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Single Foot Fuji Ceramic Guides
- Thread starter Keuka
- Start date
Jesse James
New member
Single foot guides are not as durable as snake guides in my opinion. Singles tend to bend slightly up or down some over time while snakes and double foot striping guides will not. Mono is much lighter in weight than fly line so on spin cast rods singles work well.
I’m guessing your statement of “light years ahead of snake guides” was because of thinking that ceramic would create less friction against the fly line. Single foot guides for casting rods tend to be a higher profile than what you would want to have on a fly rod, especially the larger sizes.
If a fly rod has the right size snakes and they are spaced correctly friction is minimal. To check this, just lay your rod on a flat surface, guides up, and look through all the guides. You should be able to see all the way through. If a guide ring is showing then that guide would have to be moved ahead or back to achieve minimal friction.
I think the biggest reason you don’t see them on fly rods is the profile height change from one size to the next was designed for spin cast rods not fly rods and the durability issue of having only one foot holding the guide ring.
I’m guessing your statement of “light years ahead of snake guides” was because of thinking that ceramic would create less friction against the fly line. Single foot guides for casting rods tend to be a higher profile than what you would want to have on a fly rod, especially the larger sizes.
If a fly rod has the right size snakes and they are spaced correctly friction is minimal. To check this, just lay your rod on a flat surface, guides up, and look through all the guides. You should be able to see all the way through. If a guide ring is showing then that guide would have to be moved ahead or back to achieve minimal friction.
I think the biggest reason you don’t see them on fly rods is the profile height change from one size to the next was designed for spin cast rods not fly rods and the durability issue of having only one foot holding the guide ring.
I had a period where I used single foot ceramic guides and have more or less gone back to snake guides. The ceramic guides may work a little better, but they are harder to hold down for wrapping and they take a slightly different wrap to make sure they hold with a single foot. Snake guides are easier to put on for me and I'm not sure that they perform all that much differently.
I haven't found any durability issues with single foot guides, unless you use a wrap that doesn't lock the guide in and the guide pulls out.
In any event, don't be cheap with your guides. Using cheap guides of any type is only economical in the short run.
I haven't found any durability issues with single foot guides, unless you use a wrap that doesn't lock the guide in and the guide pulls out.
In any event, don't be cheap with your guides. Using cheap guides of any type is only economical in the short run.
Karel
sleep, eat, flyfish, repeat
I bult about 10 fly rods of the past few years, both single foot and snake guides. From a rod building perspective, I prefer single foot snakes. Less wrapping, less glue, less weight. Never experienced any disadvantages for single foot guides though if you place, wrap and glue them properly. In my book, it really comes down to what you like better from an optical point view.
Karel,
When you say you used single foot were they Fugi or another make? I've looked at some other brands and honestly they didn't have the quality of the Fuji. The frame wasn't high strength spring steel, they were heavier and the ceramics weren't rounded and finished anywhere near the quality of the Fuji. I can't remember the brands name but they were about half the price and seemed less in quality. However, I'm no expert for sure.
Like you pointed out, the snakes require double wrap, more weight and restrict the flex of the blank more than the single foot. Did you notice any difference in casting distance or was it negligible?
When you say you used single foot were they Fugi or another make? I've looked at some other brands and honestly they didn't have the quality of the Fuji. The frame wasn't high strength spring steel, they were heavier and the ceramics weren't rounded and finished anywhere near the quality of the Fuji. I can't remember the brands name but they were about half the price and seemed less in quality. However, I'm no expert for sure.
Like you pointed out, the snakes require double wrap, more weight and restrict the flex of the blank more than the single foot. Did you notice any difference in casting distance or was it negligible?
I like Fuji ceramic guides for quality - generally the Alconite line for the combo of cost and quality. For snakes, Snake Brand and Hopkins and Holloway are my favorites, but Pac Bay will do.
Not to get too techy, but built two rods using the Bob Brunsell Lil Streamer philosophy of using twice the guides to reduce the sag between guides - the real cause of friction. Seemed to work well for shooting line.
Not to get too techy, but built two rods using the Bob Brunsell Lil Streamer philosophy of using twice the guides to reduce the sag between guides - the real cause of friction. Seemed to work well for shooting line.
Karel
sleep, eat, flyfish, repeat
I honestly believe that you wold be fine with any hard chrome finish and do not need ceramic or alconite (well, maybe for the stripping guides but not for the rest). Hard chrome will outlast your life span under most conditions. One rod I built was with REC Recoil guides which are cool and indestrictible but they make a reallly weird sound when casting. Since we are on the subject of casting, no finish will really determine whether you will be able to cast further or not. This is in my opinion solely in the hands of the caster and his technique (in other words, my casting sucks but is good enough to catch the fish I target).
I will agree that guides are way down the list on how well a rod casts. Skill is number one by a long shot. Guide spacing has a lot more effect than what guides you use IMHO. Guides are another component where I don't think you can really find any guides that aren't at least acceptable. That wouldn't stop us from talking about them though!!
