Whiskey Creek Fly Fishing

One aspect of starting out in fly-fishing that confused me was the tippet. I didn’t understand the sizes and didn’t appreciate its need or use. Don’t ignore it like I did.

The tippet is the connection between the fly line/leader and the fly. The following drawing shows an exaggerated view of the tapered leader system, the tippet is the level section at the end.

The tippet adds a few feet to leader, which extends the life of your leader. For each new fly that you tie on, you sacrifice a few inches of tippet. Without tippet, you may need to replace your tapered leader daily. Adding tippet is also an easy way to extend the length of your leader for clear water fishing to shy fish.

One unique aspect of fly fishing is that tippet is typically measured by size (diameter), not breaking strength. The size is more important than breaking strength for several reasons:

• You want to join like sizes, having too much difference between two sections of line leads to a weak link
• The tippet is the final step of the taper. For proper turnover in the cast, the diameter should be smallest at the fly.
• To have the most realistic presentation, the tippet diameter should match the fly size. Small tippets for small flies.

Confusing the issue, the size is most often talked about in terms of X rating and not its actual size. But, X rating is really another way of specifying the diameter of the tippet. The following table relates rating to diameter. Notice that if you subtract the X rating from 0.011, you get the diameter. For example, 4X is 0.007 inches in diameter.

What size to use? Do I need to memorize this table? Personally, I keep it pretty simple. For general trout, I use a 4X tapered leader and tie on 2 – 3 feet of tippet, generally keeping 4X for flies size 16 or larger, 5X for 18 & 20, and 6X for 22 and smaller. As you can guess, the 6X spool doesn’t get used a whole lot.

For Steelhead, I use a 1X leader, and tie on a 1X to 3X tippet depending on water clarity, fly size, etc.

The breaking strength of a given diameter varies by material, and to a lesser degree by the maker. The table below shows a few examples.

There are 3 main differences between the nylon and florocarbon materials. The table shows that florocarbon is usually stronger for a given diameter, it is also denser so it tends to sink. Florocarbon tippet is closer to the refractive index of water, which means its less visible underwater. Of course, its also generally more expensive.

Attaching the tippet to the leader is pretty simple. A double surgeons knot works best for me; I find it much easier to tie the double surgeons knot in the smaller sizes. I sometimes use a blood knot, when I’m using 0X to 2X tippets which seems to create a smaller knot than the double surgeons when using the thicker tippet.

I buy fresh tippet at the start of each season on the theory that the material degrades and weakens over time. I don’t have proof of this, but its pretty cheap insurance. I can use the unused tippet from prior seasons to practice knots, give to the kids, or tie flies (ribbing material). Its cheap insurance (and one of the cheapest things in fly fishing).

You find tippet in the fly shop, near the leaders. Tippet generally comes in 30 yard spools. An example is shown below. I generally buy all my tippet from the same manufacturer, since the spools usually interlock together. Lock them together in order of size so you know which size you are using without seeing the label.

I hope this primer helps you understand tippets, and how to use them. Please feel free to comment to this article. This article was originally published on Fly Fishing on the Web.