# Importance of Fuji guides and reel seat ?



## Steve_VA (Jun 16, 2013)

I am a long time bass angler who has been getting interested in salt water fishing a lot lately so I have a few questions. I bought a few penn prevail surf rods to go with my Spin fisher v's but noticed they do not have fuji guides or reel seats. With my bass rods it has never been much of an issue, i have never broken a non fuji reel seat and have only damaged guides when i stepped on them on the deck of the boat. 

So how important are they on a surf rod ? The Penn rods only have a year of warranty. Do I have to worry bout breaking a reel seat or a guide ? Are the guides on the Penn Prevail rods braid friendly ? Im considering returning them to Bass Pro and getting something else. Been lookin at the Tsunami Airwave rods but they also only have a year of warranty, they do however have nice guides and reel seats. Im also looking at the LL Bean 10 foot rods which are all fuji and have a lifetime warranty. Anyone use the LL Bean rods before ? I need some suggestions and guidance here and keep in mind i do not have a big budget if i return these rods.


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## sunburntspike (Oct 4, 2010)

Fuji is just a name...if the guides are alconite they are braid friendly. ..most likely the penns are built with a name manufacturer but for penn only..may be pacbay, maybe american tackle...as for life expectancy, most factory rods are good for some years as long as you take care of the rods


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## wes (Jan 3, 2004)

I think you will find most of the builders of custom surf rods use Fuji components...That's not by accident.If you are building a rod that will sell for big bucks you settle on reliable parts pretty quickly.Many builders have been through the "latest..greatest..just as good as" phase ,ask around


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## Steve_VA (Jun 16, 2013)

Thanks for the replies fellas. Oh and Wes i see you're in Annandale , i graduated from Annandale high, class of '94


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## wes (Jan 3, 2004)

Small world...only missed you by a few years.


Steve_VA said:


> Thanks for the replies fellas. Oh and Wes i see you're in Annandale , i graduated from Annandale high, class of '94


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## sunburntspike (Oct 4, 2010)

Actually wes, most custom guys will use the best components for a particular build.if the rod is a better build for the money using fuji than that's what's gonna be used.but the fuji components that xcustom builder uses may not be the same as what a large factory uses just because of volume purchasing or proprietory useage.there are many grades or types of guides that a custom guy will use that a big factory would never consider due to price and availability.case in point is the beloved uglistiks, great , unbreakable BLANKS.but the components are less than desirable.


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## gilly21 (Feb 15, 2006)

Fuji is a easily recognized name. I would wager that 95%+ of the rods on the market that have a Fuji tag on them are base Fuji guides. That means they are cheap Fuji Hardaloy guides. That is by no means to say there is anything wrong with Hardaloys. They do handle braid just fine. My second assumption is that the most common guides used on store bought rods are low end PacBay guides. They are cheap to purchase in comparison to Fuji Hardaloys. Again they will handle braid just fine. You will be hard pressed to find a guide on a factory rod not suitable for braid, if said guide has a ceramic ring and not just a coated metal. 

To specificly answer your question, there should be no reason to worry about your Penn Prevail guides. If a guide is going to fail, it will fail quickly under regular fishing pressure. So the one year warrenty shoudl cover you. If for some reason a guide fails after the 1 year grace period, 99% chance it is user error not guide manufacturing. 

Assumption # 3, Most custom builders build with Fuji components because most customers recognize the Fuji name and request said components, NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE SUPERIOR. Fuji did a great job marketing. Fuji does make a great guide, and I am by no means knocking them. However, they are not the gold standard in every application. AmTac, PacBay, Batson, etc. all make good components. A good builder will use the best components for the customers needs. Vice Versa the best customer will allow his builder to build a rod around the requested specifications not around a specific manufacturer. 

I have built and bought all types of rods and all combinations of components. I have had all fail, all have provided indestructible, and all have offered in between. Penn is a mass market company that will cut costs where they can. But they also dont want to lose money on the 1 yr warrenty. So they came up with a cost effective combination of components that will serve a specific purpose for the customer base that buys that rod type at that price point. You should be just fine with your new rod!


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## junkmansj (Jul 23, 2005)

Some of Penns Lower priced rods have trash Guides. I get a lot of them with the ring and metal carrier spun right off only the base left. NO bottom brace to support the rings


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## wes (Jan 3, 2004)

Guy's I wasn't trying to do Ford/Chevy or off the shelf rod-good /bad...all I was saying is that in my experience with southeast CUSTOM BUILT SURF rods....you see way more Fuji guides-reel seats than other brands. My experience may be too limited... I'm talking Md thru the Carolinas again, custom built surf rods.


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## gilly21 (Feb 15, 2006)

wes said:


> Guy's I wasn't trying to do Ford/Chevy or off the shelf rod-good /bad...all I was saying is that in my experience with southeast CUSTOM BUILT SURF rods....you see way more Fuji guides-reel seats than other brands. My experience may be too limited... I'm talking Md thru the Carolinas again, custom built surf rods.


My post was not meant to feed that argument. Simply that yes you are correct that most custome's are built with Fuji guides. Fuji did a great job marketing earlier on in the game and much more mass marketing then the other guys. So they get the request from customers more so then any others. And because they do make a quality product. Some of them are top of the line and no one makes a better guide, but in most situations there are options of equal quality. What most people do not know is there are several grades of guides from each manufacturer.


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## Carolina Rebel (Aug 25, 2005)

Gilly's got it. Not many people want PacBay when you can get Fuji, just because they're more familiar with Fuji. I'd say most avid anglers would be willing to pay a little more for Fuji, just for the name. 
Guide materials are not rocket science, and Fuji does not have a monopoly on "good" guides. When I build my own, I'll cheap out and buy guides and seats of comparable construction from other manufacturers, usually PacBay. These have yet to let me down <knock on wood>.


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## JAM (Jul 22, 2002)

Can not put a real number on it, but over the last 10 years or so I have built Thousands of Rods, I have never seen a Rod I built have an Issue with a reel-seat or a Guide for that matter. I prefer to build on Fuji Sic's but sometimes at customers request (to save a few bucks) I will build on the Alconite's, still have never had one come back. I'll stick with what has been working, Fuji Man all the way.. JAM


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## plotalot (Apr 27, 2009)

I have been using Fuji guides since the late 70's. Even though there are good quality guides made by others, I just stick to what has been working well for me all this time. Reel seats are a different matter. I still prefer a metal reel seat, since they seem to be more secure and I can't stand a reel wiggling in its seat. I really like the Pac Bay Channel Lock seats.


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## Lynn P. (Sep 7, 2007)

JAM said:


> Can not put a real number on it, but over the last 10 years or so I have built Thousands of Rods, I have never seen a Rod I built have an Issue with a reel-seat or a Guide for that matter. I prefer to build on Fuji Sic's but sometimes at customers request (to save a few bucks) I will build on the Alconite's, still have never had one come back. I'll stick with what has been working, Fuji Man all the way.. JAM


I'm on board with JAM on this...Fuji Sic guides & reel seats..built maybe 80+ so not in his league but 28+ are in my personal fishing gear---never a failure and they are fished a lot. I am very careful in making sure lead doesn't bang around the guides, that rods don't fall onto pavement, and that reel seats are securely glued to built up positions on a blank. I've not had a graphite reel seat (Fuji) fail--biggest test was a 200# sandbar on a Fuji 24 reel seat with a Saltist 20 reel, 17# Tritanium Suffix. Was fishing for stripers up at ramp 27 but prevailed after an hour--hope I never catch another.


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## mantriumph (Sep 12, 2006)

Fuji are always available,,,unlike pac-bay or amteck.I had a problem locating berkley ssi guides recently.I only use fuji.They never change or discontinue


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