I am very new to flyfishing. Bought my first flyrod/reel last weekend and have taken it to the lake once. I have read quite a bit on the net about how to rig and cast and catch. And I'm trying to learn as much as I can before I take a class or lesson.

My question today is: What is a tippet and why do I need one? Why can't I tie on 4 feet of 10# test and tie the fly onto that?

I appreciate your posts on here and I've already learned quite a bit from these threads. Thanks in advance for your input.

Tippet is the "last mile" between fly and leader.

While you can simply tie on five or six feet of mono, and some folks do, that defeats the whole principle that fly casting is based on; throwing a loop that unrolls and lays out the line nicely and hence the fly on the end. A gradient lessening in diameter of line/leader/tippet allows the energy built up in the cast to dissipate gradually and the fly to settle on the water. Also one gets more control when the energy dissipates gradually. A straight cut-over to a markedly smaller diameter results in a sudden surge that can make the fly dart or jump in an unpredictable manner. When you are trying to put it right where you saw that fish just rise or where you see that fish lurking.

My suggestion is to learn to cast and fish with a leader and then, when you feel confident, try out no leader and straight tippet. There are situations where a leader is not needed or even not useful. Like huge honking lead-eyed Clousers or a full sink line

Thank you.

Mizar,

I was where you are about 6 months ago. I fished with straight mono for a leader and tippet for about 3 of those months and did OK. I was looking to improve my casting and was considering using the tapered one piece mono leaders that are ~$3 in the store. I really didn't like the idea of spending that kind of money just to have to buy another one at the end of that same day or to have to tie knots in a smooth knotless leader. Around that time I bought a furled leader, which is a twisted nylon or thread leader that tapers from the diameter of your flyline down to approximately that of your tippet. The furled leader made a huge difference in how my flies "turned over" at the end of the cast. That isn't such a big deal on nymphs and streamers, but for top water presentations it made a big difference. I've got two leaders that I bought from Robin (rrhyne56 who replied to you first) and they both cast beautifully.

To me, the nicest thing about a furled leader is that it is economical in nature. You simply tie the furled leader to your flyline and then tie a piece of the appropriate sized mono to the end of the furled leader and go fishing. When you run out of tippet, you just cut that piece off of the furled leader and tie another one on to it and you're ready to go again. Robin's leaders come with a loop already tied in both ends which makes connecting them to the flyline or the tippet very easy and strong. I nail-knot a piece of heavy mono to my flyline, tie a perfection loop in that, and use a loop to loop connection between the flyline and large end of the furled leader. I then tie a perfection loop in the tippet and use a loop to loop connection between the tippet and the loop in the small end of the furled leader. For an example of how that works, I caught a 3 lb bass on my 5wt rod with a furled leader and an 8 lb tippet. Even though I had to pull pretty hard on him to get him out of the weeds it all worked without a hitch.

One thing that Robin points out on his website really illustrates how a furled leader transfers energy. You can actually cast a furled leader all by itself with just your hands. The taper carries the energy from the large end to the small end. That is almost impossible to do with a single piece of mono.

One last thing about furled leaders: as I understand it due to their construction, they act as a shock absorber helping to prevent sudden strikes from breaking your tippet and resulting in more fish landed.

Sorry for the dissertation, but I've spent a lot of time thinking about that subject in the last few months. I hope you find it helpful.

Very useful information, thank you both.

Good stuff. I typically used tapered mono leaders, but when I lose a little of the "tippet" section of the tapered leader, I trim it back a little and tie a perfection loop in the leader. Then I tie a perfection loop in some tippet material and connect them, just like Txredraider does with the furled leader. Some people (picky guides) don't like the perfection loops, but I find that they don't pick up any more moss than a knot does anyway. It sure makes a leader last a LONG time.

I've used furled leaders, and they cast very nicely and fish well. The only drawback is the extra spray of water during false casting. They hold a little more water in the twists, and as you cast it sprays out. If you're fishing calm/shallow/clear water, that spray can spook fish. It's more of a problem with trout than bass, but even bass and bluegill in streams can be pretty spooky - more so than lake/pond fish for some reason.

Whether you use furled or mono leaders, I believe tapered leaders are better than straight mono. They turn over flies better - even awkward and heavy bass flies do better with tapered leaders. You can tie your own tapered leaders using different sized of mono, but you have a lot of extra knots collecting moss and weeds that way. I don't like to do that. Buy the tapered mono or furled.