indiglofish61
Active member
I am reading about tippets, and i trying to understand if I really need a tippet, and if i do when would i need one or not?
First of all, you need to understand what a "tippet" is before you can understand whether you need one.I am reading about tippets, and i trying to understand if I really need a tippet, and if i do when would i need one or not?
As was said, the the of fish and situation are important to answer.I am reading about tippets, and i trying to understand if I really need a tippet, and if i do when would i need one or not?
Warmwater fish are not normally line shy like trout. If you're fishing for bass, panfish, crappies etc., it's normally not that critical unless you have a small hook eye, need to account for drag, or the cast must be more precise than what monofilament allows.Tippet is the material that, in most cases for freshwater fish the flies are tied too. Tippet is typically thinner than standard mono. Standard leaders you buy off the shelf have three main parts. The hard mono or butt section, which is normally 25 or 30 lb test. The taper portion, which tapers the thicker mono to the tippet section. And the tippet section, which is thinned down or extruded to a specific thickness or 'test'.
Some salt water anglers, most freshwater toothy critter(pike, pickrel) and probably half the streamer guys use straight mono as a leader instead of a tapered leader. I use straight 30 lb test for pike, salt water mono for big streamers when coastal, etc. And a butt section with 12lb test added for throwing streamers to non toothy fish.
That covers it pretty well..Ok, without you answering the above questions let me give a quick once over...without getting to deep in the weeds....
Leaders typically come in packages. Tippet usually comes on spools. Most spools of tippet are 30m. Unless of course you get the guide spools, good luck finding those at stores, which are 100m. Many of the anglers on here probably carry spools of tippet for each trip. Those spools could range from 0x to 7x, salt water and freshwater warm species might need heavier tippet, which usually go to pound test not the x system, the higher the number the thinner and less strong it is. A quick assumption is that most trout anglers carry 3x, 4x and 5x, some carry 6x. Most bass or panfish anglers probably carry 1x, 2x and 3x.
Tippet is the material that, in most cases for freshwater fish the flies are tied too. Tippet is typically thinner than standard mono. Standard leaders you buy off the shelf have three main parts. The hard mono or butt section, which is normally 25 or 30 lb test. The taper portion, which tapers the thicker mono to the tippet section. And the tippet section, which is thinned down or extruded to a specific thickness or 'test'.
Some salt water anglers, most freshwater toothy critter(pike, pickrel) and probably half the streamer guys use straight mono as a leader instead of a tapered leader. I use straight 30 lb test for pike, salt water mono for big streamers when coastal, etc. And a butt section with 12lb test added for throwing streamers to non toothy fish.
Now, since I work in a store that sells fishing products, I find many anglers that use tapered leaders simply buy a new leader each time they go fishing and forgo buying any spools of tippet. The average price for a leader and for a spool of tippet is the same. So, many on this board that fish a lot probably carry spools of tippet to add to the length of the leader, add a second fly or repair leaders that might get damages, nicked of a rock, broke off a fish, etc. A skilled angler can typically rebuild a leader fairly quickly without noticing the difference when casting and has the tippet spools to do so. Most once a month or 10 times a year fly fisherman probably just buy new leaders each time they go fishing.