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3. tippet connection

I have heard there is a connector that is attached to the leader and has a hole in the other end for inserting tippet and it is locked in place and will not come out. I live in South Carolina and trout fish in the Chattooga River. If these are available and suitable for attaching 3-5 size tippet to leader, I sure would like to have some.

Bill,

Welcome to the site, lots of information and candor here...even some fish stories.
You might be referring to a 'Nylon Line Connector', something I've seen in all-species catalogs but don't have real or anecdotal experience with. There is another means of tippet-to-leader connection (other than one of the many knots) and that's the 'tiny ring' which I use often; this is a (yes, tiny) metal ring tied to the leader (I use an improved clinch knot for both sides of the ring) and then the tippet is knotted to the ring. The advantage is not nibbling away the leader every time I change tippet- simply clip the old off and knot on new.

Tight lines,

Roguerat

'Less is more...'

Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe

Go to Ebay and type in "Tippet Rings".

Here's Tim Flagler's video on using tippet rings.

https://vimeo.com/77507727

There are other ways of fixing an eyelet to the end of your leader, but this is what I use.

Edit: I like long leaders and Orvis has stopped selling 12' and longer tapered leaders. I'll buy either an Orvis or Rio 9' or 10' 4X leader and add a trout sized tippet ring to both. Than I'll tie on either a piece of 5X or 6X four feet long. I wind up with a 13' - 14' tapered leader. Whenever I can find a 12' 4X leader with a .024" butt or heavier I will tie a ring on the end of that and add a piece of 6X four feet long so I have a 16' leader. I only used two leaders all year on my 9' #4 rod. Depending on the water type I would switch off between the 13'-14' 5X leader or the 16' 6X leader.

Hey West Branch; suppose you ad your 5x 13' on and you decided to switch to Streamers. How would you cut it down and also, would you still use a tippet ring for that rig?

Thanks

Adirman, I would undo the loop to loop connection and put on a shorter and heavier tapered leader. Probably 7 1/2' 11#. Yep that leader will have a tippet ring on it too. I'll take a brand new 7 1/2' leader and cut off about 18" from the bottom. Add a tippet ring to the heavy end and then reattach the piece I just cut off. When that gets short from changing flies I just cut off what is left and add a piece of 0X fluorocarbon no more than 15" long.

Some of my older lines don't have the loop on the end of the line. In that case I take a piece of .024" - .026" monofilament and nail knot it to the fly line and make a small Perfection Loop in the other end. I like to keep it between 4" & 6" long.

Nice setup, but you use 0x for your tippet? Isnt that a little big for Trout?

Adirman,



Yes, 0X is huge for dry flies and probably all but the biggest nymphs. However for throwing big #4 - #1/0 Clouser minnows it is not "big" (heavy)at all. I have caught hundreds of 17" - 24" trout on Clousers and while I have once in awhile gone as light as 2X I just prefer the 0X. I have had vicious strikes when the fly is directly down river from me and I am in the midst of a strip and have broken 2X. I can turn really big fish, in heavy current, with that 0X. You could use 1X and be fine. The 0X (18#) tippet actually helps turning over those big wind resistant flies. Remember I am usually stripping the flies across wide sections of river and trying to keep the fly perpendicular to the flow so the trout rarely will ever see the leader hence I can use a much heavier tippet than if I was nymphing.

PM me your email address and I will send you some larger streamer caught browns and pictures of the Clousers I use.

On some nights and in some places in Michigan, when the Hex hatch is on you might actually want to go with 0x tippet, especially on a very dark night. I have heard many stories of this hatch bringing out the very biggest trout because, well with size 6 bugs it's worth their while. And you are also throwing big, bushy size 6 dry flies in the dark, where you can plan on snagging plenty of alders. If it's a dark enough night they probably couldn't even see 0x, back in the shadows...but I would certainly agree with Matt in using heavier tippet with heavy weighted streamers, they won't cast well on a light leader.

Matt, you may have before, but feel free to post those pics on here for us to see too, along with the flies that worked, just curious.

Jonathon

P.S. I wrestled that 3-pounder into my kayak the other night on 3x (size 6 weighted streamer). In retrospect, I wouldn't recommend that, but it might have been necessary to fool the fish. Don't know, she didn't talk...

When you say nylon connector. Do you mean Leader Links made by Wright & McGill?

Matt...Check out Trouthunter leaders...Still offer longer leaders.

Spence

Trapshooter,



No, those little connectors are designed for people who don't know how to tie the nail knot to join the end of the fly line to the butt end of a tapered leader.

Hi Spence,



Thanks for the tip. I've bought Trouthunter tippet in the past as they offer the middle size tippet spools, 4.5X, 5.5X.

I've been buying Orvis 9' leaders (I get the Pro discount) tie a 1.5 mm tippet ring to the end and add a piece of either 5X or 6X about 4' long to the other side of the tippet ring.

I agree. Always use thicker tippet for larger flies. There is a link you can look up called tippet and fly comparison chart. It'll help to choose the proper tippet or leader to the size of fly.

Also you can do the divide by three thing. you take the size of fly and divide it by three, and that would be the approximate size of tippet.
So if your fly size is a #12, divide 3 and you come up with 4X. If it's a #14 fly you can still use 4X or 5X. A #16 would be 5X, and #18 a 6X.


But for what you are talking about, yes I know what it is. It is called the Fas-snap no-knot eyelet. It is to be attached from the fly line to the leader, not the leader to the tippet.

What you do is stick the end with the anchors into the fly line. Once you do that, it can't be pulled out. Then you simply tie the leader to the loop.

I used to use those. It is so difficult to get them to go into the fly line straight, and if you screw it up, you can't redo it because it won't come out.

Bass Pro sells them, that's where I got mine. But I suggest you either use a loop to loop connection, or tie your fly line to your leader with a nail knot. Get a tie-rite tool, and it will help you tying the nail knot if you do need help. I love that tool.

The tippet ring is to be used from the leader to the tippet, and as explained earlier, it is a very small metal ring, I use size 2mm, and you use those to help save the life of your leader. If a fish breaks your line, it'll break off at the ring and you won't lose any of the leader length.

I use Leader-Links to connect my fly line to leader. Why? First, because my Father invented them and second, because they are very easy to use to connect lines (assuming you use a tapered leader) of approximately the same stiffness. This connection is very strong and streamlined and it works better than any loop-to-loop or ring type connection to maintain your cast energy and direction. See my Youtube video on this topic at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqyaX1AZW00

Arnold

Arnold,



It is awesome that your father invented the Leader-Link. However I would venture to say that the usage of the Leader-Link in fly fishing today is probably less than 5%. I used them when I was a kid and didn't know how to tie a nail knot. I'm old school and one of the first things I do after buying a new fly line is to cut off the molded in loop. Molded loops and Leader-Links are too big, clumsy, and frequently get hung up in the tip top when landing a fish and reeling in the line beyond the line and leader connection.

I usually use at least a 10' - 12' leader, and often longer, so the connection is going to go through the tip top. I prefer to tie a neat 5-6 turn nail knot and carefully coat the knot and adjacent leader butt with Loon Knot Sense and cure it with a UV light. This connection is no more than 3/16" long and the cured UV material makes for a very slick knot that will very easily pass through the tip top and other guides.

Wbranch,

I don't know how many or the % of fly fisherman use the Leader-Links, it would be more if they tried them out. I have no problem with a Nail Knot, but typically, they are tied with a nylon tippet that is not nearly as stiff as the fly line.
This causes a significant loss of energy at the fly line to leader connection. A lot of fly fisherman intuitively understand the physics of fly casting, but do not appreciate the importance of maintaining the line stiffness through the connection of fly line to leader (see youtube video link above).

Try them, they make the connection very easy and energy efficient.

www.leaderlinksflyfishing.com

Arnold

Arnold,

I agree with Westbranch.

Energy efficiency transfer concerns can be alleviated by choosing the proper leader materials. Nothing beats a UV nail knot connection for a clean passage thru the rod. The only other leader connection I may choose is the needle knot, but that depends on the leader butt diameter and fly line diameter.

Late to this thread, but

My impression is the butts of extruded leaders I've used are pretty much always more stiff than the tip of any fly line I'm tying it to- Nylon, fluoro, no matter- the butt is as stiff and more often stiffer.
I've mic'ed leader butts (helps to have the little round leader/tippet gauge on hand) at .021 down to .018 so they're close to the recommended 60% dia. of the line end I'm tying on to.
Furled leaders can be a little softer but if I take care when making these the butts can be as stiff as I need them to be to ensure good turnover and a decent cast.
And, lastly, thanks to Matt aka West Branch I'm using the nail knot consistently vs. a loop-to-loop connection- I save that for my switch rod and running-line, scandi or skagit head and tips setups.

my 2-cents, for what that's worth,

Roguerat

'Less is more...'

Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe