New rod guides?

[Andrew Coleman]

When i put on my braid, i noticed that it was harder to reel in and it felt like there was too much friction between the guides and the line, should i replace the guides or is the rod shot?

[Wayne P.]

Braids don't have the relatively hard and slick surface like monos do nor are they as stiff. The difference will be even more apparent when reeling in quicky under tension--you will hear it.

You can check your guides with a cotton swab to see if any have cracks, if not you are OK.

[J Francho]

What kind of braid?  What rod?  Are there grooves in the inserts?  Is this the first time you've used braid?

[Andrew Coleman]

What kind of braid? What rod? Are there grooves in the inserts? Is this the first time you've used braid?

Spiderwire stealth, XPS bionic Blade spinning, what inserts?,yes this is my first time.

[Wayne P.]

The inserts mentioned are the rings inside the rod guide frames that I suggested you test with a cotton swab. The rod model you have has good quality guides so unless you dropped or hard hit your rod on a hard surface your guides should be OK.  Probably 90%+ of damaged rod guides are the tips that resulted from dropping the rod or it falling over when propped against something.

I also use Stealth on my spinnerbait rigs.

[J Francho]

Do what Wayne said, and check the guides.  I think its just that braid feels different from what you are used to.  I also notice a slight increase in effort required with spinning gear, but not enough to be any kind of detriment.

[dodgeguy]

junk the stealth.all braid makes noise but stealth is junk.it produces more drag then other braids.use power pro or sufix.

[ddigit]

Being as this thread is now a few days old.  

The original post reads to me like the line could have been wrapped around the tip, braided lines tend to do that on a cast, or the line might be caught in the line roller. The hardloy guides the rod/s come with hold up to braided lines just fine..

Just a couple of thoughts..

Good luck.....

[Andrew Coleman]

Well i went out yesterday, only one bass :'( but after a few casts the braid seemed to shoot out of the guides and i can cast a lot farther with a lot less effort.

Also when i caught my fish, he was about 25 yards away and i had to go through a TON of weeds and other mess, the braid cut right through it.