Can someone help me confirm the size of a guide I need to replace? I used American Tackle's single foot titanium alloy framed ceramic guides to build up an 8 wt rod. I am pretty sure the guide I need to replace is a size 8. The inside of the frame is 8 mm, the oustide of the frame measures roughly 10 mm.

This is the third time the ceramic insert from one of these guides has popped out. I built this rod just after the titan guides came on the market. Has this issue occured with the next generation of such guides? FYI, I am not looking to fault the product, I just dont want to go through this again.

In a related manner, I am considering building another 8 weight rod. The more demanding uses of the rod would be bonefishing and some Great Lakes tributary fishing. Are the Pac Bay minimas up to this sort of applicaiton?

Holiday greetings and thanks to all!

I have used Titans in recent years without ring retention problems. However, if I were to be making a rod with salt in its future, I would use Alps 316 stainless frame guides. While nothing beats the corrosion resistance of titanium, the Alps are really classy looking guides, very well finished, and should do well in salt if treated reasonably. While I have no solid data on the fly guides, I have experienced a couple suspicious frame failures on Titan spinning guides. They seem fragile. There are a number of stores on the left that are really quality operations and deal in Batson/Alps/Rainshadow products. My most recent experience was with Midwest and they were great.

I have no experience with Pac Bay guides.

Hi James,

Sorry for your problems with the guide. Is it the NIF or the NIRLF guide? I will gladly replace the guide free of charge. Please send me your contact info to joe@ameriantackle.us along with a copy of a receipt. Every guide on the planet has sporadic ring failure. The new designs with the ring lock frame have just about eliminated the problem. I’ll be shocked if it is in fact the NIRLF. I can literally count on one hand guides which have lost rings in the new ring lock design. Impact is usually the problem but I'd like to see that guide. Please mail me the guide I'd like to look at the measurements to make sure there are no problems on that end. Warmest Regards, Joe Meehan, American Tackle Co. Inc

Joe, thank you for your response. I am just going to buy a new guide when I order some more supplies from the retailer I go to. For the $5 +/- it cost to replace the guide as part of a larger order, its a better use of everyone's resources. I have not lost failth in any of your products, and can assure your offer here is uneccessary to keep me a happy customer. Besides, I doubt I can find the receipt! If I could find that, I'd know what ring size I need to order. Can you tell me based on my original post? FYI, I am sure its the NIF series guide. I built this particular rod right after your titanium alloy frame guides came on the market.

Its likely a size 10. Measure the frame opening that the ring fits in and that is your answer. I currently use the ring lock design on nearly every rod I build where rollers are not specified and have had zero failures. These guys are fishing everything from inshore sightfishing redfish up to tackle beating power bottom fishing. I have had exactly zero failures with the newer ring lock design and would recommend making the switch as rings pop out. What really surprised me was when I was on a boat when a swing and miss happened whack on the t-top, break a solid fiberglass rod, and not a single one of the virtus heavy series so much as bent a frame, chipped or popped out. That is what literally confirmed what I already believed about American Tackle's ring lock series of guides.