides you already have on it.

Tape one on about 3.5 to 4 inches past the stripping guide, make it one size smaller than the stripping guide (same frame style, however) and give it a try.

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