Hello

Does any body where I can buy screw in spring tips?? drennan maybe or is somebody out there making their own ?

Cheers

Craig

ha ha

sorry to disappoint you

"Does any body where I can buy screw in spring tips?"

no

I've got a couple of old spring tips. A nice idea in theory (as CF2 says, I don't think they're made anymore), but in practice, I reckon a quiver is pretty well the same in terms of functionality. The spring tip tends to make the rod a bit tip heavy and clumsy on the cast, too.

 One type of "vintage" tip I do think is worth using is the swing tip, but with a variety of rubbers of different stiffness, which make it usable in windy conditions or even running water. You can set the correct sensitivity by changing to a heavier or lighter rubber. I got on to them from a copy of Kevin Ashurst's "World Class Match Fishing".

Not quite the same as either swing tip or quiver

It works when a swing tip doesn't because its not so easily disturbed by wind or current drag, staying still like a quiver

Like a quiver you tighten up to it and bend the shaft - not the spring - slightly; thus giving a drop back indication.

If there is a take that bends the spring over then the initial force required to bend the spring is the only real resistance to the fish, unlike a quiver. 

With a quiver once half bent its still exerting a force trying to straighten up and applying resistance to the line. 

With a spring, once 'cracked over' is the best way I can give of describing it, once you've felt the  sensation you will know what i mean, then the spring kind of just gives up and it takes relatively insignificant force to keep it bent over.  There is then little furthre significant resistance to the fish. 

Someone who understands the physics of it will no doubt explain it better, but that's the effect of it, like a knee joint offering strong initial resistance but, once pushed past critical point, falling back to little or none at all.

But they are a bugger to cast with and IMHO the modern quality quiver beats them hands down frankly.

If you want to try one then it's easy enough to make, just use a swing tip and substitute spring for rubber.  ie. use a rod with a screw tip end ring, screw in the metal adaptor bit with the rubber removed, then push a tight fitting firmly coiled small spring over it (first find your old fashioned hardware shop !), then push the butt of the rod end / quiver bit into the spring.  As long as its all tight that's it. Go try....

As long as its still or very slow moving water with no overly fresh wind to mess things up either then very little can beat the swing tip as a legering bite indicator IMHO. Having had an over 20 year break from coarse fishing (damned near 25 years, come to think of it, bugger how time flies) I was astonished, on returning to the fold to find that the swing tip had almost completely disappeared from use in favour of the almost invariable use of quiver tips.  'Way back when', as I recall it, quiver tips used to be considered distinctly 'second best' in sensitivity and only to be used if current or windy conditions ruled out the swing tip. Can anyone explain to me why it is that the swing tip has so fallen out of favour ? As I can't honestly see a reason for it, unless it is the increase in quality and sensitivity of the quiver tip ? Carbon tips ? what ?

[Edit]Thinking about it the dear old swinger works best with, and was perfect for, what was then every matchman's favourite prey species; the dear old slab.  Is that why the swing tip declined, the weights of bream ceased to matter as matchfishing abandoned the rivers in my absence and instead went Carp mad in puddles..... ?

I trhink you have the answer Evan.I've never found sensitivity too much of an issue as another carp hauls my rod in on the few occasions I have fished a carp pool.

Any tips on casting with a swing tip as I always found that difficult when I did use them in the past?

If I have the physics right in my head (little diagrams running mad...) the spring doesn't give any less resistance, it's just that when its been 'cracked over' ninety degrees and is now pointing down the line the force it is exerting, trying to straighten up, is (a) sideways, not along the line and therefore (b) hopelessly overwhelmed by the angle and so effectively feels as if there is no real force acting on the line fore and aft at all.

But while they certainly work I'd find it hard to choose one over a modern quiver in any normal fishing scenario.

And Nigel, slow underarm sideways cast.  Or, if you have the nerve for it (and don't make the mistake of hesitating mid cast), a good strong behind, up and over vertical  smackeroony to the horizon, both work.  But if you get curly line syndrome and a twist around the swinger beware crack offs and possible broken rod syndrome.... safer to stick to the gentle side lob and quiver with braid for distance IMHO.

Mind you, I do like the swinger, the most visual and pleasurable of ledgering bite detection methods, closest in enjoyment to a nicely set up float....

"Mind you, I do like the swinger, the most visual and pleasurable of ledgering bite detection methods, closest in enjoyment to a nicely set up float.... "

The float swing tip was a whole different product.Anyone remember them?

"No,do tell...."

Although it was marketed as a different product it didn't need a lot of adaption on a standard swing tip in order to in effect "watch a float". Think about it

The art of casting a swingtip especially with braid is smoothness from start to finish. One trick that can be used is when you have the rod over your head ready to cast is let the reel roll away from you  i.e. a right handed person would have the reel and the finger holding the line in their right hand with the bottom of the reel facing the sky , now allow the reel to swivel away from you so that the reel is almost touching the back of your hand and the reel handle is now pointing at the sky. This puts a small angle at the joint of the tip so that then with a smooth almost lob like cast there should be no problems. CHECK every cast that the line is running free and that it is not wrapped around the tip by gently pulling the line at the butt ring before the actual cast. With practice it is possible to cast 100 yards with a swinger but it is not usually necessary even for huge bream on the mere's. SMOOTHNESS IS THE WORD.

evan,
The reason the quiver was used more is that it is simply easier to use, easier to cast etc. The loss of sensitivity did not matter, when with a bit of work the swinger was just that much better.