If you’ve ever had a chain pickerel flop while you were holding braided fishing line, you know how deeply braid can cut. After tending to your wounds, you might start wondering if braided line will damage your rod, or at least damage the rod guides.
If you ask around, you’ll find no shortage of people who will tell you that braided line once damaged their favorite rod’s guides. Early braided fishing lines certainly could damage older fishing rod guides, but newer braids (and rods) have been designed to avoid this. It’s not exactly in either manufacturer’s interest to have such a destructive fishing line, or delicate rod guides. As a result, modern braided fishing line is going to be fine for most fishing rods and their guides.
Why Did Braid Used to Damage Fishing Rods?
In the early to mid 1990’s, some fishing line manufacturers started using a material called kevlar in their braided fishing line. While this manufacturing process was celebrated for all the usual benefits of braid (reduced stretch, enhanced sensitivity, decreased diameter), kevlar was a very abrasive material that did not mesh well with certain line guides. At some point, people started to wonder, “why does my fishing line snap when I cast?” After some investigation it was observed that there were grooves in the fishing rod line guides which was causing damage to the line over time, and Kevlar was given the blame.
It seems that since that time, most manufacturers have abandoned kevlar (or at least the earlier versions of it) in favor of different techniques for making braided line, such as using gel spun polyethylene fibers instead. These won’t damage line guides as they aren’t as abrasive as the kevlar braids.
While manufacturers adjusted (no one wanted that press), the damage had already been done. As a result the internet is rife with stories of guys claiming that braid damaged their fishing rods. However, you can buy modern day braided fishing line and use it with confidence on modern day fishing rods. They won’t damage each other.
What Braid Won’t Damage Fishing Rod Guides?
Any braided line that isn’t made from kevlar is going to be just fine for modern day fishing guides, but if you’re looking for a recommendation, I really like PowerPro braided line. I’ve been using it for years on all sorts of St. Croix rods and haven’t had an issue with it. It casts well, is durable, and stands up to every fish I’ve encountered. It’s also sold in giant spools of 1,500 yards so you can buy it in bulk. Since braided fishing line doesn’t go bad, I like to buy giant spools of it so I can get a good value. I use 20lb braid on most of my spinning rods, 30lb braid on most of my casting rods, and 50lb braid on my frog and jig rods for throwing around heavy cover.
If you’re interested, head over to Amazon and try a spool of PowerPro braided fishing line out. It’s so manageable and works so well I’m sure you’ll be buying it in bulk like me soon enough.
Best Rod Guides for Braided Line
As mentioned, so long as you aren’t using an older, kevlar-based braid, you shouldn’t have to worry about braid damaging your fishing rod or line guides. Regardless, if you are one of those in the “better safe than sorry” camp, In-Fisherman ran a story a few years ago called The Essentials of Ceramic Guide Inserts that will be of interest to you. In it, they examined the different types of material used to make fishing rod guide inserts. The article indicates that ceramic inserts are rated on their hardness. The harder the insert, the better it will withstand braid.
Good Ceramic Guide Inserts for Braided Line
That In-Fisherman article was a good starting point for my research. It mentioned five types of ceramic guide inserts that are commonly credited with being good for braided fishing line:
- Silicon Carbide Inserts
- Nanolite Inserts
- Alconite Inserts
- Nanoplasma Inserts
- Torzite Inserts
I looked into these a bit more and determine what popular rods feature them. It’s clearly not an exhaustive list but you can see some notable names in there. As a comparison, I’ve also included a benchmark for aluminum oxide rod guides just to give you an idea of what types of rods use them (it’s usually the entry level offering for given manufacturer).
| Guide Insert Material | Rod Brand and Model Using Them |
| Aluminum Oxide | St. Croix Triumph, St. Croix Premier, Shimano Scimitar |
| Silicon Carbide | G. Loomis NRX (titanium SiC), Shimano Poison Adrena |
| Nanolite | Killer Bass Baits Sicario, |
| Alconite | St. Croix Avid, Shimano Curado |
| Nanoplasma | Appears to be more popular on the custom rod building scene. |
| Torzite | St. Croix Legend Xtreme, St. Croix Legend Elite |
What Else Could Have Damaged Your Rod’s Guides?
OK, so we know that a modern braid won’t damage a fishing rod, yet your rod guide is still damaged. What gives? Let me ask you a question: are you using your rod guides as a hook keeper? If so, stop. You should never use the rod guide (or at least the circle/insert part) as a hook keeper. Hooks, as you may have noticed, are rather sharp and pointy. They can easily damage rod guides if you aren’t careful. Once you get a little kink or scratch in them, it could cut your line.
Most fishing rods come with a dedicated hook keeper near the reel seat that you should use instead. If your rod doesn’t have one, you can buy one (just click on the photo below to go to Amazon to check them out). This is one of those good ways to spend a little money – it’s much better to have a proper hook keeper than to damage your rod guides.
Can Braided Line Damage Your Fishing Reel?
Braided fishing line won’t damage your fishing reel unless you have your drag improperly set, or attempt to free it from a snag the wrong way. If you have your drag set properly, no braid (not even kevlar) is going to have a chance to dig in against the line roller enough to damage it. There really shouldn’t be that much force placed on the line roller in the first place while you’re fighting a fish, as your rod should be absorbing much of the energy of the fish long before the reel can be affected.
The only way I could realistically see braided line damaging a fishing reel is if you got caught on a snag and tried to free it too forcefully using your rod. Braid can dig in against itself very easily when snagged, and if it digs in enough it might damage a less durable reel. When you get snagged with braid I highly recommend that you give it some slack and then wrap it around a heavy stick or paddle well past the rod and pull with that. Let the braid cut the stick, not itself or your rod (or your hand).
Conclusions
While older, kevlar-based braided fishing line was known for damaging fishing rod guides, manufacturers have adapted. Modern braided fishing line doesn’t damage modern fishing rod guides. Remember, neither line nor rod manufacturers would have been pleased to hear that their products were incompatible with one another. It’s just bad business. Both have made great strides the past 20 or so years to fix this early issue, and as a result, it’s fine to use braided fishing line – it will not damage your rod.
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John Paxton
