Do You Have To Have A Metal Eye For Braid

[Mud River Matt]

Hey guys, I heard that in order to use braided line, you need to have a rod with metal eyes. For example, I have a Veritas, and the eyes of it arent metal, would it work. I heard it would grove your eyes if they werent metal. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, matt

[roadwarrior]

Braid is fine on nearly all modern rods regardless of the guides composition.  

Ceramic inserts come to mind...no issues.

[Darren.]

Hey guys, I heard that in order to use braided line, you need to have a rod with metal eyes. For example, I have a Veritas, and the eyes of it arent metal, would it work. I heard it would grove your eyes if they werent metal. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, matt

Nope. RW's right, today's rods are pretty good with braid. I'm a braid user and all my rods have ceramic (Fuji) guides. Have replaced a few tips, but not due to braid, rather cracking the tips after running into stuff too many times. Actually, my Ugly Stik Lite rods are steel tipped, but I don't really use 'em except for taking the kids fishing.

[Mud River Matt]

Sounds good, thanks a lot guys. I appreciate it.

[lmbfisherman]

Hey guys, I heard that in order to use braided line, you need to have a rod with metal eyes. For example, I have a Veritas, and the eyes of it arent metal, would it work. I heard it would grove your eyes if they werent metal. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, matt

I agree with the others and I have a Veritas that I use 15lb braid on and do not see any grooves or damage due to braid. 

[LuckyHandsINC.]

Just about any ceramic guide will be fine with braid.

It's funny that your friend said you need metal guides because even the hardest metal guides are far more prone to grooving than any ceramic. Myself along with most people haven't experienced problems with guides such as recoils but there is plenty of proof that it can happen and it's almost always a metal guide.

[smalljaw67]

In most cases it isn't the line that grooves up the guides but the friction caused by the junk that sticks to the line. Cotton wood fibers stick to braid much more than mono or flouro which is why you don't hear too much about those lines and the same thing when it comes to recoil guides, anglers in the north don't have too many problems but those fishing where cotton wood fibers are present hate the guides because the fibers will groove the guides after a while.

[LgMouthGambler]

I believe most line guides even in the reels are ceramic now days.

[J Francho]

Not always in reels.  There are several from every manufacturer that is using some exotic hardened metal in the reel line guide.

[Matt Jungblut]

I had a e21 gold carrot stick and the tip was almost wore all the way though from using braid

[Lil'skeeter]

I had a e21 gold carrot stick and the tip was almost wore all the way though from using braid

Replace it with a Silicone Carbide (SiC) tip and you shouldn't have any more problems. They're a little more expensive but it's about the hardest guide material out there. Never had any problems with std. guides yet.