# 90 HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT TIPPET

Leader is terminal for the aid to casting, tippet is a disposable section that can be replaced and is designed to protect the leaders.

It seems that every week I get a new fly fisherman into the shop and we have the same conversation about “tippet and Leaders,” so today I’m going to show you how to choose the right tippet for your fishing excursions and answer a few extras as well.

Let us talk about the basics for the new folks in the room. We are familiar with a fly line, and what it is, but some are not familiar with the way it all works. The fly line is the weight that we use to shoot our flies with effortless precision. The construction of a fly line has several key components; most importantly is the tapper. If you remember as a kid playing with a “Bullwhip” the handle was thick, and it got progressively smaller towards the end, fly lines are the same as the whip.

A fly line is constructed in a similar fashion, thick in the middle and thinner toward the end. Reason for this, as you cast, all that energy created from the rod, travels to the end of the line in a continuous motion. Located at the end of your fly line will be your tapered leader, which will keep that energy rolling down to the end of the line. When you look at the end of a tapered leader you will see two different thicknesses in the material. It starts with a 20-pound section then tapers down to the small end. If you tie a fly directly to this end, it will work for a few times, but as you get farther up the line, the material will be getting thicker and soon you will not be able to tie a fly on because the material is too thick to go through the eye of the fly, this is where “tippet” comes to the rescue.

Tippet will be the 18”-24” section of material that you attach to the end of your tapered leader. The tippet is a “disposable” section of material that will prevent you from destroying a tapered leader in one outing. The tippet is where you will attach your flies, and when you snag or get stuck in a tree or bush, you will only break the tippet and not the tapered leader, this is why tippet comes in 30 yard spools, so you can break a bunch of times.

Sure, sounds great but I still do not know what “X” means for the tippet and leaders?

When you are in the fly shop and you see all those spools of tippet and packages of leaders, what does the “X” mean and how do I choose?

Stay with me here, “X” is going to refer to the diameter of the line and has nothing to do with the pound, or breaking strength of the material. It’s confusing in the beginning, but here is a simple trick, take the size of your fly, (for example a size 12 fly) take 12 and divide by 3 to find the right size tippet to use for that size fly: 12 / 3 = 4, this would mean for your size 12 fly you will need to use a 4x tippet, it’s that simple.

Now the leaders, if I am going to use a 4X tippet, I will need a tapered leader that ends in a 3X. This means that my leader is bigger than my tippet so that I can keep that tapered leader working correctly, so the casting portion continues to get smaller as we go down.

How the X Rating Works:

• Smaller numbers mean thicker lines: 0X is thicker and stronger.

• Larger numbers mean thinner lines: 7X or 8X are very thin and delicate.

I hope that this will help you get a better understanding of the “X” system for your fly-fishing outings. In my next article I will talk about monofilament tippet VS. fluorocarbon tippet.

As always, feel free to hit me up with any questions or comments.

Cheers

Gary, AKA LaMachine