tippet question

[brandon78]

hey all, new here...but heres the question, ive been going through tippet pretty often and have been spending a lot of money at orvis. i was just wondering if the scientific anglers tippet and leader are any good? or any better? any opinions appreciated

 

[fshfanatic]

I like RIO tippet. As a general rule Orvis is way over priced. For everything. No offense. SA tippet is just as good as Orvis.

 

[dougm]

You might also give Cabela's house brand a try... It's also worth noting that when I make up leaders for the salt, I use either Ande or Stren mono in the pound test I desire.

 

[Outdoorarki]

I bought some Orvis tippet and every time I tie some on I snap it after a fish or two. Bought some Frog Hair tippet and havent lost a fish.

 

[Joni]

I agree with the Frogs Hair, but I only use flouro tippet and I do like the Orvis also, but FH is darn good, I even make my own leaders with it.

 

[BigCliff]

Brandon, last I knew, "Orvis" tippet came out of the SA factory. Orvis actually manufactures only a very few of the products they sell, and leader and tippet is definitely not one of them.

The best way to save money on tippet is to not buy it. By that I mean that you should buy a 300 yard or so spool of Ande, Stren, or whatever in the size you need and refill that convenient little tippet spool whenever you run out. IT shouldn't take too long to do that and you will save oodles of money that way. Alot of the cost of tippet is the handy little spool and the work that goes into putting it there. A 300 yard spool should run you about $8 (I think) and you will get 10 tippet spools worth out of that.

 

[brandon78]

cliff..are u talking about using normal fishing line for like spinning rods and stuff?

 

[Joni]

I do use regular fishing line on Stillwater, but then I am not too worried about taper. Keep in mind that regular line (as in bait or spinning) is a different diameter than fly fishing although they may have the same "X" or lb.
I build my own leaders for picky waters and rivers and streams and it starts at 0.0021 to 0.005 for a 6X (with seven more sizes in between), kinda hard to do this kind of taper with regular fishing line.

 

[BigCliff]

I was talking about using regular spinning line as tippet in this case. Joni is correct that the diameter of 6lb mono will not be the same as 6lb (4x?) tippet. The spinning line will normally be thicker, stiffer and actually stronger than 6lbs. It also should be a little more abrasion resistant than tippet.

 

[brandon78]

does the normal line cast as good?

 

[dougm]

Brandon,

What you do is build your leader using several different sizes of mono and blood knots to join the lengths together.

There are all sorts of recipes but two simple ones call for a 60/40 -- 60 being the butt and 40 being the mid-section in percentages. You then add whatever you want for a tippet.

The second is called 50/50 -- 50% for the butt section and then 50% of the butt's length for the mid-section. Add to that the tippet you desire.

By the way, you can buy mono based on the diameter ... the print is small but usually on the spool.

Do they work? You bet ... But like all things in this sport the name of the game is experiment and find what works for you.

Doug

 

[Joni]

does the normal line cast as good?

Make a good taper and it will cast great!

 

[BigCliff]

I'll second the suggestions of both Doug and Joni.

On the "does it cast as good?" question, make sure you take the time to straighten the mono before you tie it into a leader and then again after you have tied it up. Straight leaders cast well, curly ones often don't.

Keeping your leaders coiled up in a bigger loop will also help prevent the coilyness. By this I mean coiling them up into loops that would fit into a ziplock sandwich bag instead of the credit card sized packages leaders come in. Some sort of fairly stiff thin plastic used as dividers within that bag would make it easier to store multiple leaders in there without tangling.

 

[greenriverflyfisher]

I'm a little late on this discussion but I thought I give my two cents. I use berkley vanish for all my flourocarbon needs. This is pretty much standard for most green river guides. They may use other brands, but it's line out of the bass section. The stuff doesn't break. In cases where I need to use mono
I use rio for my tippet. I build lots of leaders out of regular mono and it casts just fine.

 

[Joni]

I'm a little late on this discussion but I thought I give my two cents. I use berkley vanish for all my flourocarbon needs. This is pretty much standard for most green river guides. They may use other brands, but it's line out of the bass section. The stuff doesn't break. In cases where I need to use monoI use rio for my tippet. I build lots of leaders out of regular mono and it casts just fine.

For us Falcon's Ledge guides also :smile: :icon_bigg

 

[troutbum]

IMHO Rio put's out the best tippet,I like the disspenser's they use.For building leaders I use stren for the butt section then start with the 3x rio and taper down to what I need.For my saltwater fishing, I go with straight 8lb stren, as presentation and turn over isnt important when flinging clousers to Mackeral and Cod.
Tight Lines
Aaron

 

[Thumper42]

I've looked into the idea of using fluorocarbon spinning line for tippet instead of buying the small spools, and I see that regular fluorocarbon line is larger in diameter than fluorocarbon tippet of the same or greater test. My question is, does it make that much difference? I fish in southeastern Colorado for trout ranging from 8" to 20"+ (mostly 10-12 inchers, but you never know when a big one is going to hit), and I tend to use fine lines in the 5X or 6X variety mostly. I'm all for saving money where I can, but I don't want to give up anything in the process. Should I go with a fluorocarbon spinning line that matches the diameter of the tippet I normally use and maybe sacrifice strength, or should I match the strength and go with a slightly thicker line? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thumper

 

[Joni]

I've looked into the idea of using fluorocarbon spinning line for tippet instead of buying the small spools, and I see that regular fluorocarbon line is larger in diameter than fluorocarbon tippet of the same or greater test. My question is, does it make that much difference? I fish in southeastern Colorado for trout ranging from 8" to 20"+ (mostly 10-12 inchers, but you never know when a big one is going to hit), and I tend to use fine lines in the 5X or 6X variety mostly. I'm all for saving money where I can, but I don't want to give up anything in the process. Should I go with a fluorocarbon spinning line that matches the diameter of the tippet I normally use and maybe sacrifice strength, or should I match the strength and go with a slightly thicker line? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thumper

Gonna be hard to find a flouro fishing line or any other for matter in a 6X.
I use the 6lb P-Line to catch that 34" this year and just had to play him a little, and I do use the 4lb on the rivers with very little break off's.
If you are asking if FLOUROCARBON makes a difference, some will say no. Me, I swear by it.

 

[Thumper42]

Thanks, Joni. Now that I look at it, I guess my question wasn't really clear. Basically, I'm asking if the difference between fluorocarbon tippet and fluorocarbon spinning line it that great -- I have been using fluoro tippet for a while now, and I like it, but it is definitely more expensive, so if I could buy the larger rolls for spinning and using it to make my tippets, that would be much better to me.

Thumper

 

[greenriverflyfisher]

When your using flourocarbon the diameter shouldn't matter much. Flouro has a close refractive light which means the fish don't see it as well. I don't even bother going below 4lbs spinning flouro unless I want the flies to sink faster. This only applies when I'm throwing a dropper off the dry and I need the dropper to sink faster. I always figured if the fish can't see it, then there is no reason to worry about the diameter. I found I catch more fish with spin line because there is almost never a break off and the fish eat the fly just as often as the overpriced, less abrasion resistant tippet.