Ever since the first time I put size 6 guides on a fly rod, I thought they looked too small for nearly any fly line size (these were Hardloy, where the ring is thicker than the SiCs).

Lately I've been building these little Perigee 5'9" 3/4-weights for folks and the 6's look the best on them. Still, I have a hard time using them. I typically use 7's, even on three and four-weight rods.

So, a few opinions would be appreaciated: for those of you who have used them, what's the largest fly line you'd want to pass through the tiny rings of those 6's? Any comments on results you've gotten using them?

Thank you,
Scott

I think you can easily decide this for yourself with maybe 15 mintues of testing. Just test cast with some #6's and note the distances and feel for each line. Then move to #7's and do the same. If the 7's don't buy you any more distance or anything, then the 6's are the ones to use. I have used 6's on rods up to 7 weight and cannot see any problems.

I normally use 6's on anything from a 5 weight on down. If you really take a good look at the diameter of your line in that weight range, particularly the running line, you'll see that even a small #6 ring is plenty large enough to allow it to pass without any restrictions.

Personally, I have completely abandoned the Hardloy rings in favor of the Alconites which have a better polish and are a bit smaller in cross-section and thus a tad larger opening.

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