I was out this afternoon casting around and noticed a faint grinding sound when I was reeling in. I listened close to the reel and found the sound was coming from the guides as the line came through. I cleaned, oiled and greased my reel this spring but didn't pay any attention to the rod. When I got back home I took a q-tip and swirled it around the line guides and I couldn't believe how dirty they were. Im assuming the noise I was hearing was crud on the line rubbing on the smaller guides. Should I be cleaning my guides more often? They are stainless steel with titanium oxide inserts. 

I clean them whenever I regrease reels which is about 2 times a year. When I was using dark green braid cleaning had to be much more frequent as the coating seemed to rub off and attract dust.

Just now, garroyo130 said:

I clean them whenever I regrease reels which is about 2 times a year. When I was using dark green braid cleaning had to be much more frequent as the coating seemed to rub off and attract dust.

Interesting. I have a combo set up with braid for top water fishing. It hasn't gotten much else yet but ill keep an eye on it. Thanks for the feed back!

No

I’ve never done it and never had issues 

I do clean them id you can call tubing throgh with cotton buds

Yes, a couple times a year.

I clean them as necessary, because it mostly depends on the water quality, the tidal Potomac can get muddied up real quick sometimes. Braid also picks up mud caked onto lily pads and transfers them to the guides, which also cake up in the summer heat which creates friction on the line. I've had a couple random break offs while casting a frog and I suspect it was due to caked up guides. Haven't had a break off since cleaning the guides every couple trips in muddy water.

Yes, a cotton swab does a nice job of cleaning them out while checking for damage. 

Q-tip with some KVD L&L on it. I fish braid on a majority of my rods. I usually only find most build up is on the 3 or so closest to the tip.

1 hour ago, Junger said:

I clean them as necessary, because it mostly depends on the water quality, the tidal Potomac can get muddied up real quick sometimes. Braid also picks up mud caked onto lily pads and transfers them to the guides, which also cake up in the summer heat which creates friction on the line. I've had a couple random break offs while casting a frog and I suspect it was due to caked up guides. Haven't had a break off since cleaning the guides every couple trips in muddy water.

Thanks for the feedback ill defiantly keep a close eye on my frog combo. Defiantly don't want a random break off and risk losing one of my frogs.

54 minutes ago, jbsoonerfan said:

Q-tip with some KVD L&L on it. I fish braid on a majority of my rods. I usually only find most build up is on the 3 or so closest to the tip.

Those were dirtiest when I cleaned mine today. Ill try the KVD next time I swab them out. Thanks!

I am a bit OCD so I clean my guides after every outing. I just wipe it down with a damp towel. It only takes 30 seconds.

13 hours ago, garroyo130 said:

I clean them whenever I regrease reels which is about 2 times a year. When I was using dark green braid cleaning had to be much more frequent as the coating seemed to rub off and attract dust.

Neon yellow shows up in a very fine dust on the line guide too. It makes for a very fun time to clean. Mine was Sufix 832 with the neon yellow color.

I just use dish soap and an old toothbrush occasionally to clean them.

Absolutely, you may also want to run a piece of nylon stocking through the guide checking for nicks and/or rough edges.

10 hours ago, Maico1 said:

Absolutely, you may also want to run a piece of nylon stocking through the guide checking for nicks and/or rough edges.

This might be a stupid question but can you buy new guides or inserts for the guides if they do become rough or nicked up?

4 minutes ago, Indiana Bass Angler said:

This might be a stupid question but can you buy new guides or inserts for the guides if they do become rough or nicked up?

Inserts - takes special equipment to get them set properly

Guides - sure...but it might be less of a headache just sending it out to someone like Delaware Tackle and have them do it...unless you want to start into rod building, which can be very satisfying or another black hole to send money into (kinda like hard swimbait fishing).

3 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Inserts - takes special equipment to get them set properly

Guides - sure...but it might be less of a headache just sending it out to someone like Delaware Tackle and have them do it...unless you want to start into rod building, which can be very satisfying or another black hole to send money into (kinda like hard swimbait fishing).

Sounds like a job for the pros lol. Thanks for the info!

When I think about it I’ll spray L&L and wipe the rods down with the excess. 
 

 

 

 

Mike