What is the best way to keep the guides on a rod from freezing? Is there anything special I can put on the guides to help prevent them from freezing or do I just have to deal with it?

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We Southern California boys aren't used to this!!  > ;D

Best way to keep a guide from freezing is to keep feedin him SCOTCH

The easy answer is wait until it's above freezing. Steelheaders are allways fighting iced guides. Vaseline the guides helpes and silcone spray will help nothings perfect.

Garnet

Im not sure about vaseline it may solubalize the line and weaken it Probabbly better off with silicone

Would a spray of WD40 on the guides help this matter?  or just push the button at the butt of the rod that warms the rod up.

Muddy,

You're too much man!  ;D The scotch would be to keep ME from freezing!  

Garnet,

The good thing is that we don't see this kind of weather too often. The air temp this past weekend was 25 degrees when I got to the lake at 7am.  

I probably should have stayed home!!

Cabela,

I've heard and read about WD-40. My only concern is the pollution factor.

I'm thinking a little megastrike might do the trick.  :-/

Thanks for the replies guys. Chances are I wont see that kind of weather too often but it's good to know what to do when placed in a situation.

That's funny dude.  The same thing happened to me at Perris on Saturday morning.  

I thought, wd40 was environmentally friendly.

putting vasoline on the guides works. we do that for winter steelhead. there are also products made specifically for stopping ice buildup on guides that you can get from fly shops, but I dont remember the name of the product right now

Cabela10, you may be right. I really don't know for sure that it's not environmentally friendly.  But the fact that it contains 25% Liquified petroleum gas tells me it's probably not the best thing to put in our lakes, rivers, or oceans. Of course a small amount sprayed on guides probably wont do much. I would just rather be safe than sorry.

Maybe a chemist could enlighten us...

I have a small dab of megastrike sitting in my freezer right now. I want to see how well it holds up to freezing temps.

Yeah, yeah! I know... ;D

Muddy-Man are you out of your mind?  You know very well that no self-respecting guide would EVER be caught drinking (shudder) Scotch.  It's good ole Tennessee sippin mash or nothin. ;D ;D ;D

Sweet! Megastrike did not freeze after about 7 hours in the freezer. I wonder if it will work as well as vaseline.

All I can suggest is replacing the existing rod tiptop guide with a fly rod tiptop guide.

The fly rod tiptop has a much smoother shape, no struts and the thin wire has less surface area to collect ice.

And any ice that forms can be easily removed with your fingers.

However, I have no idea what to apply to your rid guides other than WD-40 or Silicone spray, and I am not sure of those products.

Let us know what you figure out.

I use Reel Magic for the guides and a couple of shots of Captain Morgan for me when I get home. Only a couple though. More than three and my brain freezes up.

dunk your rod tip into the lake. the lake water temperatures will thaw the ice .Once they are thawed, remove the rod tip from the lake and shake the rod to remove excess water before it freezes. Here in upstate NY the guides build up with ice more than you would think , if you fish year round. Ivan

Megastrike in the freezer? Now there's a fishaholic, right there.

I use silicone spray on my crappie rod's guides during the winter. It's not the perfect solution, but is way better than nothing.

Check this out. Scroll down to near the bottom of the page, and look for Stanley's Ice-Off

http://www.feather-craft.com/2007MAster/fcpage.asp?page=21

Cheers,

GK

Pam cooking spray works every time. I use the one with the garlic.

It also makes a very good sent atract! Try It.

KVD line conditioner or Reel Magic.

Being a former crazy Winter Metalmouth fisherman in the Pacific Northwest, I used the cast and shake the rod technique for the guides and either blackberry brandy or peppermint schnapps for the fisherman.... after a couple of hours,, who cared of the guides iced up... ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

KVD line conditioner or Reel Magic.

Thats one hundred percent correct.

From someone in the midwest who fishes tournies on power plant lakes (sometimes in the single digits), frozen guides are pretty commonplace.  The silicone sprays and other liquid conditioners work... temporarily.  You really have to keep applying them for any effectiveness.  The Megastrike idea sounds interesting... might have to try it.  Most of us up here just do the old rod dunk every fourth or fifth cast as well as blowing on the reel line guide to melt ice.  Also, once you have dunked the rod, give it a light pop with your hand between the reel and the first guide to knock off excess water.  I'll be going through these motions tomorrow (high temp 35).  Stay warm!

Hey fellas iI don't fish in the cold but it is a simple fact of chemistry that like soluabilizes like so I would stay away from any petroleum based solvents to protect from ice buildup because it mey hurt the line

Try a product called "GINK" its a dry fly dressing.  It sticks to your guides and line and keeps them completly free of ice. I use this steelheading in the coldest of weather when an untreated rod and line freezes up after a few casts. Never had a problem with it and Its all natural so it won't affect your fishery.

http://www.gink.com/GG-Products-StreamSide-Gink.html

This is a cool (pardon the pun) thread, but when you start de-icing the rod guides, I am heading for some shelter from the wind.  ;D

Ronnie