Whatever you call them — tip-tops, top guide, top eye — at some point in your angling career, you’ll have a problem at the end of your fishing rod. Maybe you broke off an inch or two at the end, or more common, the tip-top’s ceramic insert was somehow knocked out. Using the fishing rod without this insert will eventually damage the line. Important note: You can’t replace the insert; you must replace the entire tip-top.
Sure, you can head to a local tackle shop and the clerk working there might have the knowledge and skill to replace the tip-top while you wait. Note I wrote “might.” As you’ve no doubt seen, retailers of all sorts are having difficulty hiring and keeping good employees these days, so there’s a decent chance you’ll know more about fishing gear than the person behind the counter.
In the seven years I worked fishing retail, I can’t count the number of tip-tops I replaced on customers’ fishing rods. Maybe not a thousand, but certainly several hundred. Trust me — this is an easy repair, especially if you follow the instructions provided in the YouTube video below.
FYI: While working as a fishing guide in Alaska during the summer of 1992, one of the biggest single-day tips I ever earned came from a gentlemen who broke 2 inches off the end of his G. Loomis fly rod. Like a Boy Scout who is always prepared, I had a selection of fly rod tip-tops in my vest, along with a glue stick and lighter. I had my client casting again in less than five minutes. At the end of the day, he gave me an extra $100 for the rod repair!
You can learn how to perform this simple rod repair by watching an expert on YouTube. I like to watch online fishing content from Flukemaster, so I’ll include his tutorial on the topic below. He does a good job explaining how to remove an existing broken tip-top without damaging the rod, then shows you step by step how to add a new one.
