Russian river tip it size

[Alaska Gray]

I was using 6ib and 8 ib tip it on the russian last week. I lost allot of fish due to it breaking. I was beading fishing. If I go with a heaver tip it will that be to big IE 10ib?

[The Cleaner]

10 LB Tippet

I've noticed the strikes drop off w/ a 10 LB tippet - but you'll still get hits. I go w/ 8 and do just fine.

[Alaska Gray]

Thanks heading down this wed again.

[trouting_thomas]

Try fluorocarbon tippet

Are you using mono or fluorocarbon? I think something like Frog Hair fluorocarbon will provide 10-11 lb breaking strength in a 2X tippet and 8 lbs in a 3X. The 3X material to me is virtually invisible in the water.

[Alaska Gray]

I was using the fluorocarbon. I going to give it another shot this week.
Do you use a strike indicator when bead fishing? I did not use one and had no problem telling a strike.

[DocEsox]

Are you by chance using a fluorocarbon tippet with a monofilament leader? The fluoro will knife through the mono repeatedly.....I was making this mistake last year. Either all mono or all fluoro......just a thought....

Brian

[griff]

I'll use a strike indicator when the water is slower, but with faster water it just slows the bead down and doesn't look natural. Sometimes when not using an indicator I lose my attention and see the line all the way up-river, I love that feeling.

[BrownBear]

Also watch out for "wind knots" from throwing tailing loops. These seem to compromise fluorocarbon even more than nylon.

For mating fluoro to nylon, match the diameters at that particular junction rather than tapering, then be sure to wet the knot before tightening. Best yet, build your whole leader out of fluoro. The advantage is that some of the larger fluoros (especially from P-Line) are stiffer, making them ideal for leader butts and improving handling with larger or heavier flies, and especially indicators. My stunt is match the fly line diameter with the fluoro at the butt, then taper down from there. Those leaders really turn over at the end of a cast, even with heavy or bulky flies.

[trouting_thomas]

Where do you get the larger fluorocarbon material?

Brownbear,

Where do you get the heavier flourocarbon material? The meatiest stuff I've been able to find is 35 lb test. I forget what the diameter is, but it's small enough that I get a bad hinge point with the fly line if I tie a tapered flourocarbon leader directly to the line. I've resorted to using mono for the butt section only and tapering down with fluoro. Haven't had a problem with the knot at the mono-fluoro interface.

AlaskaGray - sorry to go off on a tangent from your original question.

tt

[BrownBear]

I get mine at the local sports shop. P Line fluoro leader is really stiff, and reminds me a whole lot of the old Mason leader material we used for steelhead on the West Coast and Canada in the 60's and 70's. The 40# NEVER hinges with a good nail knot, but it's death on loop connections- It's so stiff that loops on flylines turn into swinging doors. Don't know the diameter on the 40, but it's awfully close to that of the front taper on most WF floating fly lines. My best taper combo for leaders is 40#, 30#, 25#, 20#, 15#, 12#, 10# and then down to whatever you want. You can accent the turnover effect by going progressively shorter for the 40 through 20. By that I mean on a 9' leader I usually start with 2' of 40#, 1.5' of 30#, 1.25' of 25#, 1' of 20#, then 1.25' of 15# and 1.5' of 12". If you want shorter, on the order of 7', go with a foot each.

I've got no connection to the P Line folks, and the only stock I own is a good stock of their leader spools. The stuff is HOT for turning over big stuff, as well as for building butts for extra long leaders used fishing the small stuff to smart trout in thin water. Come to think of it, I wish I did own a piece of the company!

[MT]

Carbon

Trouting Thomous - Hope all is well. Check Cabela's for heavy flourocarbon. I use Sufex from their Salt Water cataloge. Goes up to 80#. 40# works great for butt sections and Pike leaders. Good luck

[BrownBear]

Is Sufex pretty stiff, MT? I've been looking for some heavy stuff, both for butts on my bigger rigs and for shock tippets.

[trouting_thomas]

MT & BB,

Thanks for the stiff fluoro recommendations. All's well up here MT, just trying to stay away from the Kenai crowds and enjoy fall trout season.

tt

[ak_powder_monkey]

i use 2x or 3x and never have a problem with breaks, i go smaller in the fall because i dont wanna touch the firetrucks