Howdy all

Building my first fly rod and plan on using American Tackle Titan ring lock single foot fly guides. There is not a matching tip top to this guide set and I have looked at a couple options but none seem ideal. Was considering using a Recoil double wire (just for a more custom look) but it doesn't really match the look so good.

Is it possible to use a single foot guide as the tip top? If so, since there is no tube would the guide need to be treated any differently e.g. double wrapped? Concerned about the amount of stress on the top guide and if it may loosen if any side to side pressure comes into play (sadly like hanging a back cast in a tree for example).

The rod is a 5 wt Sage TCX and the running guides are the Titan NIRLFs in size 5.

Any insight is greatly appreciated - this forum has already provided a wealth of insight and information.


thanks. mike

Just wrap and finish it as you would normally would and you'll be fine. You can only put so much pressure on a tiptop - because that's the most flexible part of the rod. Any force applied there transfers quickly down the rod to the stouter portion.

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I've toyed with this method, Mike, and I have an idea that you might find interesting.

One of the things that I didn't like about using a single-foot guide as a top was that it looked a bit weird. To offset this, I did an experiment where I wrapped the guide foot with silver metallic thread, and then did a short black rim wrap below it. It's not a perfect match, but it does slightly approximate (if you don't look too closely) the look of a metallic tube with a black wrap underneath it. It's worth a try if you have time and you want to make it look like there's a tube on there.

Really appreciate the feedback. That sounds like an interesting idea to wrap the guide to look like its a standard tube. Since it sounds like a feasible option to use the single foot for the tip I may just run with it. again, thanks.

You'll also find that you get a better line path when the guide on the tip is identical to the running guides.

Fuji is the only one that makes a Ti top in SIC ring

Bill - willierods.com