Penns Creek Angler
Bruce Fisher
Article Oct 2008
Being
Prepared Part III
Lets
talk about tackle in this installment of “Being Prepared”. To be properly
prepared you need to decide what type of fishing you will be doing during a
period of time. Your tippet, leader, line and rod should be matched up to
perfectly to take advantage of the task you are trying to accomplish. I’ll
talk about 3 different types of fishing that are productive for most fishermen
under normal circumstances. Most anglers fish nymphs, dry flies and wet flies.
In my opinion these 3 types of fishing need different equipment and I’ll try
to explain why I think this is the case. For example, in the early morning I’m
usually prospecting for trout with nymphs simply because most trout don’t
start to rise until a given point in the morning. This prospecting is just a
matter of searching for trout that are not in a feeding mode but will take a
nymph if it floats near them. Trout need to feed efficiently in order to grow
larger and a helpless drifting nymph provides this opportunity. Generally
speaking trout have been feeding in the riffles all night long and have a full
belly. They slip back to the deeper holes after the sun rises to rest and digest
food. This is your chance to entice them with an easy meal. So lets get to the
heart of the matter, your tippet is one of the most important pieces of your
equipment. It has several functions; first and foremost it’s your connection
to the fish. There are a few different types of tippet, stiff, soft, and then
there is the somewhat new tippet called fluorocarbon. An angler would want to
use hard tippet for wet flies and some bigger nymphs. The hard tippet is great
for wet flies because it will allow you to tie droppers that stick strait out
and not get tangled as much. Soft tippet is generally used for fishing smaller
nymphs and dry flies. The reason you use the soft tippet is because it will flow
more naturally with the current and it coils providing extra distance on the
drift before it straitens out and starts to drag. Fluorocarbon tippet is a
wonderful invention because it’s almost invisible and has great abrasion
resistance. This tippet provides a happy medium between hard and soft tippet, it
not too stiff and its not too soft. Another quality is it sinks quickly, if an
angler that wishes to fish wet flies or nymphs it will get their fly to the
middle of the water column faster than normal tippet. I use this tippet almost
exclusively during periods of clear water or in early spring and late fall. To
add to this there are different sizes of tippet. 7x-2x will cover most fishing
fresh water situations. Unless I am fishing at night I usually stick between 3x
and 6x for most of my fishing. Size 6x tippet is about 1lb test and 2x is about
8lb test, the thickness increases respectively. The smaller the X numbers the
thicker the tippet. The purpose of a leader is to carry the fly in the direction
of the cast and then the tippet will provide the drag free drift. You will match
the leader size and length to the size of the fly and the type of fishing you
are doing. Leaders use the same7x-2x identification as the tippets. The X size
will denote the skinny end of the leader. All good leaders are tapered going
from thick at the end that connects to the fly line to skinny end that’s
attached to the tippet. The tippet and leader are critical components of your
equipment and must be matched accordingly. You can’t cast a heavy #6 stone fly
nymph properly with a 12ft dry fly leader. There are many different types of
leaders, dry fly leaders, wet fly leaders and nymphing leaders and you must be
prepared to use the correct leader for the type of fishing you are doing. I am
guilty of not being ready in some cases and I splice different leaders together
to get what I am looking for but then I ultimately destroy 1 leader to get what
I need. Do yourself a favor and get a leader wallet or use zip lock bags to
carry the correct leaders you need and then changing from one to another becomes
easy if you want to fish a different method at a moments notice. How many times
have you been nymphing and all of a sudden a hatch starts and you don’t have a
nice 9ft-12 dry fly leader and are stuck with an 7.5ft nymphing leader, it just
doesn’t work as well as a leaders designed for dry flies. There are many
different types of leaders! 9-12ft 3x-6x leaders are for dry flies. 7.5ft nymph
leaders of 2x-5x are for nymphs. The X size you use corresponds to the size of
the nymph you will be using. For a bigger fly you would use a smaller X size.
For a #6 stonefly I would be using 2x and for a #14 gold ribbed hares ear I’d
use 5x. A wet fly leader is usually around 9 ft long with the end around 4x. It
can contain as many as two droppers for additional flies. You can’t buy these
special leaders in most shops but you can learn how to tie your own. Penns Creek
Angler has these leaders and they are made of hard mono like the ones your
grandfather used. I hope this helps people understand the importance of a leader
and tippet and how they work together to provide better catch rates. Well, this
is getting long! I cover lines and rods on the last installment of “Being
Prepared”
“Catch you Later”
Bruce Fisher
©
2008