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BobHRAH

Casting with tippet rings/swivels

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I searched the threads regarding tippet rings, but saw almost nothing about how they cast; how the leader lays out. Concerned that the leader would hinge at the ring/micro swivel. One comment said he had no hinging at the end of furled leader, but wonder about how they perform in the middle of a mono or flouro leader. Intriguing enough that I will get some next time at the fly shop. But, wondering what you all have experienced with casting them.

 

Thanks, Bob H

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My line tends to break a lot -- did I say a lot... yes, a lot --, so I've been using the tippet rings to protect my leader from shrinking too fast throughout the day and having to reconstruct the taper on the water, for the last year or two. There's a little bit of a difference in the delicacy of presentation, but not much. Without the tippet ring I used to typically replace my leaders at the end of each day. Now I can typically stretch it to replacing a leader every two or three days sometimes more. Plus, during that time the taper of the leader stays intact better, which I like -- that advantage, for me, outweighs whatever loss of delicacy there is for having the tippet ring in there.

 

It's probably a much better solution to knot your own leaders, and then on-stream recreation of the proper taper wouldn't be an issue. But I haven't gotten there yet.

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Are you guys using them for drys? I have some 2-3 years old that I impulse bought and never used. If using with wets/jigs I can't see a tiny bit of hinge making any difference, it's all unrolled except a few inches of tippet any way.

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Yes, dries, that's where I notice a difference, in the delicacy of the initial presentation. But I still catch fish on dries with the tippet ring seemingly the same as before. No difference I can tell re drag or mending.

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Without the tippet ring I used to typically replace my leaders at the end of each day. Now I can typically stretch it to replacing a leader every two or three days sometimes more.

Wow, two or three days, you must be rough on line. Are you dragging your leaders over oyster beds or something? I also wonder why a tippet ring would make any difference, you can knot on new tippet with or without a ring, and that has no effect on the butt and tapered sections of the leader. I typically use a mono trout leader for a year or two, just replacing the tippet section when needed, and replacing the whole leader only when the butt or tapered section of the leader gets damaged.

 

.

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I love them make changing tippet size easy no issue casting. Use 2mm for drys and 3mm for everything else.

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Tip on tippet change and leader life; when the tippet is cut back to half or so from fly changes, tie a new length of tippet to the old. Doing this saves cutting into the tapered section of leader for several tippet replacements. You can get to the point of maybe three or four short pieces of tippet plus a long one before cutting into the leader at all.

 

The benefit of the rings that attracted me was that you can drop several 1000ths in one go. The ring will tie to any size.

I think on drys I would dab some Gink or Mucilin on the ring itself just as worry prevention.

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Yup, I break a lot of line and lose a lot of flies... on dries, though, you don't need any floatant on the tippet ring. They don't sink the line at all.

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The benefit of the rings that attracted me was that you can drop several 1000ths in one go. The ring will tie to any size.

On dries you will notice the difference dropping too many sizes at once, but only in the delicacy of initial presentation. I typically go 4x on leader drop to 5x on tippet and it's fine. Jumping to 6x or 7x you lose a lot of delicacy in the way the line initially lays out, but other than that no difference other than saving having to retie from your leader when the fly & some line breaks off at the tippet knot.

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I just use a length of 14 # test for the leader, and 10# or 6# for the tippet. Connect the two with perfection loops.

Are the rings any kind of improvement for this set up?

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I just use a length of 14 # test for the leader, and 10# or 6# for the tippet. Connect the two with perfection loops.

Are the rings any kind of improvement for this set up?

With a tapered leader, for sure.

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