Fishing Rod Guides

[trungie]

Might be a really silly Q but.. I was looking at my rods tonight and was wondering, why do rod makers choose a particular number of guides on the rods?

Why that many? Why not less? Why not just have one at the tip - which is the least you could have?

[johnno]

Never a silly question at all

The more runners = less friction/on the loading points of the guides

they also help to spread the load into the blank to give the the rod the power

you want to keep the line as close to the parabolic curve of the rod as much as possible

as it is easier to wind the line on

as you see the over head rods have more runners then a spin rod

this is done so the line will not hit the blank and break under pressure and load the rod better.

also if you have to many runners when your casting there is more friction as the line is exiting the rod

looping off a spinning reel

then you move onto runner size (ie diametre ) of the runners Which chokes the line to exit the rod more like a arrow

Also if the first guide is too small and the spool is to big it can catch and slowline speed which effects distance.

That is why over heads do cast further in general as there is less friction

Basically rod builders try to have the least amount of guides to cast with as little friction as possible but also accurate and greatest distance ,and still being able to load the rod to do its job and put the hurt on the fish.

Hope that helped