Tippet Material Questions

I'm curious to know what tippet materials you've tried and have possibly compared others to. I've been using the Orvis stuff for years and have been completely satisfied. This past year, I switched to the new Orvis Material, and I think it's great, but there's gotta be better.

Speaking with a guide recently, he mentioned he only usies the Mirage
Chamelion. Al Caucci I believe usies Rio and I think the folks in the
Catskill fly shop also use Rio.

I picked up a few rolls of Varivas tippet material, and the stuff in my opinion is Crappola.

Please respond only if you've used more than one of these.
Basicallly, I just want your opinions as to which tippet material you have found works best for you.

Maybe you can rate them on a scale of 1 - 10, 1 being bad 10 being great?
Rio
Umpqua
Frog Hair
Dai Riki
Airflo
Mirage
Varivas

I'm not looking to get too technical here, I'm just looking for your overall experience with whatever you've used and something to compare it to. The type of fish we're catching with the tippet material would be 10" - 21" fiesty trout on a medium -/ fast action rod.

Opinions...
-=SAGE=- http://www.njflyfishing.com 0 Limit,Catch -n- Release

Actually, I like the German made Cortland 333 tippet. Its cheap, seems to be of comparable strength to others and is colored a pale brown which matches the tannin stained waters here in northern Ouisconsing. For bass bugs I like Maxima.

Keep trying different types. Keep going back to Maxima. Not the thinnest, but consistently works best.

I am talking about standard mono (copolymer) with trout as the main influence here too.

First, many brands like Umpqua, Orvis, Targus and Dai-riki are all made in the same factory in Japan but to slightly different specifications.

I think the top seller in volume, at least in California, should be Umpqua with Orvis second only because there are less Orvis dealers than Umpqua dealers.

A fly shop has to carry what ever brands are the best sellers in their area or they will go bad on the shelf.

Small shops probably should only carry one or two brands of knotless tapered leaders and tippet material so they will be fresh.

In our shop it is a battle every year between Orvis and Umpqua with Rio or
Targus next. We still sell some Maxima Ultra green and a little clear, hard
Mason too.

Cortland now has Climax but the original owner made some "back room deals" with very large discounts to get it in many big shops years ago.

Bailey's had that big test in one of the magazines some years back where
Dai-riki kicked everyone's butts.

It is all pretty good stuff but different with some tippet material being stiffer and some being limper. The stiff stuff turns flies over better and doesn't twist up with certain types of dry flies. Limper material is better on spring creeks.

Top selling sizes of tippet material are 3, 4, 5

Try the Cabela's mono called Tectan. I use the 4.9 lb for apprx 5x and the
5.9 lb for apprx. 4x.

Roll it onto old Rio spools. I put about 100 meters of tippet onto a spool for about $3 and it lasts a long time.

A few others on this group use Tectan with good success. I got the tip from
Mike T who frequents this board and the San Juan board, same as me.

I don't really think too much about tippet, probably one of the reasons I'm not a good fisherman.

The bad ones tend to stand out though. I don't know how I'd rate Frog
Hair, but I won't be buying any more of it. I find the blood knot seems weak in the smaller diameters, and if you look at it wrong, it gets very weak.

It has some nice properties that I enjoy, but I've lost to many fish to put up with the low points

Strange how different folks have differing views of stuff. I quit using the
Orvis tippets years ago because i could never get the fly to turn over.
and loved it. Not seen any in a few years.

My choices

1. Frog Hair
2. Umqua
3. Climax
4.SA who needs anything else?

I totally agree about the lack of abrasion resistance. My friend Patrick noticed that right away also.

The Orvis seems statically strong, but I've stopped using it because there are more abrasion resistant materials for nymphing, and more supple ones for dry fly fishing. Climax seems pretty good all-around at a reasonable price.
Dai Riki Velvet is my favorite for dry flies because of its suppleness, which I think is important. Maxima is abrasion resistant, but not as supple. Flourocarbon just doesn't seem worth the cost to me.