fly line and leader/tippet?

Question

i am taking up fly fishing and am looking to purchase a fly line and leader or tippet. I don't really know the diff between leaders and tippets so that info would also be appreciated. What brands are best? What type of fly line and tippet/leader should I get for stream trout?

i have a 5wt 8'6" rod

Answer 1

For fly lines I'm guessing you have a 5 or 6 weight rod which is a pretty standard size for most trout fishing. You need to get the corresponding size fly line. You definitely want to start with a floating line since they are way easier to cast. My favorite floating trout fly line is the Royal Wulff Triangular Taper in white.

A leader goes on the end of the fly line. Usually they are tapered which means they start out thicker (on the end that connects to the fly line) and gets thinner toward the tip. A tippet is just a small amount of line tied on the end of the leader. The only real purpose of the tippet is to extend the life of your leader since every time you change a fly, which can be pretty often, you lose about 2" off your line. After you have used up a lot of your tippet, you can just replace it with a new one to add some length. You can also just blow off the tippet altogether or just put one on your leader after it starts getting short.

Two important decisions you need to make for your leader is the size and length and they really depend on what type of fishing you will do. For trout fishing in a small river, a standard setup might be something like a 7.5' to 9' tapered leader that is about 6X in size. That setup would be appropriate for dry flies and small nymphs. If you have a flyshop nearby ask them for the best setup for the particular water you will fish. Reasons that you would deviate from these sizes would be if the trout were really spooky (leader shy) where you might want to go with a 12' maybe 7X leader. Conversely, if your going to be throwing really big flies/streamers for say steelhead or stripers, you might use a 4' 8lb test Maxima monofilament leader. Don't plan on a delicate presentation with that setup though!

Since you are just starting out, it would be a good idea to have someone show you how to cast. Unless you have water close by, a park is a great place to practice casting. A word of caution though, don't practice casting on pavement since it will trash your line.

Tight lines!!!

Answer 2

I would reccomend Lefty Kreh Signature Series flyline to start
in weight forward taper. It won't break the bank and is a very decent line (made by 3M - the same manufacturer of Scientific Anglers products).

Now to leaders and tippets:
Fore most general purpose trout fishing a 9ft leader tapered to 5x will fill the bill. There are many brands to choose from.
I am partial to Orvis, but there are other choices.

Tippet: the last few feet of the leader. After "using" the leader
for abit and tieing several flys, you'll want to tie on a new piece of tippet to your leader. I am a big fan of Maxima, but again, there are many choices. You can use a blood knot or a surgeon's knot to attach the new piece of tippet, you don't have to replace to whole leader.

When fishing streamers/wooly boogers it is a good idea to shorten your leader a bit (if using 5x) because
a) repititious casting of a large heavy fly puts stress on the
small diameter mono.
b) if you have a large trout hit your fly on the swing 5x tippet will snap quicker than you can blink.

You can always tie on a new piece of tippet material if going back to drys or nymphs.

My personal preference is to nail knot a short piece of heavy
mono (30 lb test) directly to my fly line and then either
blood knot the leader to that OR use a perfection loop
if the leader came pre-tied with one.

Look up the following knots on-line, you'll need to know them:

Nail knot
blood knot
surgeons knot
perfection loop

Answer 3

I am assuming you are new to game fishing, you said your rod was a #5 8'6", not knowing what action the rod is, my advice would be to start with a Weight Forward Floating line "this means the line has a bulkier front end which helps it to be pulled through the eyes of the rod a lot better which improves distance", next I wouldn't bother with expensive lines to start with, god m8, you might hate fly fishing, and a large outlay only makes it harder to bare, so go for a cheaper line something like a Shakespeare Proffesional at around £15, it is a very good line it is ice blue so can be seen very well yet it blends into the sky from the fishes point of view, it also has the added bonus of having virtually no line memory, which means it doesn't curl up after you cast it, very frustrating when you make a great cast only to find the line has curled up back towards you and taken 10 yards of your cast, as for the tippet or cast, I would suggest some thing like Wychwood dry fly, or Wychwood sub surface, both are only £1.99 per 50 metre spool, and both are very low diameter for the poundage, I would suggest you go for minimum 6lb for surface fishing and 8lb for sub surface, and next but by no means least, get some proffesional casting lessons, because if you pick up a bad habit now it's very hard to correct it later, as for tapered leaders, all well and good when you can cast an acurate line, but to start a straight through cast is good enough, use one around 10" long to start, and increase it as you gain confidence,
Hope this helps
Tightlines
John

Answer 4

You want your fly line to match your fly rod. I would recommend going to your local fly shop and have them put it on. As far as type....well...there are many. It would depend on the streams you fish. If they are small streams a weight forward floating line would be best. After you put the fly line on the real, next put on a tippet. That way when you cut a leader off you won't be cutting any of the fly line. Tie a leader on to the end of the tippet. The length and weight of the leader depends on the clarity of the water you are fishing.
If you have never done this before it would be worth it to get a fly casting lesson at your local fly fishing shop. I fly fished for years but I was never really good at casting until I took a lesson. It helped a lot.

Answer 5

First, I will answer your question...with one of my own. What "Weight" rod do you have, and how long is it? For stream trout it should be in the 3-5 weight range, from 7-9' long. This info can be found on the rod itself, usually writen just above the cork grip, #'s like 9502 perhaps, which would indicate a 9' long rod, 5weight in 2 pieces.
To correctly answer your question, this info needs to be known.
Generally speaking, as a beginner, you should be using a weight forward (WF) or Rocket line, as they are very forgiving to a new caster. For Trout, this should also be a Floating line, or one that sits on the surface of the water, as apposed to sinking below it.
So for sake of arguement, if your rod was a 9', 5 weight...then you would purchase a WF5F line.
So, lets have the rest of your rod info as well as a typical stream you might cast to (width, cover, etc).
Check my Group at [e-mail]

Answer 6

A leader is simply a large section of pre formed mono-filament that is tapered, as you are a beginner you will need these as they will help you get the perfect fly turnover until your casting improves, added onto this is your tippet i generally use fluorocarbon for this my preferred material is airflo sight free g3, basically your fly is then connected to this, however use a co polymer for dry flies because fluorocarbon will make them sink. As for makes of tippets and leaders you cant go wrong with Rio, and airflo for tippet or leader.
Available here
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/index/index-display.jsp?id=cat601301&navAction=jump&navCount=1&cmCat=MainCatcat20431&parentType=category&parentId=cat20431

also scientific anglers is a good choice
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/index/index-display.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/subcategory/subcategory-index.jsp.35_A&_DAV=&id=cat20524&navCount=1&parentId=cat20431&navAction=push&returnPage=&returnQueryString=&cmCat=MainCatcat20431-cat20439&parentType=subcategory&rid=
Tippets by airflo
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0043719317701a&navCount=3&podId=0043719&parentId=cat600599&masterpathid=&navAction=jump&cmCat=MainCatcat20431-cat20439-cat600599&catalogCode=IH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat600599&hasJS=true

Answer 7

Nice in-depth answer Matt!


Well done. Matt gets my vote.