Have a couple of general questions on types you would suggest. I’m building 2. One for walleye and one for pannies. I’ve seen some use regular guides but otherzs prefer metal. Could you give me some guidance on preferences and sizes you like to use? Thanks for your help!

Chuck

Chuck,
In use, with the cold water and species being targeted; the fish will seldom make long runs while ice fishing. Also, when ice fishing there is essentially 0 casting done with the rods.

As a result, virtually any guide can be used on an ice rod with little chance of wear on the guides ever becoming an issue.

Also, if you are the user of the ice rods does a lot of ice fishing outside in subfreezing weather, there will be ice freezing into the guides.

A common practice for ice fisher folks who do use their equipment in the out of doors in subfreezing weather and contend with ice in the guides; they have to get the ice out of the guides. Lots of different ways to get rid of ice in guides, but it is pretty common - but not recommended - is to effectively beat the rod against the ice until the ice cracks out of the guides. As a result of this - rather common practice - some guides with inserts may lose their inserts if the practice of being beat against the ice is a common practice with the user of the rod. Hence, at least for some folks, the use of non ceramic insert guides is recommended.

But, again, for the users of ice rods that are used in very subfreezing weather and in the wind and sleet that may go with that weahter may want to use the v-3 triple braced guides which are ultra strong and can stand up to some very severe use and survive.

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But, in this part of the upper Midwest where ice fishing is the bread and butter of outdoor fishing during the cold winter months, the use of heated shelters is standard fare for the vast majority of the folks who go fishing in the winter. As a result of fishing in above freezing weather from the inside of heated shelters, ice in guides is a non issue. So, for these folks, there are zero requirements for an ice rod guide to have to worry about and deal with ice in the guides. So, for these folks and users of ice rods in heated shelter, virtually any guide may be used with great success.

Another thing that one needs to deal with when it comes to ice fishing - especially for very light action rods is the very small tip diameter of some of these very light actin rods when building rods for pan fish. Thus, when one wishes to build an ice rod with a very small diameter tip, one sometimes has difficulty in finding a tip top that may be used with no modification or special technique to have the average readily available tip top to nicely work with some of these very small diameter rod tips. Here is where it makes sense to use a vendor who carries a line of guides that are effectively set up to meet these different requirements.

If one does some checking, there are suppliers who specialize is supplying guides and guide sets that are both inexpensive and yet sized correctly with appropriate tip tops to perfectly mesh with the needs of the builder who wants to take a guide set and tie the guide set on the ice rod blank with zero difficulties.

But, again, with the zero need for casting, and the possible need for a guide to be tough enough to hold up to the abuse of being beat against the ice to free a guide or guides from ice build up, a logical solution is to use inexpensive guides with no inserts in them for the vast majority of ice fishing rod builds. Also, don't get carried away on the number of guides being used on a rod. With the very short length of many of the ice rods being built and used for this type of fishing, it is not at all uncommon to use only 3 guides plus the tip top for a guide set for these rods. Also, if putting a spinning reel on an ice rod, and the short length of the ice rod, consider using a taller stripper guide than one might ordinarily use on a rod of this type. By using a stripper guide for a rod using a spinning reel, once can avoid the herky jerky line retrieve that happens if one uses a stripper guide that may be too short and placed too close to the face of the reel for a smooth line retrieve.

Figure that for many ice rods that may be rather short, it is not uncommon for the stripper guide - i.e. the first guide up from the reel - to be placed near the center of the actual total rod blank and be in the perfect position for use on such a rod blank.
Some folks may not want to put a first guide up this far on a rod blank, but for many ice rod blanks and users, this position for the stripper guide is exactly correct. Hence, with the stripper placed at this location, the requirement for more than just a few guides in a guide train begins to become the norm for ice rod builds of this sort.

Good luck and good fishing in the cool temps of ithe ice fishing seson.

I just built one ice rod for Lake Trout, and I'm about to finish up another. They're a bit heavier than what you're probably looking to build, but figure I'll chime in anyways so you get the upper end of the range haha.

First one was ~38" long, used a tip section from a 2 piece rod my dad broke in the handle section as the blank. I plan on pairing it up with a Daiwa Fuego 1000 reel. For this one I ended up using CRB YG Elite guides, sizes 30/16/8, then two CRB RNG Elite Size 8 runners and a size 10 ring/ 5.5 tube Fuji F tip top. The size 30 guide seems a bit large hanging off such a short rod, but I wanted to get as smooth of a profile for the line path, as near as possible to the angle the line comes off the spool; if I was using a 500 or 750 size reel I would have gone smaller, or especially with a black betty style inline ice reel, but I want the 1000 size for going after Lakers.

Second rod is being built on the MHX 36" MH solid carbon ice blank, also going to be paired up with a similar reel, a Daiwa Tatula 1000. I'll be using CRB LZR guides for that one, but I imagine I'll still need to go with a similar reduction train starting with a 30-16-8, then 2 size 8 runners, and I'll use a CRB Medium Duty LZR tip top with a size 8 ring and 6.0 tube. Future builds I'll likely switch to Fuji KL-H guides for smaller rings at taller heights on this type of Laker build, but I just decided to start with these guides to see how the quality is for future summer rod builds.

Overall in my research leading up to the builds I found that size 8 is pretty much the smallest ring size you want to use if you're going to be fishing outside, in order to prevent guides from freezing up as easily. Also, for tip tops, wire loops are preferable for outdoors fishing in case you just want to tap the tip top on something to clear ice out of it. Though, in my own personal opinion, I would never do that, I'd much rather pick the ice out with my fingers rather than hit it against something. I also wanted ceramic ringed tip tops for these builds because Lake Trout can go on some serious runs. If you're fishing in a heated shack and aren't concerned about that, then you can use smaller running guides/tip top if you want.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2019 09:38AM by Ed Welch.

There is very little ice outside here in So Cal and hence I haven’t a clue about ice fishing; those of you who do are definitely diehards! From a totally remote if not ignorant point of view, would these charcoal-activated hand/feet warmer packets be a benefit to de-ice guides? It seems to be a much less brutal approach than whacking the poor rod on the ice.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Mark Talmo Wrote:
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> There is very little ice outside here in So Cal
> and hence I haven’t a clue about ice fishing;
> those of you who do are definitely diehards! From
> a totally remote if not ignorant point of view,
> would these charcoal-activated hand/feet warmer
> packets be a benefit to de-ice guides? It seems to
> be a much less brutal approach than whacking the
> poor rod on the ice.

Never tried it, but I don't think it would work that well, because those warmers really only put off much heat if you keep them in a confined space like a pocket where the heat can build up. Plus you're not supposed to get those wet. I've always just kept my off hand in a pocket with one of those and no glove on because it stays plenty warm, then if a guide ices up it's a quick enough fix with warm fingers; just need to pinch the ice to melt it a tiny bit and then the majority of the chunk will pop out of the guide easily.

When it is cold and the tip ices up, just put the tip in your mouth and the heat of your body will quickly melt the ice. It will also slack your thirst at the same time.

Roger helped me with the guide setup for my first ice rods, and as he said with a little searching there are many good suppliers of ice rod guide sets and tube style tip tops that fit small ice blank tips.

Most of my panfishing ice rods are built with a Pac Bay Minima 10 Match spinning guide, a #8 SV guide, and the rest #4 wire fly guides including wrapping one on as the tip guide. Wire fly guides are lighter, less expensive, and less prone to icing (the simple shape doesn't gather water like guides with inserts do.) I fish outdoors so most of my rods are in the 36 to 50 inch range, and require 3 to 5 fly guides plus the spinning guides and tip guide to evenly distribute the load on the blank and line.

I use a size 16 and the rest size 12. Usually 2-3 12s. Then find the biggest tip top i can get with the correct tube. No problems if a little ice builds up since guides are big

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the price is forgotten.