Spent some time crappie fishing yesterday and today. I am have settled on the ceramic tip for light mono for sure. Stainless on the rest of the rod is nice and light, but a good, smooth ceramic tip is my preference.

Can't blame you for your choice Marc. I built a rod as a gift for a friend using Minima match guides and F guides as runners. He uses Fireline so I put a Fuji tip top with an Alconite ring for piece of mind. I don't think it looked out of place at all.

The tip top itself is the culprit more often than guides, if you notice line wearing rapidly, go there first.
Hope this helps,

Best wishes,
Ron Schneider
Schneider's Rod Shop
Mountain Home, Arkansas
[www.schneidersrods.com]
mtnron40@yahoo.com
870-424-3381

I was fortunate to get into a lot of fish, so could really give it a test. It didn't take but a dozen fish probably and you could see the line getting a bit more "curl" to it. To be fair - I was fishing with mom and dad, and we all had all-stainless guide set ups, but different lines.

6# mono showed a lot less curl than 4#, and one brand of 6# less than the other. So on one hand you probably could dial in a mono that played better with the guide set, but I like to be able to pick any line. And I have thoughts of playing with some good 2# mono next year on the tough bites to see if it helps.

Getting to the end of season here in the North Woods - so testing time is short - bummer!