I’m headed to the Bassmaster Classic next week and one of the things I’m interested in seeing is how many of the top bass anglers in the world are now fishing rods outfitted with micro guides.
These guides, which run about 4 mm in diameter, are used the length of the rod. This is in contrast to typical guides which run about 10 to 12 mm in diameter and get progressively smaller toward the tip.
There are four supposed advantages of micro guides:
1. They reduce overall rod weight. How much I haven’t investigated (Quantum claims they are six times lighter), but I value every drop in weight as it helps reduces fatigue by day’s end.
2. Increased sensitivity. With traditional guides, fewer are used and that results in dead spots along the blank. With micro guides, more are used and this keeps the line tight to the blank thereby reducing dead spots.
3. Ease of Handling. As one who travels a ton with rods, I can assure you it’s much easier to pack 10 rods with micro guides than it is to fill a rod tube with rods outfitted with standard guides (and spinning rods are a real bear!)
4. Longer Casts–with more control of the line, it stays straighter and casts better, at least some claim so. I haven’t actually tested this one yet.
Years back, rod companies offered no guide rods (line ran through middle of the blank). I fished several models and while there were some pluses, there were a lot more minuses. The micro movement should pick up some steam because these guides do appear to offer some real benefits.—Steve
