Question About Rod Tips, Grooves, And Line Choices

[buffresources]

I have always used monofiliment line and noticed increased number of breaks when hooking fish. The breaks appeared to be anywhere along the line. When I looked at several of my older poles in a strong light many had deep grooves in the metal ferrel on the tip. The rods that had ceramic material did not have the grooves.

Now for the questions:

Could this break causing weak spots in my line?

Can I replace the end metal ferrels with a ceramic one?

If I go to braid on some reels will this groove issue be worse?

[Dutch]

Now for the questions:

Could this break causing weak spots in my line? YES

Can I replace the end metal ferrels with a ceramic one? YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO THAT

If I go to braid on some reels will this groove issue be worse? NOT AFTER YOU CHANGE TO CERAMIC GUIDES

[RSBreth]

Really any good rod thats been made in the past 20 years or so will have ceramic guides - the exception is Recoil guides - which are nickel-titanium or some such hi-tech material.

Your old metal guides can, and do, wear out.

Another thing - the top guide is called the tip-top, not a ferrel - a ferrel is what connects the different pieces of a multi-piece rod, so when you go to replace it make sure you know what your getting.

Any decent tackle repair shop can replace ttem for you if don't feel up to it.

[Al Agnew]

You might want to check your other guides as well. If using spincasting or baitcasting tackle especially, the guide closest to your reel is susceptible to grooving. If you just love your old fishing rods and you want to use braid, you should probably replace all the guides with ceramics. Or just buy some new "modern" rods!

[Wayne SW/MO]

You can replace them yourself or take them to someone. If you want to do it your self, determine the size needed, get the cement made for the job and then remove the old one with boiling water.

[riverfish]

don't know if your from the rogers/springdale area but i see the guys at hook line and sinker replacing rod tips almost every time im in there. they do a good job i don't know what they charge for it. im sure they have quite a variety of quality and types lord knows they have one heck of a tackle selection

[Wayne SW/MO]

I might add that any thread wrap at the tip top is for show and you don't need to worry about it.

[hoglaw]

Yep, all those suggestions are accurate. If you're noticing a distinct grove on the tip-top, that's not a good thing. Hopefully your tip-top was glued on and not epoxied on. I've removed a couple that were epoxied onto older rods that I could not get off with indirect lighter heat very easily. I used 80lb braid and tied one end to the tip-top and the other end to a doorknob. Then I put direct flame on the tip-top tube while steadily pulling against the braided line until it popped off. Graphite and direct flame do not get along very well, so be careful using this method. If you take your time and heat that tube evenly, it will eventually pop off with minimal damage to the tip. But try indirect heat first or boiling water (never thought of doing that but it should work like a charm). Don't know if the epoxy bond will break at 220 degrees (or whatever water boils at) but the glue bond will most definitely soften.

They make tip-top sizing tools, but in the absence of that you can use calipers to figure out the diameter of your tip, then look it up on the web to find the tube size. Tube sizes come in half increments (millimeters perhaps?). Generally the rod repair kits you buy have poor quality tip tops that are big and heavy. A heavy tip-top will KILL the action of your rod. Go small and light and you'll be alright.

[fishinSWMO]

A lot of new rods have gone to those cheap metal guides. Ugly sticks, bps micro lights, etc. I hate em for the fact that you will be changing the tip top for getting grooved, even with just using monofilament. Sure they look sleek and light and newer then ceramics, but I guess they didn't test them under real fishing conditions.

[LarrySTL]

In addition to replacing visibly groved guides, you can take a Q Tip and gently run it's dry tip through the guide or circle it around the inside of the guide. If any little wisp of the Q Tip catches on the guide, thats a tiny rough spot and you should replace that guide too.