A friend is an alligator hunting guide here in Georgia and he uses an 8' XXH ABU Garcia Veritas casting rod w/ 100# braid to snag and fight them in to the boat. I have been given the task to repair the rod for him, and I want to replace all the guides. Using a standard wrap with all double foot guides on top, what guides would you recommend me look at? I am not real sure what guides are on the rod now and I guess they have done well considering the abuse the rod takes. The rod takes a thrashing and the current guides are bent, broke and missing inserts.
Thank You

No experience here, but logic tells me that heavy duty double foot stainless steel guides without inserts might be the ticket here. Why would inserts be needed for this application.

[mudhole.com]

I used Recoil Cerecoil guides on a light offshore build and you can bend them all the way down to the blank and they will pop back in place without any damage. They are pricey. You could also look at their other double foot guides, without rings, and get the same affect, very hard to damage.

219 views and only 2 replies? I expected to see more options. Thank you Michael and Lance for your time.
Steve

I think Michael has given you pretty good advice...No alligators in Iowa.
Steve

Some of the Veritas rods I've seen had Fuji stainless guides with alconite rings.
...and some come with titanium guides and zirconium rings.

Steve, normally the guys on this board would reply with some options. Probably only one other builder on this site has any experience catching a gator on rod and reel. I would go with the least expensive double foot Fuji heavy duty guides. No matter how much care you take with this rod, its going to take a severe beating.

I'd use the Angler's Workshop carbide ringed guides and tip top, A forever setup, I would also try to talk him into a spiral wrap so he's not fighting his rod/reel also.

I am going to have to agree with Spencer's suggestion of the carbide for the guides and tip top. While not the least bit familiar with alligator fishing, dependent on the actual guide height leading to torque with a conventional layout, the spiral wrap may just be more beneficial than percieved as well as a reduction of the amount of guides needed

I like Michael D's suggestion on SS ringed guides, and Spencer & Ron on the spiral wrap. Your friend will be amazed how much easier it is to manage something heavy on the end of the line with that spiral wrap setup.

If it were me, I would try to find a 7'-8' composite glass blank that is rated for up to 100lb line and build it out with an aluminum reel seat, x-flock over EVA grips or x-flock over cork tape grips. X-flock over cork tape is pretty resilient and easy/cheap to replace if damaged. I would expect that build to have more legs than that Veritas. Would be a shame to put the time in to removing the guides (a pain to do) and replacing them only to have that blank break a month or even a year later.

Lastly I would suggest making sure you underwrap with A thread, then double wrap the guides on with D thread. Aim for 4 coats of your preferred guide epoxy before calling it good.

Would love to see pics of whatever you end up doing, sounds like a cool project.

My first thought was Ring Lock guides, heavy version. Only because he's using braid. I've used them and they get knocked around by big fish and handled it all without ring loss. But..........theres no alligators in Hawaii that I know of so my suggestion may not apply.

I've been on 2 gator hunts myself and we did not trash the guys equipment. Most of the damage comes from the chaos created when the gator gets close and starts thrashing around beside the boat. They roll up in the line and then the rod gets beat up against the boat and anything close. I appreciate the extra recommendations; I'll take a look at them all.

Steve