I'm getting ready to wrap a 10' euro nymph blank and need some opinions on guides.

I've seen that top name makers use snake guides or single foot. Mostly it appears to be a weight issue. If weight were not an issue what would you use snake or single foot. I have light wire snakes that I can substitute that are even lighter than the same size single foot guides. I will wrap with 100 silk thread and use a light coat of epoxy to seal the wraps.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Tom

This is not my area of expertise, but I do know that my personal 3 wt. Euro rod performed much better with larger guides than my 3 wt dry fly rod. I could use 2/0 guides effectively on my dry fly rod, but size 1 snakes worked better on the euro rod. The single foot guides themselves aren't lighter, it's the use of only one guide wrap that makes the difference.

With Euro nymphing rods, weight is an issue due to the fact that most of the time you are extending your arm to keep line or leader off the water. At he end of a day of this style fishing, your arm will be very tired!

I was hoping the lite sure snakes with silk wraps and thin epoxy finish would compensate fr the extra foot. Maybe I'll do a test on a short section of old blank cut so the two sections weight the same (grains). I'll wrap both with the same thread, finish both with thin epoxy and reweigh. Do some half assed extrapolation and see what results I get.

How about the function of the snake vs single foot with regards to leader and line knots, and casting a fly line should a hatch come off and I want to fish dries?

Tom

A #1 single foot thin wire would be fine with anything IMO.

I've built a few euro-nymphing rods with single foots, bought another with snakes, and I can't tell any difference/disadvantages regarding weight or passage of line/knots. At least with regard to how it affects "fishing/using" the rod. I think snakes are great, but definitely recommend going with the lite wires, such as snake brand, batson, or pacbay. You don't always have to hold your arm out (see videos on euro-casting online from George Daniels). Just keep your arm comfortable.

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In my experience, a lot of the issues with weight come down to the rod blank. Blanks designed for Euro-nymphing are lighter and have a very soft tip. A 10' 4wt rod blank designed for standard fly fishing comes out a little heavier, so messing with guide weights might help if you're using that kind of blank.

I use all 1/0s (whether single or double foot). Most of the time you'll be working with a long, thin mono leader. 1s would be good too. I fish dries too, and the 1/0s are fine with a 4 wt. line.

Good luck, Euro Nymphing is a lot of fun and can be pretty effective!

Thanks to all who responded. Guess it's up to me to decide since there seems to be advantages to both, and the down sides are minimal.

FYI...my black is a "Euro" blank which I had a fishing buddy compare to his Winston Boron IIIX Super 10. His opinion was favorable, so I'm satisfied with my choice of my 10' 4wt 4pc Quickline Czech Nymph blank.

Tom

Every Quickline I've had in my hand has been a nice stick to fish with.