Need some advice on the pros and cons of the three. Looking to set up a 10wt fly rod strictly for pike fishing. I have little expirience with ceramic inserts on fly guides. Thanks for any feedback.
Josh

I prefer wire, H&H to be exact. I think for the weight and durability they work just fine. I have never used recoil on a fly rod but have on spinning rods, I like the fact I can flex and snap off ice when steelhead fishing but if that is not the situation I would not bother for the cost. Just my $.02

I have no problem shooting line through wire. Some may say otherwise but for the waters I fish it suits me well.

Best of luck!

Eric

For a 10 weight I would look hard at the Recoil titanium heavy wire guides for the top 2-3 guides.
No corrosion, no rust, 30-40% lighter weight means less energy spent casting. To keep cost down after the titanium guides shift to H&H snakes. The stripper guide and the guide above it use insert guides. The additional weight of theses guides won't be a large factor placed closer to the grip. The alconite may be lighter than SIC but the SIC should have greater abrasion resistance. If you expect the fish to make long runs into the backing abrasion may be an issue otherwise choose the ceramics to save weight. The less weight you move while casting the longer your arm will last, also the faster the rod will respond.


Eugene Moore

Eugene,

What are your thought on Recoil casting style guides being used as a stripper guide and the one above it? I was looking at a 16mm and a 12mm casting guide then moving onto the single foot recoils from there. What about their tip tops? I know most guys from on their spinning and casting tops, but what about the fly tops?

Josh

Josh,
I build all my fly rods (#6 - #10 and all my 11' switch rods up to #12) with either Fuji Ti SiC's or REC recoil strippers. I ALWAYS install the REC recoil s/f heavy wire as running guides. They do in fact, as was reflected above, improve rod performance vs heavier guides.

Except for aesthetics I do not see any casting difference between the Fuji or REC recoil as strippers. Lately I have been using more recoils as strippers. I don't want a trip to be ruined by a cracked or loose ceramic - although it has never happened to me.
Regards,
Herb

Take a look at the Titan Ti ceramic ring guides from American Tackle.

Bill - willierods.com

Go with the Pac Bay Minimas and you'll never use any of the previously mention guides again!

Here's my .02

I don't know if anyone else has had this issue occur, but I built a fly rod using Recoil single foots and as the line passed in and out through the guides, the guides sang. Almost as if the guides resonated. Very annoying. Anyways: thumbs down on recoil single foots.

Fuji Alconites are excellent. Nice consistent fit and finish and from everything I have read, the alconite,while not as hard as ceramic, will not wear out. I have used alconites on my personal rods for 5 or 6 years and they all remain in excellent condition.

Ok, here's another one. What is better for shooting line(less friction)?

Josh,
I normally use double foot alox guides for the stripper and next guide up. The reason is cost. The Recoil guides are noisy and expensive. For this reason I only use them to reduce weight on the rod tip and increase velocity at the tip for distance. The running guides are normally H&H snakes to reduce cost without adding excessive weight. The number of guides may be reduced to increase tip velocity for shooting more line but will increase stress on the blank and the fly line. Each build has it's own unique set of priorities. Distance comes through increased tip velocity within the ability of the caster. I've never had a complaint that the tip was too light. Too many guides or too heavy guides at the rod tip slows the blank reaction speed reducing distance and accuracy.

Eugene Moore

The ring material won't make much difference in terms of casting distance - there is very little friction between the line and the rings.

Weight reduction via lighter guides make a much bigger difference in terms of casting distance.

............

In that case Tom it sounds like the wire guides might be the ticket. And since hard chrome is the harder material ??

Bill - willierods.com

On that rod, my choice would probably be Alconite all the way if I was budget concerned, SIC all the way for the best performance, and perhaps a combination of all three if it were to be "my" rod. I would try to spring for a SIC-titanium top. Lot of my lighter rods end up now with a SIC or Alconite stripper, 3 or 4 single foot ceramics, recoils the rest of the way, and a recoil or SIC top.

If it was going to be a spinning rod possibly fishing braid, which choices are stil viable? I know sic and alconite are but how about recoils and minimas?

From what I've heard, minimas have not been in use long enough to give an accurate indication as to how well they hold up to braid. If you will be using this spinning rod alot, and making cast after cast after cast and loading the rod fairly often, then you might want to consider ceramics. I think alconite will work just fine for braids. Recoils are a little noisy, and I've read here where they don't hold up to braid in the long run.

For freshwater flyrods, I don't know if I'll use anything other than minimas again. They are extremely light weight and IF they're any heavier than the single foot recoils, it's on an undetectable order of magnitude.