Hey all,

It has been ages since I have been on here. I doubt any of you will remember me.

I am building a couple Ultralight spinning rods on bamboo blanks I have made. These are for 2-4lb test line intended for trout and panfish. I want an ultralight guide option for this. I have considered the Pacbay minima series but I am afraid of the singing issue with those. Can any of you reliably tell me "from expereince" if the Recoil spinning guides sing out like the PB minimas do? If so, what would be another good option for these rods?

Thanks, Ray

I would recommend the Fuji KL-H or KL guides with Alconite rings. They are a good looking guide that would complement the blank. The micro sized KT with ceramic rings are lighter than the comparable Minima guide. I have not weighed the larger guides compared to each other. The stainless insert they use on the Minima guide is actually heavier than a ceramic insert. I know the ceramic guides will have a satisfactory sound with braid. If you are using mono line the guide type shouldn't make a difference and the Recoils would also give that "old school" classic look.

The overwhelming majority of builders these days choose either the Microwave guide system by American tackle or Fuji's KR concept for all types of rod builds and for very good reason , i had to be convinced myself by members here but when guys who have decades more experience building rods than you do say that they were blown away by the way their rods performed with these two choices i listened .

I'm very very glad i did listen because i have never experienced rods that perform on such a high level and i'm LOVING it .

Ray

I build ultra-light spinning rods almost exclusively. I use minnima M series for the first two guides, usually a 16 and a 12, then recoil 6s in the spinning series for the running guides. For the tip top either a conventional ceramic tip top or tie on a minnima 4L as a tip top. I have tried tying on a recoil 6 for a tip top, but the noise drives me nuts.

Curious to hear about the singing issues with Minimas. Last build on a 6'6 we used all Minimas including tip top. My hearing is not great but I have not detected anything unusual.

I have never heard the Minima guides singing but have heard the recoils do so, and I am hard of hearing. For an ultralight rod I normally use either the Minima M guides for the reduction train (16M, 8M, and 5M) coupled with Minima 4F guides as runners, or the Fuji KR guides (KL16H, KL8H, KL5.5M as reduction guides, and 4.5 or 4 KB/KT as runners). The Minima guides are lighter and this weight savings is due mostly to the lightness of the Minima M reduction guides. For an even lighter setup you could the recoil RSPG or RSPGB guides as runners with the Minima M guides for the reduction train. [www.mudhole.com] For all of these guide trains, use the Fuji KR GPS located at Anglers Resource, for guide placement. [anglersresource.net]
Norm



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2018 08:23PM by Norman Miller.

Same here, my Minimas, with stainless, or ceramic rings, don't sing. My Recoil guides on my travel rod that go down to a size 4 spinning guide don't sing much, far less than my fly rod with Recoils. Sometimes I've wondered if the guide lay out makes these guides sing more, or less and if they pick up some resonance from the blank? Never took the time to mess with it though.

Minimas all the way, I use the match guides to keep, Wet 4lb line from clinging to the rod, As they sit a bit higher.

Thank you for the info folks. I have ordered the minima M and F guides for these.

Again thanks for the advise.

Ray

Thank you for the info folks. I have ordered the minima M and F guides for these.

Again thanks for the advise.

Ray

My experience with the recoil guides is on a MH spinning rod with 15lb braid. It was a noisier rod than most but it wasn't unbearable. I also used to have a St. Croix Panfish series rod that had a minima lookiing guide (maybe somebody can verify if those rods used pac bay minimas or a similar looking knock off) that I only ever used with mono, 4 lb test. I absolutely loved that rod. If I were setting up an ultralight and not planning to use braid I would be after the minima guides simply because I don't believe that application can justify the price of the recoil guides.

Kevin Althoff Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My experience with the recoil guides is on a MH
> spinning rod with 15lb braid. It was a noisier rod
> than most but it wasn't unbearable. I also used
> to have a St. Croix Panfish series rod that had a
> minima lookiing guide (maybe somebody can verify
> if those rods used pac bay minimas or a similar
> looking knock off) that I only ever used with
> mono, 4 lb test. I absolutely loved that rod. If
> I were setting up an ultralight and not planning
> to use braid I would be after the minima guides
> simply because I don't believe that application
> can justify the price of the recoil guides.


Seems like braid and the Minima's are not a favorite combination , any reason why you prefer not to use braid with them ?

I use braid exclusively with minima's on my walleye casting rod, But I don't use their tip tops, With Braid i always use a good tip top with Zirconium or alconite etc. Same thing when I Use American Tackle, AirWave guides I just use a good tip top, with a good insert. I would guess some of these rods have upwards of 3-5 thousand casts maybe more? I see No ware or tear at all on the other guides what so ever. I'v learned it's a waste of time putting the boat in the water after Post spawn, And in the Fall, when their on the feed bag right up next to the wall thats where all the bait fish are in our rivers here. When the water temp goes up, The boat goes in!

herb canter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Seems like braid and the Minima's are not a
> favorite combination , any reason why you prefer
> not to use braid with them ?

The benefits of minimas are that they are light and there is no ceramic ring to pop out or break. The pitfalls are that they are softer and not as slick as ceramic inserts, making them noisier and prone to grooving in some cases. Because of how small and light guides have become, as well as the layouts we use (relying on a 3 or 4 guide reduction train and using many smaller runners), weight is less of an issue than it used to be. Guides are also quite durable these days, but a rod I intended to beat up more than normal would be an application where I would go to a minima even with braided line. Given all that, the benefits from a performance standpoint that you get with a material like alconite or SiC start to outweigh what you get back.

{Quote}Given all that, the benefits from a performance standpoint that you get with a material like alconite or SiC start to outweigh what you get back. But I'm just talking a {Tip Top} here, So you talking maybe a tenth or 2 of a gram more, Your not even going to notice it. Cheers Jaa

{Quote,Given all that, the benefits from a performance standpoint that you get with a material like alconite or SiC start to outweigh what you get back.} But I'm just talking a {Tip Top} here, So you talking maybe a tenth or 2 of a gram more, Your not even going to notice it. Cheers Jaa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2018 02:06PM by Jay Dubay.