too few guides
 

Has anyone else noticed that major rod manufacturers are not using enough guides on their conventional rods? If you put a good bend in one of these rods, the line cuts across the blank, not a good thing, especially with braid. This is not bargain equipment, but rods that retail for $150, $200, and more. And I am not talking about exceeding the rated capacity of the rod, either. Take a 20 lb-rated rod, lift 5 lbs with it, and there it is. I'm not a Shimano fan-boy, but they do seem to use enough guides, at least on the rods I've looked at (Trevala and Teramar).

Mike

Re: too few guides
 

I have said the same things for many years. Under normal load it is not as noticeable. For off the shelf rods less guides reduce expenses and increase profits. You will especially see the line cross when fishing a more moderate bend Rod especially with some fiberglass rods with soft tip and moderate action. With that deep bend you need more guides to keep line off he blank. A good Rod builder will do a static deflection by temporarily placing guides on Rod and running line through it and check the spacing of guides and make adjustments by moving the guides to the desired part of the blank to keep line from touching under load.

Re: too few guides
 

St Croix Mo Jo has that problem of a bad guide train.