Tippet -- The good, bad & ugly...

[chugbug27 0]

I've been using Rio tippet forever just out of habit, and bought some Powerflex Plus recently that seems to be crumpling up on me when I tie a clinch knot. Lots of spit, and I've tried nudging the knot down as I pull. Nudging helps but still get that crumbled result where the knot moves over the tippet on its way to tightening.

Is this me, the knot, or maybe I'm thinking now it's the "plus" tippet? Been tying up leaders with 0x, 1x, 2x... maybe it's just the larger diameters? Doesn't happen with Maxima, just with the tippet, and it's never been this pronounced and bothersome before...

Anyone else run into this with Powerflex Plus, or have any insight? I'm stumped.

[chugbug27 0]

You know what?!... problem solved.  Turns out it was user error. I was tying on tippet rings that are smaller than I'm used to, so much so that when I used my bodkin to tighten the knot (inserting it into the tippet ring), the tippet was getting caught and rubbing between the bodkin and the tippet ring -- causing the crimpage. Not the knot tightening, but the nut who was tightening it.

Phew. Thought the world was changing on me. Turns out it's just me. Again.

[chugbug27 0]

Hm. Still happening. Maybe it's the tippet ring, a sharp inner edge

Here's what they look like on eBay. 

Close-up shows the inner edge, which I'm now thinking the tippet must move across as the knot is tightened:

Same tippet ties perfectly on my smooth bodkin needle, no problem whatsoever 

[chugbug27 0]

Went on Amazon to see if I could find something else without having to buy brand name tippet rings.... I found reviews on the same and similar products commenting on the sharp edges

 

anyone have a good source for low cost but good quality tippet rings?

[flytire 0]

google "jewelry jump rings"

[Poopdeck 0]

Cheap tippet rings have  flat surfaces and have a shape of a washer, like the ones pictured. The cross section of a good tippet ring is round with no flat surfaces. As much as I hate spending 8 bucks on 10 tippet rings it’s the price that has to be paid for a properly shaped ring.

[chugbug27 0]

I'm coming to the same conclusion

[chugbug27 0]

Anyone actually use jeweler's jump rings? Looks like the ones to try would be closed and soldered, stainless steel. Fire Mountain Gems sells them $9 for 50, 2.4mm inner diameter.... but are they the washer type or round cross section?...

(Will I never learn, poopdeck? Probably not.)

[FIN-ITE 34 0]

What Poopdeck said.

Come on really, how many tippet rings do you really go through in the course of a season? Buy the good rounded off ones like Partridge .

[Poopdeck 0]

4 hours ago, chugbug27 said:

Anyone actually use jeweler's jump rings? Looks like the ones to try would be closed and soldered, stainless steel. Fire Mountain Gems sells them $9 for 50, 2.4mm inner diameter.... but are they the washer type or round cross section?...

(Will I never learn, poopdeck? Probably not.)

You know I’m as cheap as they come and I break out in hives at the thought of paying 8 bucks for 10 things I can barely see. Buuuuut, as Fin-ite said, tippet rings last forever and I am really mindful to reuse them when necessary. I think I’ve only bought 2 packs of them, each pack a different size, since I’ve been using them. You may have actually been the one to get me to try them. 

[niveker 0]

6 hours ago, chugbug27 said:

Fire Mountain Gems

I've been using them for about a season and a half now, I've had no problems. 

[Bryon Anderson 0]

+1 on jewelry jump rings. I used to build a lot of furled leaders (even sold a few). I started tying in the jump rings because my leaders were made from fly tying thread, and the monofilament tippet material would abrade the thread and eventually cause it to break. I never had any issues with the jump rings cutting either the thread leader or the mono tippet.

This was many years ago, before the idea of tippet rings caught on in the industry, and they weren't yet commercially available. I remember seeing the first factory-produced ones in a fly fishing catalog priced around $1/ea. and having a good chuckle, as I was then buying jump rings at something like $5 for 100. 

[chugbug27 0]

4 hours ago, FIN-ITE 34 said:

how many tippet rings do you really go through in the course of a season?

Ah, yes. I am trying out tying my own leaders to see how I like it. Trying different formulas, a few leaders for each formula...

 

4 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

I think I’ve only bought 2 packs of them, each pack a different size, since I’ve been using them. You may have actually been the one to get me to try them. 

Ah, I remember the posts... And I wouldn't want to bet on which one of us is the cheaper... Before this I probably only bought four packs in several years, and with one of them the rings spilled into the river. (Learned the hard way to tie them on the pin / clip.)

Tying my own leaders is probably not saving money, after tippet rings I go through leaders much less often. But it's something I've wanted to try and my last little adventure with tricos left me wanting to figure out a better leader.

And thank you niveker and Bryon, and flytire, I'm gonna get those stainless jump rings from Fire Mountain Gems. I might buy some Miyuki beads from them while I'm at it.

[niveker 0]

7 minutes ago, chugbug27 said:

me wanting to figure out a better leader.

You might consider Gary Borger's uni-body leader system, very simple and straightforward.  I have been slowly converting all my fly lines to it, as I run out of extruded leaders.

[chugbug27 0]

👍 yes, definitely would simplify things. And that's a very appropriate, New Englander (?) (Midwesterner, too?), approach let's call it? But being that it's scatterbrained me, I'm trying Borger out along with a bunch of other stuff, too. 🙄  (Kinda defeats the purpose, I know) 

I'm starting with my local ww stuff, so I've got one 6.5' setup for #10-18 nymphs, wets & dries (mostly 12-14), another set for a variety of popper sizes. I've got another 5' set for some versileader sink tips that I haven't been using enough and want to try on an extra thick fly line (.058" tip) that I bought a while back being too cheap to buy a proper fly line (and learning another lesson). Been tying so many knots! It's soothing, somehow.

The weather here is just starting to cool down from deadly, so I'm looking forward to the fall. Won't be long now.

And all this for panfish! Sheesh. Makes me miss the mountains.