What brands and sizes of "fishing line" are best used as tippett??

[AaronJasper]

That 6 pound is like rope! That's what I used for tippet yesterday. I didn't snap any fish off unless they wrapped me around a rock or something else in the stream.

[Flyfisher]

Well i ordered the 4lb and 6lb line last night. i cant wait to try it out.

[alanb_ct]

Flyfisher:

Let us know what you think, but I am confident you will like the Seaguar product. Good luck!

[Silver Creek]

I haven't found a "fishing line" that equals top quality tippet material on a diameter/breaking strength basis.

Using the following web sites for

Seguar AbrazX:

http://www.seaguar.com/products/abrazx.htm

and Rio Flouroflex Plus:

http://www.fishusa.com/RIO-Fluorofle...-Spools_p.html

It seems to me that the breaking strength of .007 inch AbrazX is 4 lbs and .007 inch FlouroFlex Plus is 7 lbs. Both are 4X in diameter but the Rio is almost twice the strength of Seguar.

Now, unless the advertised diameters are way off with the AbrazX being thinner and the Flouroflex thicker than published or the AbrazX being stronger and the Flouroflex weaker than published, the following analysis seems to be true.

To get to a similar strength in AbrazX you need to go to .009 inch or 2X size. The relative volume of a length of line is related to the diameter squared. The relative strength of AbrazX to Flouroflex Plus on a volume basis is the inverse ratio of the squares of the diameters or 49/81 or 60%.

Since flourocarbon is heavier than mono, it has relativey more mass for a given volume and has the advantage of more material for a given volume. For example, a given volume of steel is stronger than mono. Even given this advantage, the mono is stronger than the flouro.

It is interesting to me that when flourocarbon was first introduced, an early article in Fly Fisherman Magazine estimated that the visual advantage of flourocarbon was about 2 "X" sizes. Using that estimate, 4X AbrazX at 4 lbs looks like 6X tippet material underwater. 6X Rio Powerflex is 3.4 lbs breaking strength but the Powerflex is much limper and a thinner diameter than the AbrazX which should give a more natural presentation and a faster sink rate.

See Rio Powerflex:

http://www.fishusa.com/RIO-Powerflex...aterial_p.html

Is visbility more important than faster sink rate or a more natural drift? When you buy "fishing line" for tippet material in mono or flouro, you really making a cost/performance decision. There is no free lunch.

[AaronJasper]

Silver Creek,

Give the Abraz-x a try. You will like it. Torrey and I measured it with a micrometer and it was the same diameter at 5X RIO. We were both shocked to say the least! The stuff is extremely strong and is tough to break. I landed some huge trout this past week and got two more giant fish today.

[alanb_ct]

Silver Creek:

I would also add that spinning lines typically grossly underestimate their break strength. I think the 4lb Seaguar is more like 6lb breaking strength. I also think that the breaking strength quoted by Rio is much closer to the actual (they do not underestimate). Give the Seaguar a try and I am sure it will serve the majority of your nymphing needs.

Put another way (approximate):
Seaguar is $20/200 yards or you get 10 yards for a dollar
Rio is $15/30 yards or you get 2 yards for a dollar

The Seaguar is cheaper by about 5:1!

The money you save can be spent on gas to travel to Pennsylvania, or airfare to Montana.

[Silver Creek]

I think what Aaron and Alan say is most important. If the Seguar is both stronger and thinner than on the packaging, then it is by far the best choice.

It would be an interesting experiment to blood knot the advertised .007 inch Seguar and the .007 inch Rio to each other. I know I can see a .001 inch difference in diameter when the tippets are side by side or blood knotted. You wouldn't think so, but I think both Aaron and Alan will agree it is easy to tell which tippet is the thinner even if the difference is just .001 inch. That will confirm if the Seguar is thinner.

The second experiment is to tie two equal diameters of Seguar and Rio to the eye of a single hook and then pull then till one line breaks. That will tell which flourocarbon of equal diameter is stronger. You would have to do the test 10 times to get a reliable result.

I got back from fishing the Madison on July 20th and I used both 4X Seguar Flouroflex Plus and 4X Powerflex while indicator nymphing. I frankly could not say that the flourocarbon was more effective at catching fish. I finally just used the mono because it was soooo much cheaper. I think a 100 yd spool of Flouroflex was $32.95 in Ennis, Mt.

I will buy some Seguar when I get to a store that carries it. Both Alan's and Aaron's success with it makes me want to try it for sure.

I must confess that I was more successfull nymphing with indicators this year, whereas last year, the direct line nymphing was more effective in my hands. The results with direct line nymphing may be different and in fact I used flouro all last year on the Madison when direct line nymphing.

Here are photos of the two largest browns I caught last year while direct line nymphing. They came from waters that my friend had indicator nymphed 30 minutes before me. Note the scars probably from an osprey or eagle on the second fish.

[harlequin]

Nice Browns Silver Creek, looks like the second one got lucky! I'm going to have to give this Abraz-x a try.

[AaronJasper]

Those are some nice fish. That second one is a tough some of a bitch... It had a lot of run in with other animals for sure.

[Flyfisher]

I used the Seaguar Abrazx last night and it preformed well. The fishing was pretty slow with temps hitting 80 yesterday but i did manage 2 trout and had a couple other trout come unhooked. I was impressed whith the strgenth of the 4lb line. i had a coulpe snags and getting the line to break was not that easy. It is much higher then 4lb.