Worn Guides

[Steve Smith]

I have a question since RIO has announced a “hard as steel” tippet material. A buddy of mine has a mid range Orvis rod, which is not a low-end rod at all. Nearly all the snake guides out to the tip have groves cut in them with the tip being almost worn in half over the past four years he owned the rod. I am sure Orvis will take care of it, but I’m concerned over what caused it, as personally, I’ve never seen it. The guy originally had GPX fly line, and then switched to Orvis Wonder Line. The Orvis line lasted less than a year, probably caused by the worn guides. As far as I know, he has used a Blue Sky furled tippet on both fly lines for the duration. At first, I suspected the furled leader, but that doesn’t account for the wear on the snake guides. My guess is the guides were way too soft, as I have only seen this with the Fire Lines and Spider Wire, but never in fly-fishing. In conjunction with this, I wonder if it should be a concern with the RIO tippet material. Your thoughts?

[jdmidwest]

Could be a combination of several problems. I have noticed the Wonderline shooting thru the guides and sounds/feels like sandpaper. I have tried the Gen 3 lines and sent them back for replacement. The new one had the same feeling, unless you clean it. I had a 5 wt finish crumble off on the cloth when I cleaned it the first time. I have switched back to the silver label Orvis and things are better.

Depending on the series of Orvis rod, they could have been assembled in China or made in China, YUK. It may contain inferior product made to compete with the lower end rods on the market. If it has the 25 year guarantee, they will stand behind the product and fix the problem. Call them and find out what to do.

[Rolan Duffield]

Steve:

It's quite common for the average chrome guides to wear. The fly line will gradually wear the chrome away and cut grooves in the guide which then hastens the wear of the fly line. Most of the fly rods purchased today have the standard chrome guides. You can purchase "Titanium Carbide" double foot guides that should last several years. I'm not certain if any of the rod manufacturers put these high quality guides on their rods.

If you use your rods a lot, you should inspect the guides very closely for any grooves. Those worn guides need to be replaced else you will wear out that expensive fly line a lot quicker.

There was times in the distant past years that I replaced the guides on my fly rod twice yearly because of this type wear.Those were the days that i fly fished literaly every weekend.

My personal favorite is the Fuji "Hardloy" single foot guides. Have used them for many years and never have needed to replace them because of wear.

Rolan

[Snow Fly]

Good way to check the guides for wear is to run a Q-Tip through the guide to see if a worn place on the guide pulls some of the cotton on the Q-tip. It will ruin the fly line. Fishing a dirty fly line will also increase wear & tear on the guides.