Alps New Single Foot Roller Guide

[Keta]

Rollers are so last millennium. I use ring guides on all my rods and have had no issues. I still have a 20# old Shimano Calcutta rod with ALWR and a couple of glass 6', 40-100 rated trollers with rollers. They don't get used much anymore.

Like Mark I have several AR rods I rarely if ever use now.   I do use rods with  roller on the tip of the rods I use to fish for Pacific halibut and "long leader" due to the heavy weights needed to fish 300-700 feet deep  (36-64 ounce) and vertical fishing. 

A 30# class rod should be lite and rollers add extra weight, cost and more things to fail.

[Bill B]

As a side note on temperature.   180*F could be easily reached when you factor the possibility of fishing in hot climates, maybe 100* to start with, then add friction.  It's in the realm of possibilities.  I'm not sure where in the world you could be to start at that temperature,  maybe San Felipe, Cabo San Lucas, the Azores?  Bill

[jurelometer]

As a side note on temperature.  180*F could be easily reached when you factor the possibility of fishing in hot climates, maybe 100* to start with, then add friction.  It's in the realm of possibilities.  I'm not sure where in the world you could be to start at that temperature,  maybe San Felipe, Cabo San Lucas, the Azores?  Bill

I just looked it up.  The max intermittent operating temperature for UHMWPE is 200F. 

They make thrust washers out of UHMWPE.  In our case, the mating surface is polished ceramic. The PV (Pressure * Velocity)rating  is for UHMWPE is 3000 ft.lbs/in².min  at 100 ft per minute.  So maybe up the velocity to  3000 f/m, and you are still around 1000 ft.lbs/in². No way that a  30 lb trolling outfit is going to create more surface pressure than is acceptable to use the material as a high performance bearing surface, which is more demanding than a guide ring.

If the ambient temperature is 70 F, the line will be at 70F. If the ambient temperature is at 100F, the line will be at 109F. It isnot going to get hotter.  Significant sliding friction is going to be happening on the spool, when taking drag.  The braid is going to be digging in and rubbing against adjacent fibers. Rollers arenot going to help you here.

As to stuff like grit:  The grit gets trapped between the fibers (kinda hard to trap it on the surface).  When the strands are compressed under load, the grit can damage the surrounding fiber.  Rollers don't help here.

The greater the bend angle of the line across the guide you are replacing, the greater the diameter of the line, and the higher the CoF of the line on the guide that you are replacing, the more likely that you will find a benefit from rollers.

So back in the day, choosing rollers over chrome guides  on a trolling rod that was pulling 100+ lb mono was a good idea.  But modern ceramics and UHMWPE line makes for a super low CoF, braid line diameter is tiny, even at 130 lbs.  Braid and ceramics have completely changed the situation.

In addition to maintenance issues, rollers also suck at passing knots, especially when casting.  Even with trolling rods for billfish, it is nice to be able to pitch live baits with the same rods  and not have to worry about the leader knot catching in the roller (this has happened to me).


They sell us the fishing tackle that we want to buy. Effectiveness is just one of the factors, and not a mandatory requirement. If we want "watermelon cotton candy" colored tuna poppers, they will sell them to us, and pump out pseudoscientific propaganda about why this color pattern is "effective".

The question is at hand is are there functional advantages to rollers nowadays, and if so in what situation.

But of course, if you like rollers and want to fish them, that is reason enough.  This whole sportfishing thing is not an entirely rational exercise.

-J