ICE ON GUIDES

[Magnet]

Is there anything that can eliminate the ice from forming on the guides. The only thing I came up with so far is to stick the rod under water just prior to casting. It happened to me for the first time today. I can see its a real problem. Even my line was acting a little weird from the ice.

[trout5]

There is a pretty popular paste called "ice off" that works pretty well. You can find it in most northern shops.

[Nymphmeister]

Loon "Stanley's Ice Off Paste" does work pretty well- you need to reapply it every couple hours to the guides. I use a Q-tip to do that. And yes, you can dunk your rod in the water and swish it around- unless is brutally cold in which case you only end up with a rod totally encrusted in ice. If you short line nymph with a fixed length of line or swing streamers, you can mostly avoid stripping line in & out of your guides and ice up won't be an issue until you catch a fish and reel him in.

[bassrag]

Will Blakemore Reel Magic spray work on the guides?.I keep forgetting to put the paste on and I always have the Blakemore in the car.

[AaronJasper]

Thats a good idea... try it out this week/weekend and give us a report. Spray is much easier and convenient to put on the guides since it does not need to be done before the trip. This way you can forget to put it on and you are still ok.

[Night Angler]

try chap stick!!


Also I heard if you coat your line with "Pam" cooking spray.. it help repel the water threr for the water is off the line before it even gets to the rod... Or at least most of it..



here is a some I heard.. get a 1x the size reel neoprene cover...(For a 8wt reel carry a 9wt reel cover)

When the line freeze in the reel.. put the reel in the pouch.. and place a hot hand in it.. 3-5 second its ready for action (depending on air temps.. say above 20degrees)

[trout5]

That is an excellent idea!

[JUICE]

for sure, for those who carry oversize pouches

[AaronJasper]

I don't think they really make anything that will stop the ice from forming on the guides. The loon paste seems to work well for less than an hour. i guess ice on the guides is what makes us "hardcore"... we just deal with it. There was nothing that you could buy that would have taken the ice off the guides yesterday. It was constant in the morning yesterday and quite annoying as well. Ask Dave how much he likes ice on his rod guides The only way to take ice off the rod guides is to "de ice" them manually ;D

[Nymphmeister]

The only other way to deal with ice on the guides is to fish a fixed length of line, not taking any in or out unless you play a fish or move to another spot. If I get in a gentle riffle that will hold fish in the Winter, I will often nymph with only about 10 or 15 feet of fly line out, maybe less- that way I can fish without taking any line in or out. Problem solved. You can also swing streamers on a fixed length of line. Longer rods, including 10 footers, Switch rods, and even Speys come in handy for these types of techniques in cold weather.