Planning on taking my first lake trout trip this year ice fishing. I’m building myself a rod for the trip. Wondering what guys use for guides? Wire fly guides or ceramic insert guides? Also do you prefer a reel seat or a straight handle?
Anyone? Rodwork?
The ones I build have the inserts due to the big fish and pressure on the tip top guide and I do 8″ straight cork but have done some with reel seats, personal preference.
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PM Sent
I like to put reel seats on bigger / heaver rods. The location and balance of the rod is not thrown off as much from different reel with heaver rods. Fly guides I feel are a little light and I go with “insert” type of guides.
If you’re going to fish outside when it’s cold then go with wire fly guides. If you’ll be in a shack when it’s cold then use ceramic insert guides. If you’re going to fish outside when it’s really cold do NOT use REC recoils, they will break.
I’ve built a pile of ice rods for lakers and never had a failure with wire fly guides. I built a few with insert guides and ended up re-building them later because the ice build up drove me nuts!
(1) Size 16 Flexlite TiCH stripper
(4) Size 6 Pac Bay Single Foot Fly Guide TiGrey runners
Use a reel seat.
I know you didn’t mention blanks, but I’m guessing you’re planning to use the Rainshadow solid glass blank that gets mentioned so much. I would highly recommend checking out the new Bass Khang 48″ solid carbon laker blank. I haven’t fished it yet since it’s new but the action and power feel about perfect for me. The Rainshadow is really overkill for anything under about 15 lbs. It’s a super heavy blank with no sensitivity at all. I’ve built on that blank more than any other and it definitely serves its purpose, but the rods actually end up weighing more than open water rods!
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