Tiny Tippet is For Subsurface Flies
Think twice, or if you have to think three times about using 7x or 8x or 9x when fishing below the surface. You don't need it. As one of my readers commented on that July 2015 post said he never uses anything less that 5x on sunken offerings because he ties his size 28 and size 30 flies on LARGE eyed hooks so he can use 5x tippet. He claims that he doesn't spook any trout and doesn't have to play them out until they are half dead. I back this up totally!!!
Tippet Size On The Surface
If the tippet is below the surface it makes no difference to the trout. The trout either can't see it or doesn't know what it (tippet) is. But if dry fly fishing and the tippet is lying on the surface it will create "spots" of light to penetrate below the surface and alarm the trout. Use leader sink (saliva) to coat the last foot of the tippet and the tippet will sink, breaking the surface tension and becoming almost invisible to the trout. Case in Point - Twice over the last four decades I've left my nippers back in the car or at the tent. The last time was this past week at the Farmington. Now, I was faced with leaving the water to retrieve them or go on fishing. I tied on the sub size 20 dry fly but had an inch of tag material after tying on the fly. I soaked the tag end with saliva and CAUGHT FARMINGTON TROUT just like I had before with Millers trout on a size 16 dry. There was a lot of leader material around that fly but it was below the surface which made it a non problem. The short lesson here is that BELOW the surface you really don't need ultra fine tippet material, period, and I don't care what the manufactures or their reps say. There's too much evidence to the contrary!
We like to rhapsodize about how trout are becoming "leader shy". That looks good in print and leaders on the surface, as mentioned earlier, can spook trout BUT why don't we consider HOOK SHY trout. Let's face it, in our C&R waters many trout have been hooked more than once but they don't seem to be shy of that pointed piece of steel sticking out of an artificial fly's butt but we think that we have to go from a 6x to 7x on that #16 pheasant tail nymph to fool them. We, experts that we are, never consider that!!!! Consider this: present ANY fly, in a natural way, and the trout just may take it!
FARMIE BEAR
He showed up around 4:30pm for cocktails but couldn't produce a valid I.D. I tossed him out!!
Ken
13 comments:
There is so much BS out there about leader& tippet material...the factor I care much about with respect to tippet is the limpness factor for throwing dries...I like a few "s" curves on some casts. Most of the flyfishing specific tippets are fine SA/Orvis/RIO/Ump and others . I do stick to small spools on tippet because I dont want to buy a lifetime supply sized spool and have it go lousy...Over the past couple years I hve been using mostly just 4x or bigger on most everything except some small dries. Out in MT this year we were on 2x and 3x at all times-caught tons of fish including roping some #16PMD dries to 3X.
I have stopped using flourocarbon for many years. Flourocarbon takes about 10X as long as monofilament to biodegrade and no matter how it is disposed of its most likely going to have to biodegrade for this reason alone I have sworn off flouro and truth be told I have always thought that we fishermen are kidding ourselves if we think the fish cant see it or even have a clue what it is and what the danger to them is. Until we can interview a fish...we will just be guessing.
On the EB yesterday morning water was moving fast but fishable, fooled a nice brown with a #12 Iso nymph (my design). Although I only had a couple hours I did run into 2 other anglers who didn't have any luck, gave one a rubber legs and told him to try that, Iso shucks are showing up on the river in many places #10 & 12 pats rubber legs are good choice or something black and leggy (is that a word) 3x tippet in the fast water works well you can pull or reel them in quick and catch another one.
BobT,
I agree so much with what you say and have agreed for years now. You say it right!!!
Gary Cranson,
I tied one of your pats rubber legs on the Farmington earlier this week and lost a great brown (I saw him) but the hook came loose after two runs. That was it for that fly and I went back to dries which worked well. Pats fly is a good fly!
Ken
I can’t believe I haven’t known about hitting the last foot of your leader with spit! I don’t want to know how many more fish I could’ve fooled had I been doing that.
Lenny
EB friday afternoon 3 or 4 to net, 2 or 3 long distance release. BIG DRY STONES like a STIMULATOR. One BIG BROWN came all the way out of the water after my fly floated over him and pounced on it from above! Jones-z
Anonymous 11:58
Glad that you got there before the rains came. We will have a great late summer and Autumn on that river.
Ken
Another noted it, Lenny, but I agree, cant believe I'd not heard of the spit trick.
Totally agree on tippet size!
I like the title of your post, Ken. In my past fishing efforts I avoided the Swift as I read that 9X and #30 flies were required to catch trout. Out of my wheelhouse completely. A friend of mine along with your web site here did me a big favor to debunk that theory and gave me confidence to fish bigger flies and 5X or heavier on the Swift. I have had more fun days catching trout the way I like to fly fish than I could ever imagine. On the rare occasion I get to the Farmington the way I like to fish works fine there too. Don't get me wrong, I get skunked once in a while, but I get skunked on my own terms and realize it's part of the game.
Best Regards, Sam
Sam, Lenny, Will,
Much of the talk about ultra fine tippets and ultra light rods is hogwash. I dry fly fished down to #26 on 6x on the Farmie last week and caught trout. Using 9x on subsurface flies is dumb and thinking that 8x flourocarbon will make you better nymph fisherman because you will get to the bottom faster is silly. Flouro may have a specific density that is higher than nylon mono BUT IN THE PRACTICAL REAL WORLD THERE"S REALLY NO DIFFERENCE!! Plus, as BobT said it lasts forever in the environment.
Yup, rub some saliva on the last foot of leader before the dry fly to get it to penetrate the surface.
Ken
Amen. I have used 6lb-test mono, while in a pinch, and caught swift bows above and subsurface without a hitch. Nobody broke off either. Talk about reassurance!
Definitely going to saliva the line from now on. Good tip!
Anybody find a Tenkara rod down at the Cady Lane parking lot this weekend? Came home to open an empty rod tube ... I'm happy to identify it if found.
snook91901,
The word is out!
Gabriel K.E.,
Way to go!!!! Like BobT (first comment) said there's a lot of BS about leaders and tippet.
Ken
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