Fluorocarbon tippet...what are you using these days

[MACFLY]

I have started to use fluoro more the last couple of years. Especially late spring in the Poconos when the water is low and the fish have wised up a bit. Curious to see what you all are using and whether or not using fluoro you tend to go up in tippet. Late spring Im still fishing ISOs so 6x tippet can be a pain

 

[tomfly]

I started using Orvis Mirage this year. I am done with Rio when I run out of it. I wont be buying it anymore. I know a lot of guys swear by it but I don’t like it. I also went with FIN-ITE suggestion on tippet rings. I love the Mirage it is stronger with a smaller diameter then Mono. The only thing I have found to be an issue with the tippet rings is, like an indicator I have had a few fish hit the tippet ring. Other then that I like them.

 

[Kendall]

I us Fenwick double tapered lines on all my rods except a Fenwick sinking line for shad. I have always used Maxima leader from 12 lb down to 4 lb. I tie my own tapered leaders for trout starting with 2 feet of 8 lb and 2 feet of 6 lb and finishing with 3 to 4 feet of 4 lb depending on what lenght of rod I am using. I tried other brands of leader material but always go back to Maxima. I find it is easy to tie and I it is strong and is more forgiving when rubbing over rocks. With our water here being tea colored Maxima is just about invisible in the water.

 

[FIN-ITE 34]

The only thing I have found to be an issue with the tippet rings is, like an indicator I have had a few fish hit the tippet ring.

TF- They make a black nickel ring that might eliminate that problem. Or you can glue a hook to the ring...:fish:

 

[trico mike]

I used to be a big fluro guy. The last few years I switched back to regular tippet and have found no really difference in my catch rate. I actually prefer regular because it is stiff and allows a better drag free drift. Also remember the rule of three. Divide the size fly your using by three then round to the nearest tippet size example size 14 fly divided by three is 4 then round up 5x

 

[lightenup]

I use RIO......never tried anything else...probably won't, unless the fly shop stops carrying RIO.....I think we as fly fisherman overthink things to get an advantage over a fish with an IQ of 4.......keep it simple stupid is my motto...if it doesn't work, oh well, there is always another day to flail on the water.....when it all comes together, all the better.....

 

[mudbug201]

Stealth has given way to strength for me as the main consideration in recent years. In some conditions (glassy slow pools where it's near impossible to catch wild trout anyway), fluoro might be better I suppose. Although a more flexible tippet might give you more micro-drag, which is one of the biggest problems I have in these conditions.

But in all the other kinds of water I fish (stained, broken, fast), the possibility of not catching fish is way more tolerable than the big fish breaking off, which happens to me way too often.

I've just gotten tired of it - makes me feel like shit also for leaving a fly in a fish's mouth, and even if I bring the trout to hand, a stronger tippet allows for a quicker fight that gets the fish back in the water quicker.

So, I've been fishing Orvis super strong, which is a nylon tippet, and have been stretching Trico Mike's rule of thumb, trying to stay away from 6x-8x tippet in favor of 5x or 4.5x for dries and nymphs.

 

[tomfly]

It is never fish count for me why I changed. I like the stiffer consistency of FC. Especial while Nymphing . I get hung up on the bottom a lot. There are those days particularly when the wind is blowing. The fly stops for a second. I think its a strike. I go to set the hook. The fly is hung up on the bottom. A few jerks of the rod to free the fly. Then fly shoots back at the rod. The tippet gets wrapped and knotted around the rod 8 million times. (Yes I have counted it) the result is I end up cutting every thing off and redoing half the leader. With the FC I have not had that problem because it is a little stiffer then the mono.

 

[sunsignarcher]

It's the stiffness of floro that has me going that route also. Like Tom said tippet ruining tangles are far fewer with floro and it's much easier to work with. Fishing multiple flies on droppers with mono would be a nightmare.


The more money u spend the stiffer the floro will be.

 

[BRK TRT]

I use Orvis 6x almost all of the time.
It's invisible to trout especially on small streams.
For panfish and such I like regular mono.

Brk Trt

 

[Trout Nazi]

I use fluoro only when I nymph, nylon when I fish drys, all Rio. I try not to go less than 5x when dry fly fishing unless I'm fishing some mountain stream with smaller fish. I think 9 times out of 10 you can take a fish on a heavier leader with a good drag-free drift. I once watched a guy on the mainstem catch a rising bow with on a size 12 Iso using a spey rod and 15lb Maxima, because he didn't have a anything lighter. Across and down got that fish.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

I use fluoro only when I nymph, nylon when I fish drys, all Rio. I try not to go less than 5x when dry fly fishing unless I'm fishing some mountain stream with smaller fish. I think 9 times out of 10 you can take a fish on a heavier leader with a good drag-free drift.

That's the exact same for me. I never fish floro for dries, but almost only when I nymph, at least between my point and dropper flies. Too many guys fall into the trap that you need 6X or finer tippet to catch trout when 4X or 5X will do just fine. Focus more on presentation and worry less about your tippet is my mantra.

 

[WBDluver]

I think you need either stiff or supple depending on what you want to do. However i dont buy into the invisibility hype that the fish are that smart. Were talking about the same fish that hit the tippet ring and orange Thigamabobber right?

 

[Trout Nazi]

I read an article a while back written by one of those guys that likes to scuba dive in a trout stream, and he said that in the water fluoro and mono looked exactly the same, at least to human eyes.

 

[Kendall]

Have ever seen a big fish raising and you could not get it to take your presentation, fish are smarter than you think.

 

[mayhem]

I switched to super strong also and haven't seen any change in hookup's

 

[lightenup]

I think you need either stiff or supple depending on what you want to do. However i dont buy into the invisibility hype that the fish are that smart. Were talking about the same fish that hit the tippet ring and orange Thigamabobber right?

I have often thought...if only I had put a hook on that damn thing....

fish are smarter than you think.

Kendall


No they aren't......fish are not "smart".....Einstein was smart...fish are reactionary, stupid, conditioned, small brained, evolutionary works of art.......that is why we love them!!!!!!
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[Thursthouse]

Kendall


No they aren't......NEFF Members are not "smart".....Einstein was smart...fish are reactionary, stupid, conditioned, small brained, evolutionary works of art.......that is why we love them!!!!!!
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Got your back..

 

[tomfly]

I think you need either stiff or supple depending on what you want to do. However i dont buy into the invisibility hype that the fish are that smart. Were talking about the same fish that hit the tippet ring and orange Thigamabobber right?

Dluver get you facts straight before you comment. It was a yellow Thingamabobber.

 

[tomfly]

Stealth has given way to strength for me as the main consideration in recent years. In some conditions (glassy slow pools where it's near impossible to catch wild trout anyway), fluoro might be better I suppose. Although a more flexible tippet might give you more micro-drag, which is one of the biggest problems I have in these conditions.

But in all the other kinds of water I fish (stained, broken, fast), the possibility of not catching fish is way more tolerable than the big fish breaking off, which happens to me way too often.

I've just gotten tired of it - makes me feel like shit also for leaving a fly in a fish's mouth, and even if I bring the trout to hand, a stronger tippet allows for a quicker fight that gets the fish back in the water quicker.

So, I've been fishing Orvis super strong, which is a nylon tippet, and have been stretching Trico Mike's rule of thumb, trying to stay away from 6x-8x tippet in favor of 5x or 4.5x for dries and nymphs.

I agree stealth in those slow crystal clear pools is a must to achieve any success. I Get down to 8X some times with 28 midges. I do it for the challenge that it presents not that I need to. I know from experience and observation that you do not have to forgo strength in a tippet to obtain stealth. The main problem with fishing dries in the slower moving pools is the effect of the tippets surface tension silhouette. I do not believe that any fish can see the tippet but if the tippet is floating with the fly the fish can see that disturbance in the surface tension that the tippet makes. I do a few things to try to circumvent this issue. Tippet material is very smooth and because of that it holds surface tension. I will always when I dry fly fish is; pull the tippet through my Leader Straightener.It will remove that smooth surface off of the tippet allowing it to brake the surface tension and sink into the water. If I am down to 7x or 8x I will put o bit of mud on my thumb and index finger and pull the tippet through the mud it does the same thing as the Leader Straightener, Another thing that I do is I tie my dries on from the bottom of the eye. This allows as little as possible tippet to be in the surface tension. I hope this helps.

 

[Kendall]

I guess that why we spend so much and time trying to out smart them. Ha Ha Ha

 

[WBDluver]

its not that they are so bright as much as we over think things and don't do our part right. Put a worm on a hook present it at the correct depth and speed and they will take it every time. After thousands of years they still have not "learned" not to eat worms.

But what ever floats your boat. Im just one of those guys that does not believe in the "educated fish theory" one reads so much about in magazines.

 

[MACFLY]

Maybe that's because you can only catch the uneducated (small) ones

its not that they are so bright as much as we over think things and don't do our part right. Put a worm on a hook present it at the correct depth and speed and they will take it every time. After thousands of years they still have not "learned" not to eat worms.

But what ever floats your boat. Im just one of those guys that does not believe in the "educated fish theory" one reads so much about in magazines.

 

[tomfly]

its not that they are so bright as much as we over think things and don't do our part right. Put a worm on a hook present it at the correct depth and speed and they will take it every time. After thousands of years they still have not "learned" not to eat worms.

But what ever floats your boat. Im just one of those guys that does not believe in the "educated fish theory" one reads so much about in magazines.

The Master has spoken. All fish are deemed to be stupid. This decree will begin henceforth. All heretics that do not comply will be punished accordingly. So it be told so it be done.