Which type of single-foot fly rod guides do you prefer and why: ceramic inserts or wire loops (including REC)?

Phil,

It really will depend on the angler. I have built several fly rods over the years and most are old school double foot wire loop. The reason many have liked the double foot guides is castability and virtually no fouling. Wire single foot loops are a bit lighter but again I fall back to the preference of the angler, if they are seasoned fly fisherman I let them tell me. Frankly I prefer wire loop guides for weight and look, I feel some castability is lost. Just my opinion of many to come.

Tight lines,

John Hernandez

I concur with John: wire loops for the clean, classic look and light weight.
Even if they are not technically lighter than some of the lightweight ceramic guides (as has been discussed frequently on this forum), they SEEM lighter to my clients.

Walt Natzke
Ripon, CA

After all these decades, I'm still experimenting. Being a rod builder now with quite a bit of extra time ( semi retirement ) creates an opportunity for me to constantly try out new guides. Light wires, ceramics, Pac Bay Minimas, Amer Tackle, Fuji, double foots have all been on my main 5 wt, 8 1/2' rod. This winter I am stripping it and will try Recs on it for the first half of the summer. When I am experimenting, I only do a basic wrap on the guide and put two coats of Cason's CP on it. Holds just fine! Mid summer I will make a choice and re-wrap and epoxy it for a couple of years. I know I will not put double foots on it except for the stripper and possibly the next butt guide. The thought of two wraps per guide on a 5 wt rod just seems like weight overkill to me even if it is probably splitting hairs. I have never really given Recs a serious try, so I want to give them a several month shot. I love the look, weight and feel of the minimas but had a little issue with them grooving a bit (but I may have had some bad line on that reel). Fun to experiment if you've got the time and can wrap. Give it a try.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2010 07:51PM by Steve Cox.

The little single foot wire guides would have to be the lightest. Keep the size small and use only as many as needed and you would have the least amount of weight possible on that rod. If you use ceramics I would cut the total number of guides by one to even out the weight difference.

here is another guide to consider : [] In the middle of the page :

NEW Seymo "Stand-Off" Single Foot Guides

Bill - willierods.com

I like the Minimas the best because you can get the benefit of a uniformly round inner ring without the added weight of a ceramic. Plus you can use a considerably smaller (and lighter) guide, i.e. a size 4 minima has about the same opening size as a lot of size 6 ceramic ring guides. Also the frames on the minimas allow for a better security wrap than the wire framed guides - particularly when security wraps are added to the narrowest part of the guide foot. This has allowed me to use a guide in place of a conventional tip top. Having used both recoils and Minimas, I've noticed that the Minimas are the "quieter" of the two. I haven't (yet) had the problems that Steve has had with grooving, thankfully.

Bill, I've used those very guides and absolutely hated them! They hung up constantly, and as a result had to be bent back into shape - occasionally resulting in broken guides.