Teaching notes – leaders and tippet

Breaking down the information beginning fly-fishers are given. Part two of the series

Beginning fly-fishers are given an overwhelming amount of information. In these articles, I share my notes on the topics I cover during a class. Consider them cheat sheets for the various topics covered during the class.

The first article covered rods, lines and reels. In this article, I’ll cover leaders and tippet.

Leaders

Because you can’t tie a fly directly to a fly line, you need to make a transition to the fly. That’s where the leader comes in.

Leaders are a tapered length of line made of monofilament or fluorocarbon. The thicker end attaches to the fly line and the skinny end attaches to the fly. There are a multitude of lengths and diameters of leaders.

Most of the time anglers fish with a leader that is the same as or close to, the rod length. For eight to nine-foot rods, use a nine-foot leader. For shorter rods, use a shorter seven-and-a-half-foot leader.

Leaders are tapered, with the last 18 or so inches being the smallest diameter. The smaller the diameter, the lower the break strength of the material. The diameter is measured in thousands of an inch and designated by a somewhat esoteric “x” system. All you need to remember is the bigger the “x”, the smaller the diameter. For example, a 5x leader has a smaller diameter at the end than a 3x leader.

When choosing a leader, consider the fish you are targeting and flies you will be using. Because the “x” refers to the end of the leader, you want the leader to be compatible with the fly you are fishing. A quick rule of thumb is to divide the fly size, say a size 12, by 3. In that case, a 4x leader would be a good place to start. Fishing situations are important to consider so don’t get wrapped around the axle based on a formula. It won’t be long before you can eyeball it without having to do any math.

Tippet

When you change flies, you invariably cut away part of the end of a leader. After a few fly changes you’ve moved into a thicker section of the leader. You could change to a new leader, but that’s unnecessary. The best option is to add tippet to replace the section that has been used up.

Tippet comes in different diameters, on spools of about 30 feet. Tippet is made of the same material as a leader and follows the same “x” diameter measurements. Pull off a length of the size you need, tie it on to leader and you are back in business. A spool of tippet cost about the same as one leader. You do the math.

I recommend carrying three different sizes of tippet for the size leader you are using. One spool of tippet the same diameter of the leader, one a size smaller and one a size larger. For example, if you are fishing with a 4x leader you want to have a spool of 3x, 4x and 5x. This gives you a range of options to work with as you fish.

An easy way to remember the difference between leader and tippet; leaders come in packages, tippet comes on spools.

Orvis has an excellent Tippet Chart for reference.

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If you have a question, don’t hesitate to drop it in the comments section. I’ll be happy to try and answer it.