Tippets

[Karel]

OK, this question has been bugging me for a while so I want to know if anybody knows:

Why are we using for fly fishing tippet brands like Frog Hair, Rio, 3M/SA etc. and not the tippet/mono material like Stren, Maxima, Trilene, Sufix etc.?

Is there any rationale? I noticed that the fly fishing material is rated in "X" rather than "lbs." like the other stuff, but other than that?

Obviously, I never did any spin, cast or bait fishing with regular equipment...

Thanks, Karel.

Happy Holidays!

 

[JeffK]

Supposedly it is left over from the days of drawn cat gut tippets.

Cat gut comes from the silk gland of a silk caterpillar ready to spin its cocoon. You cut the silk gland out and pull about two feet of the stuff out by hand and let it dry. For this first step it was run through an 0.011" sizing die and called size 0x. The gut was then further pulled through drawing dies each drawing the diameter down about 0.001". The x designation was how many drawing dies it was run through, so 1x was 0.010", 2x was 0.009", etc.

I have read this was nasty, smelly work performed as a cottage industry in some rural areas of Spain and Japan.

I think it was stuck with fly fishermen because:
a. We are enamored with tradition more than spinning or casting guys.
b. How a fly leader turns over has more to do with diameter than strength, so fly leaders have stuck with a diameter measurement rather than a strength measurement. Spinning guys mainly worry about the smallest diameter with the strength needed to yank a given size fish in.

 

[Karel]

So the Streng, Maxima, Trilene etc. could also be used by us "fly guys" if we could figure out the X factor, I suppose?

 

[afishinado]

In general, line used on spinning reels have a break strength of close to on half that of tippet material. I have a spool of Trilene 6lb test spinning line, which has a diameter of .009. This in FF tippet measurements would be 2X. Most 2X tippet is rated at 11 or 12 lbs test for breaking strength. Also, when building leaders stepping down in diameter is what’s important to build a leader that turns over a fly, while the break strength is secondary. The “X” system is kind of crazy, but it’s been the standard for measuring FF tippets for a long time. HTH.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

So the Streng, Maxima, Trilene etc. could also be used by us "fly guys" if we could figure out the X factor, I suppose?

Sure. When I FF in the salt, I often use straight 20 # Flouro. Especially on my sink lines. I know a lot of nymphers who build their leaders from "regular" fishing lines and only may use tippet material for the last section where they attach their flies.

 

[Pete]

So the Streng, Maxima, Trilene etc. could also be used by us "fly guys" if we could figure out the X factor, I suppose?

I've been building leaders from the thousands of yards of mono left over from my misspent youth.

The diameter is easily measured with a micrometer. Converting to the "X" size is just a matter of looking it up (if you haven't already memorized the equivalences). If you write diameter and "X" size on the spool, you need not measure every time.

Caution: Mono loses strength with age, heat, and exposure to light. Store in a cool dark place. Do not use old line for the last couple of sections on the "tippet" end of the leader.

 

[frogge]

Hey,
One further factor not mentioned is stiffness. I think there is a quantification of this on the global fly fisher site, but my infantile understanding is that there are stiff mono's(ie maxima) and soft monos,(ie Orvis superstrong). A leader formula in a book by Ross(Flyfishing the Driftless area or something like that) uses hard mono for the upper section and softer mono for the lower section. This is supposed to make the leader turn over properly. Tippet should by definition lack stiffness for most applications.The other deferentiating factor not mentioned is price. Tippet is by definition at least ten times more expesive than the mono the spin guys use. Toodels,Frogge.

 

[eddavidson9]

I read in an article some time back that another factor is that high quality tippet is often more consistent (in diameter and breaking strength, ie has less flaws) than the large-spool counterpart. Essentially, production tolerances are more fine-tuned when dealing with the more expensive product, which is also the product more often used at it's performance limits.

 

[Burtbords149]

I've seen some standard mono measured in X's. The reason I use "tippet" material which is normally called copolymer as opposed to monofilament is the strength to diameter ratio. Just like AJ said you can get twice the strength out of 2X copolymer than 2X mono.

That being said copolymer is more supple and soft than standard mono and much more supple than Maxima Chameleon.

When building leaders though, I use a stiff butt of Chameleon, a midsection of standard mono, and a tippet of supple copolymer tippet material. Even though my mid section is a relatively weaker material, I make sure that my final tippet is weaker than the middle. For instance if I'm building a 5X leader (4.5lb test). My weakest mid section is 8lb test. Something like "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link". Hopefully that made sense. Tightest of lines (copolymer or mono)

 

[Iso]

My standard tippet material is 2 lb test (it's getting a harder to find though). It's somewhere between 6 and 7x, depending on which companies you are looking at.

I buy one big spool and it typically lasts two years.

I also carry 4 lb test for when I want something a little heavier.

 

[Burtbords149]

My standard tippet material is 2 lb test (it's getting a harder to find though). It's somewhere between 6 and 7x, depending on which companies you are looking at.

I buy one big spool and it typically lasts two years.

I also carry 4 lb test for when I want something a little heavier.

God Bless you pal. 2 lb test is a throw-back to the old-school trout purist