Is the Swing tip obsolete.

Derek Gibson · Sep 12, 2016

Once a celebrated method of bite indication, but barely gets a mention nowadays. Is this another example of bite detection relegated to the dustbin?

Once a familiar sight on the River Witham and Welland, and on many still waters across the country. But I haven't seen one employed for many years now. Such a shame for what constitutes a milestone in angling.

The reason for this post results from a conversation I had over the weekend. One friend was intrigued by the rod, and never having used one persuaded me to loan him mine in order for him to make his own assessment. So I await the feedback.

Peter Jacobs · Sep 12, 2016

I still have a few rods with a tapped end eye to take a swing tip.

I also have a couple of swing tips and even have one that is made from split cane . . . . if I remember correctly I bought it from John Searl's shop in Ringwood years ago.

A few decades back it was the accepted and much-used method of bite detection but seemed to slip into oblivion when the spring tip and then the quiver tip came into being.

Often when using one you'd get some smart-mouthed nipper who would comment along the lines of: "hey mister, yer bleedin' rods broke" . . . .

David Rogers 3 · Sep 12, 2016

I still use one for stillwater roach, and find I connect with a higher percentage of bites than when I use a quivertip.

thecrow · Sep 12, 2016

Possibly the reason that it has gone out of fashion is the different end rigs that are being used giving a much bolder bite than was used when swingtips were in vougue.

The last time I used one was many years ago fishing for large roach on a reservoir in winter, they were always a bit of a pain to cast with though.

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Sep 12, 2016

the last time I saw anyone using a swing tip was about 4 years back - very successful - there was a bit of a re introduction of the swing tip around that time if I recall correctly with rods manufacturers making rods that took the swing tip - probably just trying to sell more rods

dorsetandchub · Sep 12, 2016

I purchased a Drennan Stillwater feeder rod a few years back that has a swingtip fitted so I have the option.

It's definitely fallen out of favour but on the right venue, in the right circumstances, why should it not be a winning method on the day?

Obsolete can still be deadly. I don't think I want to stand thirty yards in front of a Brown Bess musket when the trigger is pulled.....

greenie62 · Sep 12, 2016

dorsetandchub said:
.... I don't think I want to stand thirty yards in front of a Brown Bess musket when the trigger is pulled.....

Maybe YOU wouldn't want to - but there's probably a lot on here who would pay to watch!

dorsetandchub · Sep 12, 2016

I'm that well liked, am I?

---------- Post added at 10:35 ---------- Previous post was at 10:32 ----------

One of your Wigan pies, correctly placed, should stop a Brown Bess ball I'd have thought....

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Sep 12, 2016

dorsetandchub said:
I purchased a Drennan Stillwater feeder rod a few years back that has a swingtip fitted so I have the option.

It's definitely fallen out of favour but on the right venue, in the right circumstances, why should it not be a winning method on the day?

Obsolete can still be deadly. I don't think I want to stand thirty yards in front of a Brown Bess musket when the trigger is pulled.....

but would you want to you a brown bess musket when you can use a AR 15

Bob Hornegold · Sep 12, 2016

Derek

I suppose bite indication has come a long way since the swing tip was popular, but I did try the swing tip on one water in the lea valley where I was having a problem with shy biting Big Eels.

I used an isotope on the swing tip to give a clearer indication of the first pick up when using popped up worms !!

Bob

Derek Gibson · Sep 12, 2016

Bob Hornegold said:
Derek

I suppose bite indication has come a long way since the swing tip was popular, but I did try the swing tip on one water in the lea valley where I was having a problem with shy biting Big Eels.

I used an isotope on the swing tip to give a clearer indication of the first pick up when using popped up worms !!

Bob

Did it resolve the problem to a satisfactory degree Bob.

dorsetandchub · Sep 12, 2016

Lord Paul of Sheffield said:
but would you want to you a brown bess musket when you can use a AR 15

For catching bream, My Lord? Bit extreme, innit??

(To answer your question, you're quite right modern technology has, of course, moved on but the point being that something 200 years old WILL do the job, perhaps not as efficiently.....but certainly as effectively).

sam vimes · Sep 12, 2016

When there is currently a manufacturer making a swing tip rod, they can't quite be obsolete.
Trilogy x4 Specialist Feeder Rods - Tri-Cast Fishing
Whether they sell well is another matter entirely.

I still have rods with screw tip rings fitted. When the situation has demanded it, I've occasionally fancied giving the swing tip a dabble. Unfortunately, I'll be damned if I can find my swing tips and I'm not prepared to pay out for new ones.

greenie62 · Sep 12, 2016

sam vimes said:
....I still have rods with screw tip rings fitted. When the situation has demanded it, I've occasionally fancied giving the swing tip a dabble. Unfortunately, I'll be damned if I can find my swing tips and I'm not prepared to pay out for new ones.

Just snap one of your screw-in quiver-tips and repair with 2" silicon tube

- job's a good'un!

P.S. I wonder if this was how swing-tips were invented?

sam vimes · Sep 12, 2016

greenie62 said:
Just snap one of your screw-in quiver-tips and repair with 2" silicon tube - job's a good'un!

I don't have any screw in quiver tips either. Before you suggest it, I'm not taking a hacksaw to my immaculate Powermesh Avons either.

mikench · Sep 12, 2016

looking at the tricast swing tip I have concluded that what I bought when starting out is something else entirely. I cannot remember the name of it now but there is an attachment which clips onto your rod between the butt and the first eye into which a green or orange quiver tip screws in and the line is wrapped around a little pig tail at the end of the tip.

Only tried it once and wasn't impressed. I have since improved and my newish feeder rod is sensitive enough. In truth in the early days i had no idea of what the quiver tip did. I was expecting a quiver ie a barely discernible twitch and not a full blown 45 degree movement in the tip along with the rod rest and a vibration through the rod rest that was unmistakable!

I will have truly arrived when I can catch a fish from just a barely discernible quiver! I miss those I'm afraid

flossy · Sep 12, 2016

Used this method 30 odd years ago ,at walthamstow reservoirs with great affect for bream and roach .

greenie62 · Sep 12, 2016

mikench said:
.... I cannot remember the name of it now but there is an attachment which clips onto your rod between the butt and the first eye into which a green or orange quiver tip screws in and the line is wrapped around a little pig tail at the end of the tip.....

Sounds like one of these Premier Quiver & Swing Tips - under a previous guise they were called a 'Polaris side-winder'.

sam vimes · Sep 12, 2016

mikench said:
looking at the tricast swing tip I have concluded that what I bought when starting out is something else entirely. I cannot remember the name of it now but there is an attachment which clips onto your rod between the butt and the first eye into which a green or orange quiver tip screws in and the line is wrapped around a little pig tail at the end of the tip.

It'll be a Polaris Sidewinder, or one of the imitators.
SideWinder IIII - Polaris Tackle International

mikench · Sep 12, 2016

That's the one Greenie! I suspect you could use it with any rod and any method but i did not acquire the hang of it!

Is the Swing tip obsolete.

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