can you use 2-6 pound regular flourocarbon fishing line as a tippet. Does tippet material need to be tippet material? I have a big spool of 4 pound berkley vanish floro so I thought I would just use it for pond fishing.

Roger

Go right ahead! Just be sure to test and practice your knots a bit as fluorocarbon is a tad bit slippy and knots have to be cinched down better than with mono in order to ensure a good hold.

I've been using regular mono so long I don't even have any special tippet anymore

I think tippet material is just mono or Fluoro on smaller spools so they are convenient to carry.

just be careful, its hard to get a good knot with vanish

And the reg mono has a bigger diameter

so you are saying that 4 pound monofishing line has a bigger diameter than 4 pound mono tippet material???

nope, that should be about the same (depending upon brand) what he's saying is that 4 lb fluorocarbon is smaller diameter (but not by much) than 4 lb mono, flouro is strong, abrasion resistant, not much stretch, but flouro (and especially Vanish) suck at knots & and it can & does break without any notice... I think monofiliment serves well for 90 % of the fishing anyone will ever do, fluorocarbon can be good stuff but for everyday use its hard to beat mono. The difference between mono line & mono tippet is the packaging.

I use vanish(fluorocarbon) only on sinking presentations, because it sinks. I will never use vanish(fluorocarbon) on dry flies/floating presentations. Mono floats so that is where it should be used. As a side note I will also use mono on sinking flies If I am trying to slow the sink rate per second. Yes fluoro is hard to get good knots with.

same here

I used to use Vanish for tippet material, but then I compared the feel of it compared to the new Trilene , Segar and P-line Florocarbons - they all three are much more consistent in diameter and the "work" in your hands better. For tying on flies I use the "trilene" version of the clinch which is much better than an improved clinch for flourocarbon or I use the non-slip mono loop if I want a loop knot. I make sinking leaders by twisting flourocarbon in my hands and those three brands work a lot better than Vanish for that purpose as well. I also use those three preferred brands for leader material when fishing with braid - attached with an Albright knot. You might say I'm nutty about knots, becuase I test mine to find the ones that work best.

The best thing to say about Vanish is that it is cheap (comparatively)!

The cheap aspect is how I got sucked into trying Vanish. After I lost a couple of decent fish to knots that I knew I tied right, I haven't used it since. I need to try some other fluorocarbons, but I just haven't gotten around to it.

I dont know who makes BPS but its pretty good also the NEW 100% flouro by berkely is good (I dont' mean to hijack here but I dont care for Berkley just cause I dont care for a monopoly & I read that berkley gets a good chunk of every fishin dollar spent, nuthin against their products but I like to give the little guy a chance instead of Berkley, ABU Garcia, Fenwick, Trilene, Stren which along with a few others that escape me at the moment are all owned by Pure Fishing, Berkleys parent co.) also I've heard good things about Seagur & sunline.

I still buy the packaged tippets. They are convient, and fit nicely on my lanyard.

Are you talking about Transition? If that is the name and I remembered it right, I like the flurocarbon. I hate Vanish though.