West coast fishing has become more about small reels with high drag capability over the last decade due to the wide acceptance of spectra line. I still have some 7 and 8 ft. rods to fish 25 to 40 lb. test that have chrome ring guides. Is it o.k. to fish spectra on these rods??
Coated spectra would likely be fine. Uncoated I would not. I still prefer ceramic though.
Thank you, Bryan. White, uncoated spectra on any of my reels that have it.
Industrial hard chrome is pretty tough stuff. Bryan is the rod man but I would think you could get lots of service from those guides and if they do wear out you have an excuse to go to stainless.
Ron
Hi Ben,
As has been said, the hard chrome rings might well last a while, until you don't actually see the groove form in the ring – then the first sign will usually be either a lost good fish, or braid that ends up looking like hairy string, as the grooved ring/rings start to fray the coating and the braid underneath.
Much better to consider some of the ceramic guides available today, rather than going to stainless steel, as different companies have differing grades of stainless, and you could soon end up with the same problem again.
We only use Fuji, so I won't comment on other company's inserts – but certainly Fuji Alconite will serve you well, even the new Concept 'O' rings, as both have the deep recessed inserts, so they take the knocks and abuse on boats better, with the added benefit of the ceramic inserts being kinder to the braid – coated or plain.
There is a note of caution, some less well known brands use less hard ceramics, and even on those grooves can start to develop.
"You pays for what you get!"
Hope that helps.
Cheers from sunny Africa
Jeri
Thanks Jeri, I've never wrapped a rod before, and am not looking forward to it because none of these are in need of repair. I guess that I'll give one a try to see what I learn.
I was hear that you got less damage on the chrome rings if the braid line is not thin (20#,30#50#) and will suffer less damage on high test lines, I dont know if that is true but I changed my trolling setup from 65# braid to 80#
I only have one boat glass rod with SS rings but its only used for trolling using 80# braid line but the biggest fish that you can catch trolling is a 40#-50# YT
and certainly thinking on changing the rings on that rod or selling it to get another without SS rings.
the jigging rods and casting rods have fuji alconite or ALPS zirconia rings.