FJR Industries manufactures a Fishing Rod Tip for use with wire trolling line. The Twili-Tip is great to use for wire line in deep water trolling. It has become very popular, particularly in the Great Lakes region.
The coil wire tip, sold under the trademark TWILI-TIP, features a stainless steel spring to resist corrosion and a bright yellow body to improve tip visibility. Designed to fit most popular rod sizes; six inserts, sizes #5 through #16, are packaged with each tip. Installation is simple requiring only Super-Glue™.
The use of wire line for deep water trolling dates back to the early 1940’s. The earliest metallic lines were made from copper and quickly broke due to cold working of the metal resulting from wire fatigue at the rod tip. The wire trolling line used today are much improved over the earlier copper wire. The problems of resistance to reeling and the wire fatigue, both caused by the rod guide tip, still exist.
Early on several different rod tip ideas were used to minimize the above noted problems. A roller guide was effective in reducing the resistance to reeling. However, the radius of the roller is quite small and offers little improvement to reducing wire fatigue. Furthermore, care must also be taken to make certain the wire remains on the roller.
The idea that proved to be the most effective solution was the addition of a coil spring to the rod tip. The spring, acting as a strain relief, provides a large arc at the rod tip and effectively reduces both wire fatigue and resistance to reeling. The effectiveness of the spring is unaffected by the orientation of the rod tip.
