STP son of a gun.

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Addicted To Vise

No and no.

The bottom line is that unless you've figured out a way to defy the laws of physics, then no, you cannot prevent water from freezing on your guides.

I put in weeks of fishing in the winter and spring when temps are below 0 F. I have tried every homemade and commercial concoction available. Car wax, glycerin, chapstick, hand lotion, etc, etc, etc. None of it works well. Some of the wax-based products like Stanley's Ice-Off Paste seem to at least work better than nothing, but nothing prevents it.

What I did accidentally discover was that the finish of a rod makes a difference. Dark-colored blanks that have a matt finish seem to absorb sunlight better and therefore produce a subtle heating effect that makes these rods less-prone to ice up. If, of course, the temp is near 0 and obviously the sun has to be shining. So in thinking of it, I suppose in the UK you're totally hosed.

It's the same story for reels, nothing prevents reel freeze-up.

Grouse

I guess it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility to build a rod with heated rings ! You could easily use the butt to hold a "AA" few batteries.
I guess if there was enough demand it would be done.

Don't think I haven't thought about this very solution.

I guess there's diminishing returns, though. Very rarely do I have very good fishing (for trout) below -5 C. Usually, what happens is there's a nice bit of activity in the "heat of the day" between noon and 2. There have been exeptions, but overall I start to question my sanity too much despite the zen like calming effect of floating ice cunks drifting past. . .

Grouse

As it was said before, dippig your rod in a river is helpfull and of course good old hand work with removing ice from rings as well.

BlueOne

Ok, here is a trick i tried yesterday, it was only tested once, so it si what it is.

Over here, i do pike flyfishing and flyfishing for hucho in winter. Specially with hucho, which requires a bit of special tactics on some places, ice can be a problem, not only on rings, but also with line as wet line coils in shooting basket can freeze together. So, yesterday at around -7 celsius, i made a comparisment, first, no addition, line buildup on guides, bumps of frozen water/ice covering on line in shooting basket.

Solution:

You need:

-shooting basket with no holes in it, so it can store water (i use Orvis)
-a bit of salt (NaCl, normal cooking stuff)

You put some water in your basket, add salt and fish. Salty water melts the ice from line and also helps to destroy/prevent buildup of ice on guides.

Results:

-no ice on line
-no new buildup of ice on guides. Guide, which already had soem ice on it, did not deice, but it did not become critical either

Conclusion:

Amount of ice on guides was seriously decreased compared to before using salt water in shooting basket, there was no need to stop fishing to remove the ice through approx half an hour test. There was no ice on line, which was a big improvement to what was happening before using salt water in shooting basket.

Again, this was a one time test, ice building on guides was not totally prevented, but it did not become critical, icing of line coils together was totally prevented and situation with ice buildup on line in shooting basket was dramatically improved.

So, hucho and pike season over here is over and so there shall be no more tests from my side, but if somebody is still able to fish, he or she can do some further work.

Cheers,

BlueOne

One thing I find helps is minimising false casting. Swishing the rod and generating your very own "wind chill" is what makes the water freeze even in temperatures above zero. Definitely the weather for short-line nymphing approaches.

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http://fisheswithflywalkswithborderterrier.blogspot.com/

Too right..........never mind the rings, your line can get very stiff in cold conditions and will not flow through the rings as all those springy loops on the floor try to batter themselves through the bottom ring..........birdsnest

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Fear not if I steal from your side, as of yore, from paradise streams to fish Teifi once more.
BN based in Wolverhampton

The way a half frozen line rattles as it shoots through the rod rings is eerie as well...

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"In wine there is wisdom. In beer there is strength. In water there is bacteria." - German proverb
JH based near Southampton

It depends on the line, not that it will be as gentle as in summer but i have fished in -10 perheaps even lower and very often at below 0 and line was never an issue in sense that one would have to stop fishing. Everything else, ice on rings, ice on line is part of winter flyfishing fun including stiffer line. at least it helps if you look on it like that

Another part of this "fun" is having your streamer getting stucked to rocks etc. as it freezes on them almost instantly if temperature is low enough

BlueOne