I've been reading everything I can find on this site about micro guides and have one question about the tiptop. Why does it seem that the smallest ring size you can get for a tiptop is 4 but the ring size for the guides go as small as 3 (or smaller?)? I would have thought you would want the tiptop to be the same size (or smaller) as the guides.

Thank you to anyone who can explain this.

Patrick Rutledge

Patrick,

It's about durablilty, they have yet to make a tip top to match the micro's that will hold up to use and abuse. Some day we HOPE someone will!

DR

I assumed there was a reason why, now I know. Thanks,

Patrick Rutledge

You can always use a single foot guide as a tiptop.

.....................

I THINK that the problem would be with the tube size, not the ring size. Many people are using the micro guides as a tiptop without problem so I would assume that the problem lies in manufaturing the tubes. A size 1.5 guide with a 5 or 6 tube may be difficult to manufacture

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

As Tom suggests, using a single foot guide as a tiptop works well. The unavailability of the small tiptops has been a blessing in disguise for me. I really like the lightness of the single foots and although they tend to be a little more fragile than a regular tiptop, they seem to hold up fine. It doe’s take some practice to wrap them to where they look good. My preference is for the Fuji LSG 3.5’s. I have done a few rods with the Alconites (4 ring) but they don’t seem to be quite as strong and are more prone to bending. I tried the small Batson tiptops and they seem to bend as easily as the Fuji Alconites.

Last night I used a double foot as a top. Size 6 alconite. It is on a graphite rod that needs a size 8 tube. The only top that I could find with a size 8 tube had a size 8 ring as well. I'll be using 30lb spectra for calicos and possibly even a yellowtail at catalina island for the next few days. I wanted to give a mciro guide rod (well size 4 if that is still considered micro) a shot at some bigger fish.

I bent the front foot back and epoxied it INTO the tip of the rod and then wrapped the back foot. Iused as little epoxy as I could to seal up the hole.

I saw someone post something like this a while ago.
ALSO, I think I read that someone was cutting the tubes so that they could be opened up to fit a larger tip. Any comments?
Steven

I'm with Jim on the benefits of the unavailability of the small tops. I've wrapped the last few stream rods with a #3 one-foot as the top. It actually feels more durable than the available #4 tip tops. With a little practice they turn out much better looking than you first imagine. The #4 tip top is easy to bend and has been a concern for the rods that see some brush busting.

I ordered extra #3 guides so I might try wrapping one of them on the tip and if all else fails I should be able to cut it off and use the #4 tiptop. Thanks for all the input, it is much appreciated.

Patrick Rutledge

I've yet to see a picture of a single foot guide wrapped as a tip that I like the looks of, so let's get with it manufacturers. We want size 3mm rings from size 4 up to size 16 tubes. LOL.

Greg, you should try wrapping one as a tip. I thought the same thing until I took the time to wrap a few. They look much better in person than in a photo. The naked eye does not see the fine details that are evident on a zoomed high res photo.