# Recoil Guides



## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

I wanted to poll rod makers on Recoil Guides. I am considering trying a rod with them. I use mono and don't tie on a leader. Yes you do like them, or no you do not. Maybe post why you do or do not like them.

Thanks


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## Steve Gardner (Mar 23, 2008)

My only experience with them to date, has been to remove them from Factory rods because of customers' dissatisfaction with them. To quote one "Those guides are ruining my line"


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## ellisredfish (Jul 5, 2005)

I used a set on one of my fly rods and never will again. You make a couple of casts on the water and then the guides and line start making a buzzing sound. The first time it happened I ducked. I thought a hornet was attacking my head.


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## Raymond Adams (Apr 17, 2008)

They have there good & bad properties and one needs to think about how those properties will affect the project in mind. They are extreamly light weight and will not tarnish or corrode. However, like all wire guides they are groved easily by braided line and even mono will grove them. Like other wire only style guides they can be noisy especially with braid & fly lines. No insert to get popped out or broken though and they spring right back if you bend or even step on them.
IMHO they have there place


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## Chunkn' Charlie (Dec 30, 2004)

You have to ask your self, "Does the cost justify the means?" Will it help me catch more fish? Will it help me catch bigger fish? Will it improve my casting accuracy? Will it improve my rod's sensitivity?

I don't think so.

Good:
They are flexible
They have no insert to loose
They are .02oz lighter than conventional 316SS guide sets
They are corrosion resistant ( but so is 316SS)

Bad:
They cost and extra $50 - $70 per rod
make an irritating noise on the retrieve

Now I put them on for customers all of the time. I even fish with them but I do not think they are the end all beat all. especially for an extra $45-$70.

That's just my $.02

Charlie


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## wading_fool (May 3, 2005)

I use them from time to time, but I try to dissuade customers from using them especially customers throwing braid. I have 2 rods that are about 3 yrs old now and have had to replace the #6's because one of the legs has broke towards the tips. Like Charlie stated I don't think they are helping in distance, the cost factor for them, and the noise. the 316ss guides with ring locks are hard to beat in my opinion.


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

I've used them and didn't see any difference while useing arties and popping corks. Paying that much for a bent piece of wire is a bit out there, they also make a good rod look cheap. But that's just my 2cts.


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## Charlie2 (Aug 21, 2004)

Steve Gardner said:


> My only experience with them to date, has been to remove them from Factory rods because of customers' dissatisfaction with them. To quote one "Those guides are ruining my line"


Same here. I have installed two sets and got both rods back for replacement with 'anything else'. Biggest complaint is that they're noisy and thoughts of excessive line wear. C2


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## Sidney (Oct 23, 2005)

I have been using Recoil guides on my rods for 6 or 8 years now. Yes they are noisy, ugly, whatever you want to call them. I want the lightest rod I can get, it increases the sensitivity. I'm about performance not looks. Just me. But I have an issue with the line groove statement. I have never had any line groove on my recoil guides, and I only use braided lines and have only used braid for the past 15 years. Recoils havent been around that long, but since they first came out I have had them on my rods with never a line groove. I'd like to see a groove, if anyone has a pic, could you post it please. I'd appreciate it. Thanks.
Sidney


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## Steve Gardner (Mar 23, 2008)

Not personally seen any grooved recoils, but heard of them grooving from couple of different places.
Here is a picture 
http://www.rodbuilding.org/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/5889


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## xxxxxQTRODS (Nov 17, 2009)

*guides*

those guides have been around along time actually before fuji. things go out and then come back into play again. i know if you are using braided line on those guide they're groves. take you razor knife and stick it in your tip or guides and go around inside surface, if you hear the blade clicking you have the start of groves. the tip will the worst place. i know one thing about briaded line is that the old cowboy would like to have about a twelve inch piece if he was in jail.


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

QTRODS said:


> those guides have been around along time actually before fuji. things go out and then come back into play again. i know if you are using braided line on those guide they're groves. take you razor knife and stick it in your tip or guides and go around inside surface, if you hear the blade clicking you have the start of groves. the tip will the worst place. i know one thing about briaded line is that the old cowboy would like to have about a twelve inch piece if he was in jail.


 In the 70s I bought my family kid folks those two piece shrink wrapped zebco type combos for Christmas presents. They came with a pistol grip if some of you can remember what that was, and the eyes were not called recoil then, I don't think they had a name but I do remember getting a pair of pliars to striaghten a few of them after they were stepped on by thier owners. It seemed like they fell off the face of the earth till recently. Maybe seeing those eyes in that manner gave me a long term turn off but they don't feel right to me personally. Groove cutting is something that seems to happen to metal guides regardless of the type of line you use. In my earlier years I surf fished quit a bit and the eyes I used were stainless and change to the chrome pated steel and finally to inserted eyes. It would amaze me how mono could cut a grove so clean and straight. I was casting my leaders off or the line was snapping went casting. I thought I was putting to much into it or the line was bad. I happened to look closely at the tip when restringing one time and saw the groove. It was twice as deep as the line diameter and when it twirled around the tip when casting it was cut. The secound and third eyes were grooved also but not as bad. I keep an eye on this problem now, on all types of eyes. All tackle fails and if you personaly think or feel something gives you an edge then you should stick to it. Replacing eyes could give you a reason to take up rod building, and that's another story


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## Raymond Adams (Apr 17, 2008)

Wire guides have been around a very long time. stainless, nickel silver, and now titanium. The Recoil line is an REC product and are a titanium alloy. All can be groved by mono and braid is akin to a hacksaw.

They do have there places though and for the right build, wire is still the best way to go.


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## Terrynj (Jun 27, 2006)

We sell alot of them at FTU and sell alot of our production rods with them. As Raymond said, they have their place.
The main reason people use them is because they are flexible and dont have inserts to pop out. Guides like them for customer rods becuase of the abuse they get.
But they are not a perfomance type of guide. They are light, but micros are lighter. They don't have inserts that pop out, but that is not neccessarily a good thing. The noise everyone hears is the line friction running through the guides generating heat and causing degradation to the line. Good Ceramic inserts are much harder and smoother which helps a little with casting, but under load in a fight, they are just not as hard on the line.
I spoke with Steve Rajeff when he was at the store for the Fly Casting Seminar a couple of months ago. He said they use them at G Loomis (he is the man that worked with Gary Loomis to design all their blanks) because they are so light and it is all about keeping the weight off the blank. Guide size is measured on the inside diameter of the FRAME...not the insert. If you look at a number 6 Alconite and a number 6 Hardloy, the inside of the INSERT is smaller in the Hardloy because the insert is much thicker. When REC designed their guides, they used an average of what the INSIDE diameter of the INSERT was...not the frame, so their 6's are more like the size of a 4 ceramic guide. This also really keeps the weight down. If you look at a FUJI LSG 6 compared to a RSPG 6, the REC is a third the size and weight.


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## Mg50 (Feb 9, 2009)

I would agree with a lot of you. There is a place for these type of guides. They are light. I have not seen the grooving in them but nothing is impossible. They are tough. I know guide rods and others go through some extreme treatment to say the least. I think this is where these guides shine. Some people dont want to worry about inspecting there guides for cracks on there insert rings and they do happen even when taken under the utmost care. In all it is simply preference. I use micros a lot and some look at me like im crazy. who knows maybe i am.


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## madbeagle (Nov 20, 2009)

Sidney said:


> I have been using Recoil guides on my rods for 6 or 8 years now. Yes they are noisy, ugly, whatever you want to call them. I want the lightest rod I can get, it increases the sensitivity. I'm about performance not looks. Just me. But I have an issue with the line groove statement. I have never had any line groove on my recoil guides, and I only use braided lines and have only used braid for the past 15 years. Recoils havent been around that long, but since they first came out I have had them on my rods with never a line groove. I'd like to see a groove, if anyone has a pic, could you post it please. I'd appreciate it. Thanks.
> Sidney


I have built 4 rods using recoil guides (all spinning) Replaced the braid once after 3 years in each..I HAVE NEVER seen ANYTHING that remotely looks like a groove.. As a matter of fact, they look brand spanking new. The only "downside" to them is that they are a bit louder when you cast. But they are indestructible and light as can be. 
cwebb


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## Plumbwader (Jan 17, 2009)

madbeagle said:


> I have built 4 rods using recoil guides (all spinning) Replaced the braid once after 3 years in each..I HAVE NEVER seen ANYTHING that remotely looks like a groove.. As a matter of fact, they look brand spanking new. The only "downside" to them is that they are a bit louder when you cast. But they are indestructible and light as can be.
> cwebb


 Definitely not indestructible. I've had a few break off at the feet.


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## Terrynj (Jun 27, 2006)

They are good if you are very hard on your gear, I know guides that like to use them for their clients because they don't have to worry about the equipment....

But they do make noise and the noise they make is the line abrasing on the guides. It will wear your line out prematurely and the vibration and noise they make also translates into the water. Some Bass Tourney guys I talked to were filming an angler (using recoils) playing a bass up to the boat...they had an underwater camera that they stuck into the water to film the bass action up close as they were getting ready to lip 'em....when thay played the tape back at home they were shocked at the audio...the noise from the vibration was overpowering. Maybe it works as an attractant..I dunno...but it can't be good....I would imagine its also make noise as you work your baits through the water...
If I am working hard for my fish...I want ever technological advantage I can get... I personally don't mind having a rod that may require a little maintenance but is smoother and quieter.
On the plus side of the recoils is they are very light. A number 6 RSPG single foot is really about the size of a number 4. Guides are measured on the inside of the "frame" and not the insert...since REC doesn't use inserts..they make their guides the equivelent of the inside of the "inserts" of other manufactors making them half their size and weight. Steve Rajeff (designed all the G Loomis blanks with Gary) said that they use them for that purpose...he is ALL about as little as weight as possible on the blank...also the main trait of micros....


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## REP (Feb 2, 2010)

Too expensive, and too much flexibility in terms of controlling the action of a blank.

Uncle Russ
Calico Creek Rods


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