Micro guides vs standard guides

[Jonny15678]

What do you like better and why?

[Eric 26]

I have 1 rod with micro guides a Wright & McGill rod I purchased at Wal-Mart. I run 10 pound Suffix Advance Mono through the guides and I love it. I’ve run crank baits, spinnerbaits and Texas riggged tubes and I feel I can cast more accurately and a tad further on this particular rod. With that said I have a few more rods and all but one other have standard guides so I’ve never gone out of my way to find/purchase micro or smaller guides on my rods. 

[Glenn]

I have several rods with mini-guides and love them!  The rods are lighter and more sensitive than rods with standard guides.  When I shop for rods, I always look to see if they're offered in a model with mini-guides.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

“Micro” guides is used to describe a range of sizes typically 5>.  The right guide is the smallest , lightest ones that will pass your connections and hold up to the application. Saying you like one better than the other is like saying Phillips head screwdrivers are better than slotted or torx. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. 

[dodgeguy]

1 hour ago, Glenn said:

I have several rods with mini-guides and love them!  The rods are lighter and more sensitive than rods with standard guides.  When I shop for rods, I always look to see if they're offered in a model with mini-guides.

Definitely agree. And no leaders either. Either straight braid mono or Flouro.

[PressuredFishing]

Supposivley micro guides cast further, jury's still out for mine, I'd personally reccomend to buy whatever is cheaper.

 

P.S (id focus deeper on SIC or aluminum oxide inserts over SS, I hate SS, I pretty much only fished a 100$Saint croix all year this year for bass and even nylon monofilament dug into the SS guides and had to replace the tip recently from fishing spring-fall this year. 

[CrashVector]

I prefer micros for the reasons glen stated.

[T-Billy]

The larger size micros like the Fuji K's are my favorite, for the reasons Glenn stated, plus they're more durable than the tiny ones. That is unless it's cold enough to ice them. Then I'll fish my rods with larger guides.

[MickD]

I build all my spin and cast rods with micros, size 4 on spin and 5 on cast.  While they are reputed to cast farther, I cannot prove it, but all my rods seem to cast very well.  The major advantage of micros is their lighter weight which results in faster recovery speeds of the rod from deflection and a crisper, more sensitive feel.  While most "advantages" cannot be objectively proven, the recovery time is easy to prove using the True Natural Frequency process that measures the natural frequency of the rod.  I can measure the frequency difference between stainless and titanium guides and large vs micro guides.  

 

One disadvantage is that tiny guides will ice up more than larger ones, so if I were to build for winter steelhead I would not use them.  The other disadvantage is that it sometimes takes a special knot if one uses a leader.  But I've mastered the "improved" Alberto, and it works fine with the micros I use with 30 pound braid and 20 pound leaders on cast, up to 20 braid and 15 leaders on spin. 

 

I have never had a micro failure using Fuji KB/KT runners, so I don't know what the worry about durability might be.  

[dodgeguy]

My 7 ft sierra series have 14 micros with the tip.i love them. I feel much more confident in the feel of the rod. I think it helps with distance and accuracy.

[ska4fun]

Micro guides for sensibility, in such cases as lifting and dropping lures.

Normal guides for when casting bigger lures.

 

Fuji had the ideia that smaller guides would improve casting distance in surf rods. So they introduced the Low-ride guides. Theory was the first guide ''taming'' the spiral, to allow the line to follow a more straightforward trajectory, with less attrition to the wind. But the taming was done at the cost of dissipating energy from the cast.

 

The solution was a middle-ground between normal and micro guides, what Fuji dubbed '"New Concept'', like the 'O-series guides.

[new2BC4bass]

I have rods with teeny guides, mid-sized guides, and regular guides.  I like them in the reverse order.  I've read the smaller guides improve casting distance and sensitivity.  I'm not sure I'm good enough to notice the minor sensitivity difference.  I've never side by side tested different sized rod guides with everything else being the same.  Maybe smaller guides improve distance, maybe they don't.  Maybe I'm not good enough with a baitcast reel to take advantage of the smaller guides.

 

I tried a micro guide spinning rod.  Hated it.  Felt distance was really hurt.  Tried braid and mono.  Took it back for the model with 'regular' size guides, but they were still smaller than I was used to.  Didn't like it either.  Took it back and got the model in a casting rod.  Guides were very small on the casting model, but at least they didn't hurt casting distance.

 

IMO, I think a person has to fish more often than I do before they can start discerning minute differences in sensitivity.  For an Average Joe like me I doubt it makes a difference what size guides are used.

[ska4fun]

1 hour ago, new2BC4bass said:

I have rods with teeny guides, mid-sized guides, and regular guides.  I like them in the reverse order.  I've read the smaller guides improve casting distance and sensitivity.  I'm not sure I'm good enough to notice the minor sensitivity difference.  I've never side by side tested different sized rod guides with everything else being the same.  Maybe smaller guides improve distance, maybe they don't.  Maybe I'm not good enough with a baitcast reel to take advantage of the smaller guides.

 

I tried a micro guide spinning rod.  Hated it.  Felt distance was really hurt.  Tried braid and mono.  Took it back for the model with 'regular' size guides, but they were still smaller than I was used to.  Didn't like it either.  Took it back and got the model in a casting rod.  Guides were very small on the casting model, but at least they didn't hurt casting distance.

 

IMO, I think a person has to fish more often than I do before they can start discerning minute differences in sensitivity.  For an Average Joe like me I doubt it makes a difference what size guides are used.

 

If you are doing casting, it is very hard to perceive the sensibility gain. But when lifting and dropping, it's a solid advantage since you need to feel when fishes like Snooks, grab the lure by suction, to hook them. 

 

Micro guides and spinning casting gear simply aren't compatible. 

[QED]

21 minutes ago, ska4fun said:

 

Micro guides and spinning casting gear simply aren't compatible. 

I can parse these words and understand the semantics of each, but this expression seems internally inconsistent.

[WRB]

Micro guides advantage on a jig & worm casting rod is more lighter weight single foot guides. Micro guides tend to keep the line off the rod blank better and less wind resistance improves line feed back movements.

Crank bait and longer heavier swimbait rods I prefer the durability of stronger guides with 2 feet.

Spinning rod guides again looking for light weight not necessarily smaller diameter rings.

MicroWave guides look intriguing but haven’t fish them.

Tom

 

[Jrob78]

I will always opt for micro guides over standard guides. In my experience, a properly set up guide train (critical with spinning rods) with micro guides will cast better and be more sensitive. Taking weight off of the blank is always a positive thing and the responsiveness of a blank with micro guides vs standard guides is noticeable. I also don't fish in freezing weather or with leader knots, so smaller guides don't impede anything I do.

[Bankbeater]

When I got my first rod with micro-guides I thought there would be some kind of learning curve, but it was really no different than any other rod.

The biggest gripe I have is fishing in cold weather, and when the trees start dropping things into the water.  Those small guides ice up quick, and when the line picks up vegetation on the water surface it will collect in the rod tip. 

[Jrob78]

22 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

Those small guides ice up quick, and when the line picks up vegetation on the water surface it will collect in the rod tip. 

I've always heard people say this as a negative but I would rather have debris and vegetation get caught in the rod tip vs in my reel. 

[ska4fun]

17 hours ago, QED said:

I can parse these words and understand the semantics of each, but this expression seems internally inconsistent.

Used it to separate vertical fishing spinning gear and lure throwing ones. How you guys call the act of throwing a lure using spinning gear? 

[MN Fisher]

1 hour ago, ska4fun said:

How you guys call the act of throwing a lure using spinning gear? 

Casting - "In angling, casting is the act of the angler throwing the bait and hook (or a lure) out over the water,"

 

Doesn't matter if it's baitcasting gear, spinning gear or fly-fishing gear...it's all 'casting' when you toss the lure/bait/fly out.

[ska4fun]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

Casting - "In angling, casting is the act of the angler throwing the bait and hook (or a lure) out over the water,"

 

Doesn't matter if it's baitcasting gear, spinning gear or fly-fishing gear...it's all 'casting' when you toss the lure/bait/fly out.

That's what I though when used spinning cast gear... Thanks. 

[QED]

21 hours ago, ska4fun said:

Micro guides and spinning casting gear simply aren't compatible. 

 

Let rephrase my earlier remark as a simple question: what exactly is "spinning casting gear?"

[ska4fun]

4 hours ago, QED said:

 

Let rephrase my earlier remark as a simple question: what exactly is "spinning casting gear?"

 

A casting gear focused on distance, made for spinning reels, ones with a conical cup, to improve casting distance.

[MN Fisher]

Ergo - Spin-cast - like the Zebco 33