Looking for recommendations on a brand of eye to use. A majority of the rods I build are in the 8-10 foot range and are used for float fishing. Guys typically use these rods with a garcia bait casting reel throwing roughly 1-3 oz .

Looking for a good middle of the road eye to use for my builds. One of the biggest complaints I get, and a reason I get the work I do, is typically from a guy who purchases a crappy rod with crappy eyes and after a year or two of use have cuts in the eyes from usage. Looking for something thats going to allow 7+ years of weekly usage without this being a concern. Not looking for the lightest titanium blah blah eye as weight is not a big concern. Just looking for a quality economical product to use.

any thoughts???

thanks

What is wrong with the two you have in your head? :>) Just joking. buy SIC guides or eyes as you call them, they don't wear out.

I like to call them guides. it sounds a little more professional

They're almost always refered to as "Eyes" here in the U.K. but i call them guides. A lot of rod builders in the U.K. also call thread finish "Varnish" I call it "Finish" but sometimes i refer to it as varnish to save people getting confused etc and asking what is finish?

Jersey, Channel Islands. (U.K.)

Seems a lot of my customers have poles with eyes that need fixin'........geez

______________________________________
Super Tight Lines......Don

Hi Steve,
Trust the Poms to call them something else!! In the Land of Oz they've always been guides. Think I'll stick with Lance.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

I have had a number of people over the years that wanted a Pole made for them. As gentley as possible I tell them that a "Pole" is something you go out and cut down,, but a fishing rod is something entirely diffferent!! I have had customers who treated their rods like poles. One just paid for a $400.00 rod, then took it out and droped it in the back of his open PU Truck, I was cringing as I watched him drive away. Go figure!!

I have yet to hear of any grooving with the Minima 3 or 4 guides.

Chris Richer
Iroquois ON

Casey,
I really know of no guides being sold in the popular market place today that have any grooving issues.

But, I suppose that there always exceptions.

Do you have examples or models of guides that have been proven to you to have grooving issues?

Roger

If you're after an "economical" guide that will provide good service and years of use, it would be hard to beat any of the common aluminum oxide guides. Most of the rings sold by the better known companies don't have any problem with their rings grooving.

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

Did anybody go xenophobic??? "Seems a lot of my customers have poles with eyes that need fixin'........geez"...??? Me, comin' from ze Poland pliss I 'ave no national recommenation. Quite honestly, we 'eren find Fuji guides/rings (whatever) are unparallelled. But then I have personally used Pacific Bay and Batson guides and have had no complaint from myself whatsoever. Both have performed quite up to the expected standard. Cheers,
Fatso alleged criminal

Hardaloy or as Tom Recommended Alum Oxide. I've had the same set of Fuji Hardaloy Guides on my Surf rods since 2003 using 50# braid catching a lot of large Stripedbass. I use alconite or Sic tip tops

Col Chaseling Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi Steve,
> Trust the Poms to call them something else!! In
> the Land of Oz they've always been guides. Think
> I'll stick with Lance.


Hi, Col. ha ha. It's mainly the customers who refer to them as that more than the rod builders. I've heard them in the local tackle shops here saying " i need some eyes for my rod" or when they come round to my place with a rod for an eye repair.... sorry, i mean guide repair, they bring the guides with them sometimes and say "can you whip these eyes on for me please and varnish them" i've replied to that sometimes with; " No, but i can wrap your guides on and epoxy finish them for you if you like" they usually reply with; er... what!?

Jersey, Channel Islands. (U.K.)

LOL Okay, after reading through the responses I did get a slight chuckle. I guess I just grew up calling them eyes, and most of the people I have built rods for do as well. So eyes... Guides... whatever lol

Anyways, thanks for the help. I have a better idea on the material I should be shopping for and was referred to a couple different vendors which seem to have some good offerings

thanks