Guides on fly rods, small or large????

[Korrie]

For a fly rod, which guides are the best: Micro, small or large guides?
Let me know why you choose a specific size.
Maybe the rod builders have some "expert opinions"

[smallstreams.co.za]

For a fly rod, which guides are the best: Micro, small or large guides?
Let me know why you choose a specific size.
Maybe the rod builders have some "expert opinions"

Is it a small or a large rod?

[smallstreams.co.za]

Smaller guides = less line wobble but more resistance. Larger guides the other way. Medium I suppose would then be best

[Korrie]

Should Micro not be best?
Why medium?

[GGY]

Smaller guides = less line wobble but more resistance. Larger guides the other way. Medium I suppose would then be best

NOTE - the picture in Mario's post comes from conventional angling and is showing conventional line coming off a bait caster reel on a spinning rod, which spins & has the line come of in loops at 90 degree's to the rod. A fly line coming off a fly reel or out of your hand through the stripping guide would not be spinning in the same way.

I would think that when the angle between the line and the blank (and hence the guide) is great, such as at the reel end and again at the tip, the bigger guides have the advantage. This is where the line is going to jump around and be under tension which is not parallel to the blank. Thus the smaller guide offers less advantage.

In between, say above the stripping guide and below the tip, a smaller guide probably better, as ling as it does not place the line too close to the blank. In this region, the line is running parallel to the blank and the lesser line wobble is of greater advantage than the lesser resistance of a bigger guide.

Mario - maybe you could tape guides to a eg 6wt rod and see if this is true?

[smallstreams.co.za]

Should Micro not be best?
Why medium?

That was a bit tongue-in-cheek Korrie

[smallstreams.co.za]

NOTE - the picture in Mario's post comes from conventional angling and is showing conventional line coming off a bait caster reel on a spinning rod, which spins & has the line come of in loops at 90 degree's to the rod. A fly line coming off a fly reel or out of your hand through the stripping guide would not be spinning in the same way.

I would think that when the angle between the line and the blank (and hence the guide) is great, such as at the reel end and again at the tip, the bigger guides have the advantage. This is where the line is going to jump around and be under tension which is not parallel to the blank. Thus the smaller guide offers less advantage.

In between, say above the stripping guide and below the tip, a smaller guide probably better, as ling as it does not place the line too close to the blank. In this region, the line is running parallel to the blank and the lesser line wobble is of greater advantage than the lesser resistance of a bigger guide.

Mario - maybe you could tape guides to a eg 6wt rod and see if this is true?

Gary - what one also needs to keep in mind is line diameter. When one chooses a big or small guide, it is big or small in relation to the line weight/OD. So it's a very hard thing to really determine.

Maybe some of the other engineers here can shed some light on surface area/contact vs line wobble and how that would either slow line down or not.

Accuracy (imho) is all down to the rod tip plane and size of the top tip loop.