Tubular

Tubular tips are the standard build for the majority of lure rods we stock — bass rods, predator rods, anything that needs to throw a lure cleanly and recover quickly. The tip section is hollow, made from the same wrapped carbon construction as the rest of the blank, just tapered down to a smaller diameter at the very tip.

What that gets you in practice is faster recovery after a cast or a twitch, more authority loading the blank under a heavier lure, and a generally lighter rod overall. The hollow construction means less material at the working end, which is where rod weight matters most for fatigue. Most rods rated to cast 5g or more will use a tubular tip — from a Japanese point of view this is the default for seabass-type rods, plug rods, and anything in the general all-rounder category.

The trade-off compared to a solid tip is bite detection. Tubular tips will signal a bite, but a fussy bottom-feeding fish picking up a creature bait might give you a vaguer signal through a tubular than through a dedicated solid tip. For aggressive takes — bass crashing a paddle tail, predator hitting a hard-bait — that's not a problem; the take is unmistakable on any rod. For finesse-style fishing it can matter.

Most of the bass and predator fishing we do here in Cornwall is well-served by tubular tips. They cast cleanly, they fight fish well, and they suit the lure weights and presentations that produce the bulk of our catches. If you're picking a single rod that needs to do a lot of different jobs, a tubular tip is almost certainly where you'd land.

Any questions about tubular vs solid for the fishing you do, drop us a line or pop in.