I keep my rods for a long time so if you are one of the many who change their tackle regularly this won't affect you. I am now on my third reringing job of my favourite sea trout rod which is in it's 20th season. These are not cheap snake rings - they are absolutely top quality Hopkins and Holloway jobs.

This time it's getting lined seymo rings throughout. I've never had a lined ring wear out or give me any trouble whatever. Any ideas why these have gone out of fashion?

Because lined rings are heavy and directly effect the performance of a blank by adding weight.

Others will say snakes are used "because they are cheap" but thats not the reason why 99% of factory fly rods are fitted with them....


Trev

If you hadn't noticed - nobody's got any money at the moment and decent rings actually do cost !

Apart from which - name me one rod specifier ( self apart) who is a serious fly fisherman and actually builds his own !

And then we've got the problem of extreme conservatism from the USA in taking up decent rings - and its them what taught the Chinese all they know !

Cautionary note - I have picked up grooved ceramics on odd rods in the last couple of years - the rings certainly weren't from Fuji or H&H - probably one of the cheaper copiers - KogoMyata or whoever !

Best wishes

Steve P

Dear Trevlett ,

Socratic fiction . Single leg Fujis have but one epoxied whipping as opposed to a double legged snake which has two .

A few years ago I deliberately and under scientific conditions assembled an identical pair of blanks and ringed one with snakes etc and the other with single leg fujis - I didn't cheat in any way and the Fuji'd rod weighed in at 124.1 grams - the other 124.2 .

And I wrote it up and FF&FT printed it .

I thought this nonsensical idea had been put to bed by me - apparently not !

Best wishes

Steve P

It's because that's what fly rods have always had and that's what consumers expect.

Yes, cost plays into it too. It costs more to put ceramics on, and if consumers don't see the benefit from paying extra then they won't.

Steve,

Which Fuji's did you use and which sizes (I assume the same number and placement on both rods)? In my own builds, I've found similar results. Snakes with average to heavy wire in average to large sizes will weigh about the same as lighter ceramics. Fuji Alconite 6's are about the cutoff.

Though, single leg wire guides are lighter yet which is why I've always used them instead of snakes. if you want the lighest overall, REC Recoils are even lighter. Recoils wrapped in silk and coated in urethane are probably the lightest you'll find in anything. I don't like them because (1) they are more troublesome to grind down on their tips, and (2) they tend to 'sing' when you draw line through them.

Thanks
Rick

I think that they use the regular snakes (except for Loomis) because 1 they are cheaper and 2 the people buying the rods are used to them.

And i don't think the normal client is looking at rod guides as we rodbuilders do. In the 4 years i assemble rods for the store where i work, only one client really asked about the lined stuff.
I assembled a Boron MX 9ft #5 for him with lined fuji titanium sics, at the time i owned (still do ) that excact same rod.
Mine has double H&H thin wire on the tip section (1 is the smallest) then switched to regular and two lined fuji CLSG's.
I used the same spacing and my rod did produce a faster recovery, but the MX is a pretty tippy rod.

I've build many rods with regular and recoils (singles and double) from H&H and Snake Brand, also with the lined Fuji titanium single's.
The lined guides are fine for my from a #6 and up. I think they look to bulky on a lighter weight rod i don't know the excact weight difference in both.
I never use them on rods of my own because i think they just don't look right.

I like the look of regular snakes don't know why i just do, i almost always use snake brand or H&H. When i do a lot of bank fishing i will use H&H (because they are american style guides).

The recoils i use are for the very lightweight rods that will never see a sinking line or a lot of extreem double hauling.
One thing i must say about the recoils is that they improved my Winston BIIt by a mile when compared to the factory build (wich has the old style Snake Brands).

Jerry

I put a set of TIC coated H&H snakes on a rod a couple of years ago and they cost about £20.

They look nice though.

regards,

Doc