I want to use Recoils on a few upcoming light fly rods,including a couple of 8ft 4wts,and cosmetics will be very important to me on these.

I really don't care for the look of the Recoil tip tops at all and I was wondering if others who feel the same way I do about the look of them have any suggestions for a nicer looking wire(not ceramic) replacement that will go well with the finish of these guides,or does everyone just use the Recoil tip tops and accept the odd look?

I have a hard time believing anyone would actually like the look of them,LOL.

the REC sight has nice snake brand wire tip tops. NO REASON why you can't use them. i don't like the look of the rec tips either although i did use them on a 1wt and on a 2wt. the difference in weight is so small i doubt if it would make any difference relative to the weigth of 20 feet of fly line.

Pac Bay has a lot of colors on there guides Check them out

Don't know what all the fuss is about the REC Recoil tip tops. Seems everybody went nuts over all those stupid looking Fugi guides over the years. Seems to me the REC tip tops look more like a fly rod tip should. Just my opinion.

i agree with ed. i've been hearing how so many people dislike them, i finally cracked my REC catalog open to the recoil page and saw the tip tops. they look more traditional than ceramic tip tops...

eric
fresno, ca.

Hey Tony,

I was just at my local fly shop yesterday morning checking out the new Winston Boron rods that use the Recoil guides. They use the recoil tips on them, but from the looks of them and a side by side comparison with the other rods on the rack it seems to be a dead match for plain chrome. A few minutes later when chatting with their rod building guy he told me exactly what I wanted to hear. He said that on a few rods he's built using recoils he went with chrome stripping guides and tip tops and it was a perfect match.

By the way, I'm on the same side as you. I've got two rods (a dan craft 3 and 1 weight) that I'm going to use recoils on but I don't care for the tip top either. I will probably end up using the sage round tip top and a pack bay N stripper for these rods.

Take it easy.

Mark

Tony--I like the H&H tip tops, though you could get away with a simple hard-chromed wire tip top from Forecast, etc. I do disagree that the chromed tip tops are an exact match to the nickel-titanium wire, though...the Recoil's have a SLIGHTLY "duller" finish/look to them than hard-chromed guides/tip tops do, IMO. I'm not sure you'd really notice thanks to the 4+" of separation between the tip and the first running guide, but... ;)

The best performing wire tip tops I've found are H&H DLC tops, but those are "black" (really a very dark charcoal/ti colour), so you're definitely not colour-coordinated now.

All this having been said, the nickel-ti wire of the Recoils will likely outperform a s/s hard-chromed tip top, so you may be sacrificing some performance for esthetics, which I'm not necessarily suggesting would be a wrong move, just thinking out loud!

Hope this helps...a little at least! :)

Talk at you soon,

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I know there is a slight difference in finish between the Recoils and chrome and I think they are probably closer to the finish on the Fugi titanium framed ceramics than chrome wire,or maybe even somewhere in between.

Like I said,I personally don't like the look of them(I think they look a bit cheap with that hole in the end and the crimping underneath,but that's just my opinion),but obviously they would be the lightest choice for the rod.I just hate making a rod exactly how I want it and then compromising on something(it doesn't matter what it is).

The rod is a 8ft 3/4wt Diamondback Classic Trout(quite possibly the nicest looking graphite blank out there) with a flor grade handle,Venneri Esopus seat,Venneri winding check,Pac Bay N model guide(gold ring/light TiCH frame)and Recoil snakes so it would be nice to have the tip top be what I want as well.Either way it should be an extremely attractive rod.

John has it right. The Sage round top (Angler's Workshop?) is a better looking guide.

Tony,

If you're already using the pack bay light TiCh stripper, why not go with a tip top to match the stripping guide? Is it an OK color match for the recoils?

Mark

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I think I'll just go ahead and order the full set of guides,with the Recoil tip top,and then just pick up an extra chrome H&H or Snake Brand tip top to see what I prefer.