REC Recoil Guides

One of the newer products that caught the attention of fly rod builders during the winter's round of trade shows was a new series of snake guides from REC called Recoil Guides. The idea of a strong, yet malleable, metal that "remembers" its shape has been around for a while and used extensively by eyewear manufacturers to provide a way out for those of us who don't always look before we sit. REC's guides are made of a special nickel titanium alloy which is extremely hard, but flexible.

The alloy's inherent shape memory means that the guides will return to their original shape after they're bent. REC states: Recoil Guides will not break or bend out of position under normal use, and can withstand repeated deformations under severe use.

The keywords there are normal use. I haven't put the guides underfoot, but clomping a Size 11 down on any guide isn't a good idea. Though the guides may be able to withstand the pressure, their real value isn't to accommodate the clumsy among us.

Snake guides are put through some strenuous stresses each time a fly rod is flexed. Multiply that by a season's worth of false casts, and you can imagine what sort of changes must be happening to those standard chrome-plated stainless steel snake guides. The result can be slight deformations that become more pronounced over time. More importantly, materials that don't want to flex easily create dead spots in a rod, while REC says its Recoil Guides are actually more flexible than the rod blank.

There's also a substantial weight reduction due to the alloy's properties and the smaller gauge of wire used to make the guides. REC's specs for a typical 9-foot 5-weight rod have a standard snake guide set weighing in at 1.3 grams, while a similar set of Recoils weighs .375 grams. On the saltwater side of things, a Size 6 Recoil weighs .125 grams while a Size 6 standard snake guide weighs .448 grams. That's a much bigger difference than it may sound.

Guide and guide wrap weight are critical factors in overall rod performance. Less weight along the tip section translates into faster line speed and less dampening on a cast. Dampening is the vibrating tip bounce you might have noticed at the end of cast. Pronounced dampening can throw waves into your line, so the less the tip bounces, the farther your casts will go.

Combine the Recoil Guides flexibility with a significant reduction in hardware weight, and you should end up with a fly rod that's going to come as close to the true characteristics of the rod blank as possible.

Rod builders will also be able use larger guides, possibly even up to a complete set Size 6 snakes, even on some lightweight saltwater blanks. I've always built my fly rods using the largest guides I felt the rod blank could handle and I strongly believe the casting efficiency of larger snake guides is critical to longer distance.

So far, I know of no rod manufacturer that's using REC's Recoil Guides. As always, it's the custom builders who will lead the way.

Recoil Guides are currently available in a double-foot snake guide design (RSN) from Size 4/0 through Size 6, and a single-foot design (RSF) in Size 2 through Size 6, with standard, large, and extra-large loop tops (RTT).

REC has an Internet website at www.reccomponents.com/.