monofilament tippet material?

[kerusso 0]

What are your thoughts on using monofilament fishing line for tippet material? Are there monofilament lines available that would come close to being as supple and thin as regular tippet material? If there is I would be interested in getting some. Most 30 m. spools of tippet material is $3-4 and the flourocarbon is $9-14; and I would think a monofilament line such as Maxima might work just as well. And, if some of you currently use monofilament as tippet material, could you tell me what brand and lb. test you use. Thanks.

 

Kerusso

[MTtyer 0]

Standard mono doesn't have the stretch that tippet material does. You may get by with it in the larger sizes but for small flies, it is harder to avoid "curly-ques" in front of your fly at the attaching knot.

Some tippet materials are not all that great either. I was in a bit of a hurry once and picked up some Cortland Fairplay in 6x at Wally-world. Took it to the river and tried to use it. Very stiff...almost impossible to avoid a "curly-que" at the fly...etc.

I won't try any of that stuff again.

[Mustang Mike 0]

I think a lot of it as to do with your application. When I'm float tubing and still water nymphing with midges, my line is set up to hang straight down from my indicator and I want my midge(s) to hang tail down head up. I have very successfully used 4 lb test in both mono and flourocarbon for a couple of years now, in fact I most often use Maxima!

 

When I'm dry fly fishing I pretty much stick to tippet material (mostly 3M Scientific Angler) as most of what I use has the same, or better, tinsel strength, but is thinner than "normal" flishing line.

 

As Dennis Miller used to say; "But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong."

[Linesides 0]

I use a 6 ft section of 20 pound mono for my tippet but then again its stripers and blues.

[pcg 0]

Reread Joe Humphreys books--he's a long time advocate of using mono. If the Master says so, I'd take a serious second look!

[ArkieFlyGuy 0]

Yes, pcq... Correct you are.

 

If Master Joe-da says it, use mono you must. From the flourocarbon dark side you must stay away.

 

But, to each his own. I say if mono works for you, then by all means use it.

[phg 0]

I've seen several discussions of this topic over the past couple of years. They always seem to come down to consistency of the diameter, strength, and flexibility. Tippet material is supposed to be superior in all those categories. The question is, is it that superior?

 

Back before I began using furled leaders, I generally used mono for the butt sections, and finished my hand-tied trout leaders with 2 or 3 sections of good tippet material. When fishing dryflies for trout, every advantage must be exploited. For saltwater or bass, though, I just went with mono. In the larger sizes, I don't think there's enough difference to justify the price.

[kerusso 0]

I appreciate all the input and advice thus far. I do tie my own furled leaders and when dry fly fishing I'm not sure I can find a comparable monofilament line to take the place of a 7x or 8x tippet. When I bass fish I use a mono furled leader with mono tippet and have never had a problem. I'm just a frugal type of guy. If I can find a spool of monofiament that has 150 yards, and if it works for nymphing then I want to get it instead of a 25 meter spool of tippet for $4. I'm not so frugal that I won't get what I need. That's the purpose of this post. I'm curious as to how many of you use mono when you are nymph fishing. I've got plenty of 2 and 4 lb. test (furled leader materials) and I'm thinking that will work good in conditions where the water is stained or moving. In gin clear, still water I'm thinking the mono will not work as well. I would say that 80% of my fishing is in moving water. Thanks again for your input.

 

[pcg 0]

The key, as you say, is the water movement. Fast water? Anything below 4X is probably not necessary. In still water I'll go down to 6X. (I'm describing trout fishing, and fished over trout.) There's too little difference betwn 6 & 7X to worry, IMHO. And 7X etc becomes progressively more & more fragile.

 

In fasting moving streams, mono works fine. The fish have little time to observe, & the velocity itself argues against the tippet/leader becoming seen. Drag & presentation become the most important elements, not mono vs. tippet.

[Fly Tyer Guy 0]

I Use monofilament for bluegill and bass and it works great for me

 

 

 

Fly Tyer Guy