Steve Arnold
Well-known member
I think your term "real world" is spot on. For practical purposes guides are chosen and placed to suit a style of fishing, blank action and even water conditions.Unless your trying to maximise casting distance, then the more guides reduce the cast, to me, rods are more about playing fish as in the real world good fish aren't all sitting miles out...
One of the rods I bought in the last couple of years is the Preston Feeder Feeda 12' 6" which was designed for chucking big loads good distances.
Despite it being partly built using a copy of the K style guides it had the usual multiple small guides on the quiver tip. Despite all the guides I managed a cast of about 130 yds using a 3 ounce weight. This distance I measured on Google maps as the landing stage I cast from had channel buoys lined up across the river.
I doubt that all those guides restricted the cast more than an absolutely minimal amount. What is more important is the size and spacing of the guides and also the amount of stand-off from the blank each guide has to guide the line from the reel to flow parallel to the blank. The butt guide height and diameter has to be carefully chosen to suit the reel height and spool diameter and also the action of the blank.
Those rods that use the fewest guides possible trying to achieve greater casting distance often suffer from the coils of line slapping against the blank. This can LOSE distance but also often results in ring wraps by the line, particularly in strong cross winds. To my mind rods with just a few outsize guides are a peculiarity of the tournament casting scene - not of the "real world" situation we fish in!