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Your rod deserves the best corrosion resistance, the smoothest surface, and the fastest line speeds which yields the greatest casting distance and improved accuracy.

How Snake Brand Brought Agate Stripping Guides Back

Agate stripping guides have been a part of rod building since as far back as the 1870’s, when Kosmic Rods featured them as Agate Tunnel Guides. A book titled “Idyl of Split Bamboo”, by Dr. George Parker Holden, showed examples of agate guides and tip tops and companies such as F.E. Thomas, Payne, Leonard, Edwards, Varney and Heddon used agate stripping guides, made in Germany, extensively during the 1930’s to the 1940’s. The use of agate stripping guides dropped off during WWII and afterwards only a few rod builders possessed small quantities of these guides.

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Builder Spotlight

Marshfly Rods

The essence of marshfly is based on our love for the water and fly fishing. Our brand started in 2012 with the idea of creating high quality fly rods without the high price tag. We pride ourselves in making the best fly rods and apparel that not only compliments our lifestyle, but the ability to live it.

“The Universal Guides enhance the performance of our product”
— David Cunningham

A Concave Radius Universal Guide (patented technology)

Orients to any rod snake guides

Prior to our introduction of the Universal Guide we analyzed guides available in the market and noted that a flat stamped guide foot does not mate well to the round rod blank. With this in mind we designed the guide to have a concave radius on the entire undersurface of the guide foot. The benefits of this new design were improved alignment and orientation to the rod blank as well as more surface contact. We were also able to lower the profile to the rod blank thus minimizing any epoxy build-ups. Reduction in weight is critical in achieving improved cast performance.

A Convex Radius on the top of the guide foot.

Radiused foot snake guides

We recognized in our early findings that again the Competitors' Guides with their flat stamped foot created gaps between the top of the guide foot and the rod blank, which in turn required more epoxy to be used and added more weight. We addressed this by creating a convex radius thus reducing gaps between the guide and the rod blank. Again, another weight reduction and performance enhancement.

 

A Tapered TOE at the tip of each guide foot.

Tapered concave snake guides

When we examined our competition’s guides we noticed that guide feet were often ground at different angles. Some guides had very sharp points that could pierce into the rod blank. Often guide feet were not in alignment. Many of these items required labor to be expended during the wrapping process. With this in mind we tapered the toe to allow the thread to climb onto the guide foot. We stamp our guide feet in dies to ensure the all guides of a particular size have the same foot lengths on both feet. We also designed our own forming machines that allow our guides to sit flat, to have the feet in alignment and to be burr free.

 

A CIRCULAR HELIX in lieu of the conventional teardrop helix of Foreign Guides.

Round vs Teardrop design snake guides

Almost twenty years ago we recognized that weight affected even the finest designed fly rods and with this in mind we assigned a wire diameter to each guide size to complement its location on the rod.

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Snake Guides
the leader in flyrod innovation