Here's a thing that's been bugging me about my fishing lately...

I now use a modern carbon rod for my float fishing. It trots lovely and does everything it should but the single-leg rod rings are a real bind and starting to anoy me greatly. Regularly when fishing - often mid river - the line wraps around the rod tip and can't be freed without manual application of the hands. This is very irritating and time conuming. Also, if you don't notice it can cause line damage and tangles in the terminal tackle when attempting to cast. In my opinion (at the present) this style of ring is a real backward step in design.

I remember when all my float rods had the High Bells pattern of ring and I rarely remeber this problem.

Does this happen to anyone else or am I commiting some cardinal sin?

Can't say it's a problem I've had, and when I've heard about it its been to do with single leg intermediate rings rather than tip ring, but if its just the tip ring which is causing the problem for you its a simple job to replace it

Seymo and Fuji both seem to do tip rings with "struts":
http://www.hopkinsholloway.co.uk/pro...?SID=2&CatID=6

To get your old one off, scrape off the varnish and just hold a lighter under it for a few seconds and it will either pop off, or grab it with a tea towel and it should pull off easily

Just an afterthought....may be a daft question, but you are using an underhand swing, not an overhead cast I assume?

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Thanks for the reply Jeff.

I should make myself clearer in future, it is the single leg intermediates that are causing the annoyance and yes I do normally cast using underhand swings. However, the problem occurs BEFORE the cast not during, ie. I'll be faffing about unhooking fish, adjusting shotting or rebaiting and come to cast and find the line wrapped around the rod top joint held fast by the b****Y intermediates. Aggghhhhh!!

I get the same problem quite often, but I've got into the habit of giving the line a quick pull at the butt end, if it's caught up I just quickly rotate the rod, usually one or two rotations in one direction & one rotation in the opposite direction sorts it out - it becomes pretty instinctive after a while.....

Barry

Nope, never a problem I've had, not even once as far as I can recall. Odd that innit, can't be that we're doing THAT much different! Anything to do with the actual rings? is it the same ring every time? any rough spots catching the line? or perhaps it could even be a problem with the rings being too far apart, more line flapping around?? I must admit I always think single legs look more risky as there is clearly the potential for line to get caught around the leg, but in practice its never happened to me. Famous last words....

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It's probably just me then Jeff!

It's the line coming from the rod tip to the terminal tackle that causes the problem not the line running up the rod through the rings. It just appears to 'flip' over the rod smehow and catch on the ring legs - usually only on the top section of the rod but different rings, depending on how malicious it's feeling.

Give me my old High Bells jobbies back anyday...

Is it usually a downstream wind on the river you fish? blowing the loose line back into the rod and getting it wrapped round the top? all very curious!

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Not really noticed if it's usually a downstream wind but as I generally fish an east-flowing river and the prevailing wind is from the west - could be.

I was out on the 17th and it was quite breezy. Had to cut off 15 or so feet of curly wurly line when I got back home from the after effects of the problem. Still an enjoyable session though.

I think it's just me and I need to alter something I'm doing when baiting up or
fiddling with me tackle, ahem!!

I remember the first time I tried using braid on my quivertip rod for bream 5 years or so ago, because it was so limp it wrapped allround my quivertip every time I baited up. Annoying!
I soon learnt to always bait up with the some bend in the tip with the line tight to the feeder, this gave it less chance to wrap over. Not easy to get used to if you are used to baiting up with the line slack, but give it a try.

I think the reason most of today's rods have single leg intermediates is because the are so much lighter and slimmer than they used to be so heavier 3 or 4 leg rings would throw the balance of the rods out.

I know exactly what you mean riverat. I despise single-leg rings on any rod - fly, carp or match. In fact I no longer use a modern rod for trotting, preferring my Hardy Matchmakers from the early seventies. These had high bells rings - and a sensible number of them as well; I do not buy the argument that lots of rings help keep the line away from the rod, as the law of diminishing returns applies. For each extra ring the distance between is reduced by an ever decreasing amount, but each ring adds the same amount of weight (the ring plus the ubiquitous over-thick epoxy coating - another pet hate). I believe there is an optimum number of rings for any given length and action of rod - for a float rod one ring per foot of rod excluding the handle is about right - and exceeding this is futile and counter-productive.

In fact one of the reasons given for using single leg rings is to reduce weight! It would be better (and cheaper) to use fewer rings and make sure they are double-leg, which are far less prone to getting bent out of line or damaged. Ok you won't save any weight that way, but the other advantages are worth having.

One other reason for the tangling you are experiencing can be traced to the design of the tip ring - specifically the radius of the lining. I think this is too small on modern Fuji/Seymo rings. In the old days we had agate or agatine (coloured glass) lined tip rings, and the radius of the lining was at least double that of the newer type. When your reel line is drawn across at an angle to the ring lining (as it will be every time you reel in, unless you point the rod down the line) it becomes flattened against this small surface area, which leads to the curling effect you have noticed. Eventually you have to remove the last few yards of line and start again. It's not limited to fine lines on float or match rods either; my carbon carp rods do the same thing to 12lb Big Game, and that's as tough as old boots.

Why we should have to put up with this is beyond me; it's patently a design flaw, yet it's gone unopposed for twenty years or more. Ironically, reel makers have increased the size of the roller bearings in the bale-arms of their fixed spool reels to overcome line wear, yet the line is subjected to a similar degree of wear at the tip ring of the rod. You can't use a roller here (except in heavy boat rods for sea fishing) but increasing the radius of the lining would go a long way towards alleviating this problem.