Well it had to come to this. I am in the public eye and have been met with agreement on micro guides and complete "no way those little guides will work" attitudes. I am posting this on an "FYI" basis, not lobbying everyone to change, but rather to try and get real facts out. I know there are many discussions on forums about this topic, so I thought some of you might find it interesting.
What we did is, Joey Ybarra (FTU Reel Shop Manager) and I have teamed up to build some test rods to at least give those that have never messed with micros, an opportunity to see 2 rods, almost exact replicas, built out in the 2 styles, and see how they perform side by side. We took 2 FTU Green Rod blanks, 6'6" Light Popping and Joey gripped them exactly the same. We weighed both of them and they are within 1 gram of each other. I took the one that weighed 87 grams and he took the one that was 87 grams.
Joey used all Titanium Fuji guides, 8 in total:TLNSG 12, 10, 8, then 5 TLSG 7's with a TFST 6-4.5 tip top
I used 9, a Fuji KTWAG 8 as a stripper, a TLSG 5 and 7 LSG 3.5s with a MCAT 4.5-4.5 tipper, all done in my quick spiral technique. I didn't use TLSG 3.5's because a customer cleaned us out the day before and the weight difference between TLSG and LSG in such a small guide is negligible. I will swap them out later.
The rods weighted in at 89 grams for mine, 90 for his...which equates to a 2 gram gain for the micros and 4 for the traditional.
Most people have heard, and assume, the ONLY reason to use little guides is they cast much farther than conventional setups. The initial phases of this comparison is casting distance. The terms of this shoot-out is, and the statement that led to this challenge is, "there is NO WAY a micro guides rod that is spiraled can cast as far as a traditional setup"…not farther, but as far. What I have always said is these rods will cast just as far, so that is the criteria.
We have done some initial test, so I don't want to drag this out,. I have already cast them and got the results I expected, but I am biased, so Joey was next up. Using his personal Calais and braid he threw 3 cast with his and we marked them, then 3 from mine. He was slinging them too, doing a run-up and cast method (like a javelin), his first was 142 ft, 148ft, then 155ft (using a 5/8 ounce weighted popping cork).
The 3 cast from mine was…143ft, 150ft, then 146ft….he cast a few more times with both and didn't get past the 148 (ie no more past the 2 longest). He then just stood flat footed and cast both…they all landed by both rods in the 140 - 146 range.
Most of the issues ( which is why its hard to prove) is the reels have to be run WIDE OPEN! No Brakes and "thumbing" only…which means most of the time is spent fixing backlashes…once you start kicking brakes out, there are no more backlashes, but the cast only go as far as the brakes allow, regardless of the rod.
I will give more follow-up and pictures as I can. Here are the rods before the guides were installed. The next tests will be by less experienced casters and varying the weights and things cast with…braid/mono types of things.
What we did is, Joey Ybarra (FTU Reel Shop Manager) and I have teamed up to build some test rods to at least give those that have never messed with micros, an opportunity to see 2 rods, almost exact replicas, built out in the 2 styles, and see how they perform side by side. We took 2 FTU Green Rod blanks, 6'6" Light Popping and Joey gripped them exactly the same. We weighed both of them and they are within 1 gram of each other. I took the one that weighed 87 grams and he took the one that was 87 grams.
Joey used all Titanium Fuji guides, 8 in total:TLNSG 12, 10, 8, then 5 TLSG 7's with a TFST 6-4.5 tip top
I used 9, a Fuji KTWAG 8 as a stripper, a TLSG 5 and 7 LSG 3.5s with a MCAT 4.5-4.5 tipper, all done in my quick spiral technique. I didn't use TLSG 3.5's because a customer cleaned us out the day before and the weight difference between TLSG and LSG in such a small guide is negligible. I will swap them out later.
The rods weighted in at 89 grams for mine, 90 for his...which equates to a 2 gram gain for the micros and 4 for the traditional.
Most people have heard, and assume, the ONLY reason to use little guides is they cast much farther than conventional setups. The initial phases of this comparison is casting distance. The terms of this shoot-out is, and the statement that led to this challenge is, "there is NO WAY a micro guides rod that is spiraled can cast as far as a traditional setup"…not farther, but as far. What I have always said is these rods will cast just as far, so that is the criteria.
We have done some initial test, so I don't want to drag this out,. I have already cast them and got the results I expected, but I am biased, so Joey was next up. Using his personal Calais and braid he threw 3 cast with his and we marked them, then 3 from mine. He was slinging them too, doing a run-up and cast method (like a javelin), his first was 142 ft, 148ft, then 155ft (using a 5/8 ounce weighted popping cork).
The 3 cast from mine was…143ft, 150ft, then 146ft….he cast a few more times with both and didn't get past the 148 (ie no more past the 2 longest). He then just stood flat footed and cast both…they all landed by both rods in the 140 - 146 range.
Most of the issues ( which is why its hard to prove) is the reels have to be run WIDE OPEN! No Brakes and "thumbing" only…which means most of the time is spent fixing backlashes…once you start kicking brakes out, there are no more backlashes, but the cast only go as far as the brakes allow, regardless of the rod.
I will give more follow-up and pictures as I can. Here are the rods before the guides were installed. The next tests will be by less experienced casters and varying the weights and things cast with…braid/mono types of things.
