I am currently building a medium heavy saltwater surf rod. Are there any real issues with zirconia ring guides for this type of build? Recently, I have come across some online references that specifically advise against using zirconia ring guides for saltwater applications. Any truth to those statements?

I was going to ask the same thing what guides are good for saltwater? I will hopefully be going Tarpon fishing. I got the rod and reel but was thinking about guides and can you use freshwater guides in saltwater? Sorry for jumping your post Roman.

Lone Wolf Rods
"Keep your powder dry and your lines wet"
God Bless

Basically any guide can be used for fresh or saltwater depending on the line used. If used in saltwater special attention needs to be paid to cleaning the guides immediately after use. If you don't do this, then don't expect any guide to last very long.

Hi Guys,
I fish in the surf, and do inshore fishing for Salmon and Bottom Fish in the Pacific Ocean. When I built my first surf rod I used steel guides with a hard chrome plating from the Mildrum Company. I used a Tungsten Carbide ring on the tip top. After nearly forty years, I found no corrosion and the tip-top had no grooves in the ring. I also rinse, wash, rinse, and dry my rods after every usage. When I rebuilt that rod three years ago using the NGC method, I used Fuji Alconites with stainless steel frames.

Today we have a large number of guide and frame materials. Tungsten carbide and silicon carbide are the hardest. Zirconia is also very hard. Any of these rings will stand up to saltwater and modern fishing lines. I would also suggest using either a Titanium alloy or a 316 stainless steel for the frames. If you take care of your rods these guides will last a long time.

A couple of days ago there was a post on this forum and among the responses, there was a Vicker's Hardness table. You can compare the various material and make your own judgement. Four built a saltwater rod for salmon and used Zirconia rings with 316 stainless steel frames and everything is holding up very well. Good luck with your projects.

Mike Blomme

No problem with the ceramic material. Don't use frames with deposition coatings, they simply don't hold up very well. Stick with high quality stainless, titanium plated or better yet ... full titanium alloy.

The rings will be fine but I would suggest to also stay away from the polished Stainless frames. They will still corrode a lot more than the darker painted stainless ones. A g
ood comparison here is the Fuji BMNAG vs CMNAG. If you want a shiny frame, as mentioned above go Titanium plated like the Fuji ICMNSG or full Titanium.