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There are a lot of discussions about the advantages and disadvantages of the Recoil guides. As we offer both these and the traditional single leg Hopkins&Holloway guides (as a special order on request) on our rods I thought it could be useful to gather the arguments pro and contra that usually come up on rod building boards.

One of the disadvantages which usually gets mentioned is that the recoils make a jarring noise while casting. I had to fish for more than a whole year with G-Loomis rods equipped with Recoils the get this sound out of the guides. I have never heard this when the fly line is wet (which is pretty common while fishing) or the guides and the line are a bit used. It may have something to do with the direction of the haul too while some casters have it all the time, some never. If you cast a lot on grass, it may get annoying for sure.

Other drawback should be that they wear out quickly. I can't make any comment on this as I have never wore out any guides on a fly rod. Maybe I have too many of them and change them way too often. On the other hand I would be really curious why manufacturers like G-Loomis, Orvis and Hardy would use them if they would get let's say 30% of all sold rods back because of the grooved guides. Actually, if you google for pictures of grooved or damaged Recoils you won't find too much of them...

They supposed to break when the temperature is really low. I use them also in "1 cast weather" when you have to pick the ice chunks off the guides after every single cast and never had a problem. Maybe they don't work in "no-cast weather" but neither does fishing.

Some think you can cast a tiny bit further with the traditional guides. This might be true as the Recoils may bend while casting which can mean a couple of inches on a 36 meter cast. I don't think this is significant while fishing.

The biggest advantage of Recoils is the weight. You won't get any lighter than this, what means less swing weight, hence less fatigue when casting the whole day long and additionally better recovery after the counterflex (and less counterflex too) what just has a better feel for me. These things are so important for me that I used to rewrap my factory rods using Recoils too. I can tell you the rods improve a lot!

They are also crushproof what can be a good insurance if you are out in the bush and have a limited supply on rods or no chance to repair them.

Cheers,

Ákos