Sage Advice Saturday
Tippet Size.
- Use the biggest tippet you can get away with. Don’t assume all fish are leader shy until you cast to them. I have landed more big fish on 2x tippet and a para hopper than I can even begin to count.
- Large tippet does not promote twisting of the leader, it is stronger so you have a better chance of landing big fish,
- and you don’t have to play the fish as long, so the fish has a better chance of survival after the release.
I’m not saying that you will never have to use 4,5,and6x on occasion, especially on size 18 flies and smaller. I will also admit there are some educated fish out there. Spring Creeks, and still water situations can be difficult to fool fish into eating a fly. I”m just saying you should start big and then down size.
You should assume that fish are not leader shy when you start fishing. I have witnessed several clients over the years who insisted ( against my will)on starting out the day with 4x during the Stone fly hatch and sure thing , the first take happens to be a huge 20 plus inch brown that breaks the tippet and the angler didn’t even feel the fish because the take was so aggressive they hit the fish so hard the tippet couldn’t possibly hold up. OK you should be excited when a 20 inch brown slams your Stone fly, you are probably going to over react on the hook set, that’s why you should have 2x or even 1x on at the time. More than likely you will get that first big fish of the day.
There is the assumption out their that the smaller the tippet, the longer the leader, the bigger the fish the more accomplished the angler. BS . If You fool the fish and he eats your bug, he eats your bug. Whether you are Kirk F. Gowdy , Joan Wulff, Lefty Kreigh, or Rudy the red headed freckle faced snot nosed kid from down the street the fish does not give a damn, and neither do I. And neither does 99% of the fly fishing community.
So as far as tippet size goes, go big first, then down size. You will land more fish, and you will land bigger fish.
