All_Tangled_Up

Well I tied a loop to loop for my leader to tippet connection earlier today and I guess I'll have to fish it to see. On my rod, everything looked good a 5X leader to a 6X tippet. On My wifes though, I don't know??? I couldn't get the leader/tippet loops to lay the same as on my rod. I tried several times and finally gave up. I thought I'd trade her rods for a while and try hers out to see what I thought. I may end up changing knots. Particularly on hers. Why cut off 6-8" of the tip?

Thanks for the offer Phill. I'll try to make it. damselfly, I'd read that I beleive on SMFFF. I figure the best way to learn fly fishing, is to get around those that know.

Sounds great motroutbum! I'll get with ya before we head out that way.

Are there any get togethers for tying flys around the Springfield/Branson area?

Right, wrong, or indifferent, If I caught a fish with one of those on it, it'd be the last fish it would feed on! If my wife were to catch a fish with one on it, I'd probably be on the look out for a new fishing buddy!

I'll have to get a leader gauge. I don't think I've seen one before. Ok, now for a stupid questions: Where do you measure the leader if it's a tapered leader? With a 5X tapered leader, is it the tip that's a 5X or the head that attaches to the fly line?

Thanks for the advice! What part of Colorado are you in? We're going to Silverton in August for a week of Jeepin in the Mtns with the Mile High Jeep Club. We hope to get some fishing in while we're there. I'm not sure where the good spots are around Silverton. Hopefully by August, the wife and I will have gotten the knack of fly fishing down to more of an art. Any advice on fishing any of the Mtn lakes/streams(i.e. gear, techniques)?

Ditto! But Bass Pro will reap more benefits form TR and Taneycomo. There's not as much of a chance someone vacationing in Branson and fishing up on the Finley or the upper parts of Swan and Beaver creeks.

Thanks damselfly! I'm not sure anyone had ever told me to watch the size differences of the leader and tippet. Makes sence though. Based on the responces I've gotten, my plan is to try a loop to loop for my leader and tippet knot, with about 2' of tippet. If that doesn't work to well, I'll try the uni-knot. Then if all esle falls, I'll go to plan C and/or D.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think access points should be closed due to a few bad seed. I'm very much in favor of free access to public lands! But it's not just a trash problem. When you have people that want to get off the beaten path to those secluded places, many times they get too destructive with their vehicles (i.e. 4WD's playing along the way, two wheel drives getting themselves in a bad spot), or build camp fires and don't properly contain them and making sure they're out before they leave. I used to work for MDC back in the early 80's and worked several river accesses close to St. Louis. There was never a problem with the mature individuals that were there to enjoy the area. It was always idiots that were too selfish to consider their fellow man that caused the problems. We tried very dilligently to deal with only those who abused the accesses. We even got to the point of hiding in the bushes to catch them. However, there were areas we ended up blocking off because of those less respectfull. Then they wondered why they could no longer drive into those blocked areas. Hmmmm....lets see, weren't you the one I caught doing dohnuts with your big ole 4X4 in the grass area a few weeks ago? My biggest point to all of this is we should do what we can to keep our lands open for our use. We just need to make sure we are respectfull and help those around us to do the same. In other words, don't give the government or private land owners a reason to close access.

I'll give the loop to loop knot a try with my leader to tippet and see how that works out for me. Like I said earlier, I tend to get technical, and sometimes that's just not neccessary. Being new I can't help to be curious as to why people use/do some of the things they use/do.

While I hate to see any roads/accesses closed, I do think part of the reason for the Gov. to do this is due to people being distructive to the areas and not packing out what they packed in. We moved away form the Ozarks for 6 years and have noticed so many stream access points closed off by private land owners, MDC, and USFS. Given the fact that when we lived here before, there were many times we found an abundance of trash and distruction to those accesses. I'm sure much of this distruction is due to "kids having fun". But if we all do our best to teach others to leave an area as good or better than we found it, maybe we wouldn't loose access to places we enjoy. It's just a shame we all pay for those inconsiderate few!

Forgive my "Newbieness" but any particular reason? The fly shop I got my outfit from tied a loop to loop connection for the fly line and leader. To me that makes it easy to change leaders. Therefore would the same principle apply to leader to tippet connections as well? I've often wondered about this but I was told to use a blood knot by another fly fisherman for strength reasons. I didn't question him at the time. Plus I didn't have a clue what questions to ask anyway. Sorry if it seems I'm making this all technical. I tend to do that once I start getting the idea of something. I'm really just trying to get a handle on this great sport of fly fishing.

Uhhh...I like the idea of the Uni-knot. It would be very simple. I'll try that since there are times I seem to be all thumbs tying a blood knot.

I've been wondering what's the "correct" amount of tippet that should be tied to your leader? Is there such a thing? I've been tying about 2' with a blood knot. Does this sound right? Also, if you have a 4X or 5X leader but need a lighter leader, can you just tie on a 6X or 7X tippet to your heavier leader without consequences? And lastly, is there a prefferable knot to use over the blood knot? Any advice is appreciated!