Although I've crafted fly rod blanks for many years and many rods, I have never used single foot snake guides. A fishing friend is building his first fly rod, and has said he likes the way single foot guides look. He asked me to comment, and of course I couldn't say much, other than to reply lots of fly fishers use them. Personally, I prefer the balanced look of double foot guides, and instinctively the double foot guides at least look stronger when mounted. So I'm also wondering about any difference in strength as a variable of guide stability while casting or fighting a fish.

I welcome any comments and/or pro and con for using single foot snake guides.

Thank you, jack.
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I don't know what a single foot snake guide is. Snake guides that I know have two feet. Single foot wire guides work well, and make a lot of sense to me compared to snakes.

I don’t have a lot of experience Building fly rods or the knowledge of others so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I built a 6’6” 2wt fly rod for small mountain streams and used single foot guides. I modeled mine after JP Ross fly rods which imo are the best small stream rods that you can buy. The single foot guides would produce a faster action rod due to less weight since there are half the wraps required. I like the look of a fly rod with single foots because it seems more unique. most of the trout I catch are 8-14” so they aren’t huge. I don’t see any advantage that snake guides would have for fish that size.

It was my first fly rod build and honestly it casts easier than my Orvis does. I probably will always build my fly rods with single foot guides rather than snake. I don’t notice a difference in stability or durability. But also, the fish in catching are 4-8” Brook trout. I did catch a 12” smallmouth with it once and it handled just fine.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2023 08:07PM by Evan Cobb.

I *think* HWI has a single foot snake guide. It’s snake in name only, however, as far as I can tell. It’s just a single foot guide. It’s marketed as a weight saver.

Michael:
Thank you for your comment. You have been one of my favorite contributors to this Forum for a long, long time. Now you just proved to me and our other readers how ignorant I am about "single foot wire guides" and why I was asking. Moreover, had I read the forum's most recent contributions, as I usually do, I would have seen a recent, prior question about single foot guides, that was very informative. A bad day on the Forum, for me, but I'll keep asking.
jack

I had a conversation yesterday with Mike McCoy of Snake Brand Guides while ordering some things and he said that he would be coming out soon with a single foot version that is a first for them. If the quality is as good as their "snake guides" they should be top of the line. To me at least, there is a significant difference in finish and construction between his and others I've used.

@Anybody who asks a question here is showing humility to admit their ignorance, hence the question - you're in good company my friend.

Have you ever built a spinning or casting rod?

I ask because if you have only built fly rods and only ever used double foot guides I would strongly encourage you to try a build with single foot guides. Or wait until your friends single foot build is done and compare it with as similar a blank you can that has double foot guides.

Evan Cobb was right about the action being affected, but I think there's a little more to it than just less weight due to less wraps, and I'd even say IP was impacted. Single foot guides significantly reduce the total area of the blank that will be covered with epoxy. The epoxy creates firmer spots all along the blank that make it faster than the added weight slows it down. My first build I was purely experimental in what I did - I went straight for the gusto and tried some wrapping 102 level inlays and olive branches, but I also just practiced my wrapping by using ridiculously long wraps. The 5 ft light moderate(moderate fast on the moderate side) blank noticeably became higher in AA and seemingly IP as well. The amount of thread and epoxy covering the blank stiffened it so much it felt like a totally different blank.

Less thread and epoxy keeps the blank closer to its natural state and usually lends itself to better casting and fish fighting ability.

Now mine was an extreme example, but I'd imagine a measurable impact using double foot guides all the way up - have you compared CCS of a blank to one of your finished builds?

And even if double foot guides are stronger I'd venture to say its overkill through a rod - 10 inch think steel bar vs 5 inch thick steel bar doesn't matter because no human is bending either of them.

Building rods in MA, Building the community around the world

Jack,
Perhaps a better term to use when referring to guides of this type would be single foot FLY guides.

Essentially, they are simply a metal guide with no insert in the guide that has only a single foot.

For example - from Alps - [customflygrips.com]

You also notice that the sizing is different than spinning and casting guides. In this case, Alps guides are sized from size 2/0 - 6.

Best wishes

I have used single foot guides on a number of fly rods that I have. And I like them as you only need to make half the wraps and their performance seems just fine. Some people and some retailers indeed refer to them as single foot snake guides, not sure why.

To secure a single foot guide on a fly rod some recommend using the Forhan locking loop.

Here are some good comments on guides by a renowned rod maker: [www.stickmanrods.com]

I build only fly rods and use single foot guides exclusively. The only exception is customer insistence.

While single foot wire guides are most prevelant, there are other single foots I use, Minima's for example.

As for you concern about strength, they con be bent easier than double foot, and if a locking loop is not used, can pull out if mishandled.

Up until very recently I have had some prejudice against single foot wire guides. Are they really lighter than single foot ceramic guides of similar size? I will weigh some that I have and see. I think that you need a few more than you would DF Snakes on a rod of the same length. A double foot snake guide will hold the line straighter with less sag in between guides than single foot guides at the same spacing. More single foot guides, than you would use double foot cast the equivalent in performance. You only need about 2 more.

Lance,
Why does a double foot snake guide holde the line straighter than a single foot guide?

When the line goes through a snake guide, the line only touches the guide in one spot.

When the line goes through a single foot guide, the line only touches the guide in one spot.

What am I missing that gives rise to less sag by a double foot snake guide?



Take care

You don't need additional guides with single foot.

Line sag is not an issue on fly rods as the guides are below the rod, and during casting there is continuous tension on the line Every rod I build with single feet have the same number of guides as would double foot.