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3. mono vs fluoro..?, Page 2

Haha well whatever works shouldn't be fixed ah!? Im guessing that you have had some nice, long lasting and elegantly handled fights then?

Tony, and others, I'm fond of the Enrico Puglisi Powerful Tippet (mono). Here are the sizes and strengths:

5X 5.5lb; 6X 4.4lb; 7X 3.4lb; 8X 2.1lb; 9X 1.3

8X is as small as I go in most situations, though I carry 9X. The 5X is amazing for early season olive fishing.

Stroft is very strong in the smaller sizes also.

One doesn't need to fight a fish all that long on small tippets if she or he is alert to surges by the fish, uses strong side pressure when possible, and employs a good rubber bag net for landing.

You would be amazed at how much you can beat up a fish and land it quickly with 2 pound tippet. The only thing that "gets you" is the unexpected surge and the tight line jump. The fish weighs a lot more in the air and on land than it does in the water.
I get the fish on the reel as fast as possible. You pay all of the money for the reel in the "guts", not the shiny finish. The drag is set at 1 1/2 pounds of resistance and I fight them hard. As Louis stated, side pressure and keeping the head into the current are keys to this.
I learned how to do this tarpon fishing, (100+ pound fish on 16 pound tippet) and Stu Apte's "down and dirty" technique works well on a smaller scale, too.
The longer the fish is on, the greater the chance for escape...

Not to beat the horse but I think so much more of the fight comes fom the rod. A soft rod can protect an equally soft tippet surprisingly well. Combine that with dynamic pressure (i.e. Joe Humphries "Side pressure....Side pressure) and you can land relatively large fish pretty easily.

Personally I draw the line at 8x and then only for the fussiest trico eaters or tiny midges but thats just me and since there is no small amount of gray in my beard I guess that habit will die hard.
JW

Tony -



You'll get no argument from me against it's use. The pound tests you mention make landing good fish in open water plenty practical without stressing them too much. In the old days, I landed some pretty nice fish on Maxima 1 lb. 7x in little crystal ponds and pools. Even 6x isn't as strong as what you listed, so why not? My mind boggles at 8X material testing out at over 2 pounds.

The rivers where I'd need that stuff are way too weedy, and the trout know it. Some days it seems you get snake bit and landing an 18'+ fish on even 6X is pure luck. "Please stay out of the weeds" is the mantra you repeat over and over. Oh well, I'm lucky in one respect... Since the waters I fish preclude the kind of tackle you mention, there's no need to trouble these poor eyes with it. Ah, there was a day...

Regards,

Kurt

Ok so some of you guys mentioned on my comment about "long and elegantly" fought fish that its surprisingly not that tough.. We have all landed big fish on light tippets. We have all landed a few of those big fish in small and large time periods. However, no one can really deny that it does take an extra bit of skill when fighting that fish. It has to be handled a lot more carefully and planned out, even for the most expert of fish fighters. And i agree totally that a lot of that fight comes from the suppleness of a rod, but that still won't stop a powerful fish from pulling towards whatever hang-up he or she wants or taking to the air (which are some of the best moments of the fight which someone else mentioned). I never intended to stomp on anyone's toes about using soft tippets. In fact i think if one can pull it off kudos to him/her because that is one great fighter. That is awsome! But i know enough to realize that it will take much more time to fight that fish (in most cases).

Jesse-

Agreed..

Kurt, thanks my man!

Jess...

An odd outcome of your post...You and Tony have nudged me a bit by bringing up leader/tippet manufacturers I was really unaware of. I am doing a little research on my own. I have a tendency, at times, to get in a rut and part of the appeal of this site is that everyone brings their own experiences to the table and this can be very useful.

I forwarded an email from Tony up to a friend of mine who runs a fly shop and asked him what he thought. He said he likes the Varivas a great deal but in his case he uses Maxima UltraGreen for the most part and Rio FluroFlex Plus or the Varivas for the smaller stuff.

I have used SA stuff for so long I barely remember what I may have used prior...It may have been Climax, believe it or not...SA is headquatered here in Michigan and one could understand the bias there...(Besides Bruce Richards is a Michigan boy and well respected up where I fish and has done a great deal for stream restoration etc up north and for flyline development etc...I can remember Rusty actually guiding him one time on the South Branch...The only time I remember meeting him). I think he retired from there in 2009. I used Climax probably because I'm a German-o-phile and that would take me way too long to explain...:)

I have had issues with tippet going "squirrelly" on me 6x and smaller...I'm not too sure why and my conclusions aren't all that scientific. It seemed to happen more often in wet weather conditions and maybe a blood-knot should be replaced by something else at the smaller tippet sizes I don't know.

When it has happened it has been very frustrating! I'm a bit of a perfectionist sometimes and can not tell you how many trillion blood-knots I've tied over a lifetime...To be standing in the river on a rather wet day, rain hood up, and in the middle of bugs coming off and to have your knot sour on you can cause a saint to swear and I ain't no saint...;) Near the knot it would kink a bit and I'd have to re-do it..By "have to re-do" I mean it...That's the obsessional part...It's a dutch/german boy's affliction.

Anyway...Thanks for making this ostrich-angler raise his head up a scosche from the sand. I never used to be this way...Calcification of the brain I guess. Maybe I've been fishing alone too long?

Spence

Hey thats what im here for Spence any time! And there is no better feeling than being alone on the water sometimes..