Frozen Rod Guides – Try Lip Balm

With a daily high of a whopping 13 degrees Fahrenheit outside our Anchorage office, we’re starting to come to terms that winter is upon us.

For many of us, winter brings fishing conditions that are far from ideal. Although, winter fly fishing in cold-weather climates can have its perks, such as less crowds and fish more concentrated in likely lies to name a few.

Without a doubt, one of the most frustrating things about fishing in sub-zero temperatures is the tedious task of freeing up frozen fly line and rod guides in between casts. The need to chip off ice immediately after each cast is enough keep anyone inside tying flies, but there are some solutions.

Try Lip Balm!

A simple tried and true solution is to lightly coat the rod guides using a ‘Chapstick’ style lip balm. Doing so discourages ice build-up on the guides and lets you keep fishing. Although, due to the petroleum base of most lip balms, some believe this could reek havoc on certain rod resins and/or PVC coatings on many modern fly lines. We’re not sure if the small amount of lip balm used would really make that much of a difference, but we’d rather not take the chance.

However, its come to our attention that there are now many ‘organic’ or ‘natural’ lip balms on the market utilizing ingredients such as beeswax instead of petroleum based chemicals. Therefore, we’ve taken to trying out such products and think you should to!

Does it work as well as petroleum based balms? We’re not sure.. But we sure like the idea of it not breaking down our gear. Give it a try!

More on Winter Fly Fishing

• 5 Reasons to Swing for Trout This Winter
• 12 Ways to Make the Most of the Offseason
• Winter Bonefishing