Introduction and Questions on Fly lines

[JonSTL]

Hi Everyone,

I am 27 and have been fishing for trout most of my life. I am a project coordinator for a printing company in St. Louis. I have only been fly fishing for a couple of years. I have a question and I know I'll probably get many different suggestions.

I use the same flies as most of the people do on Tanneycomo, Scuds, Midges, Nymphs, etc. I am wondering if I'm using the right backing, leader, and tippets. I'm using the backing that came with my flyrod that I bought last year. It's weighted and floating, that's anbout all I know about it.

I usually build my own leaders from 12lb to 8lb to 4lb flurocarbon.

I use 2lb or 1lb green monofilament for the tippet.

Does anyone have any suggestions for backing, leaders, or tippets? I often am stuck between using lighter line for more bites and heavier line for a better chance to get larger fish in. What are the pros and cons about building your own leader or purchasing one?

Does anyone have a good system for keeping leader lengths consistant, when you build your own?

I was down last weekend and saw an older gentleman pull in a 25" and a 23" brown in the same day. I'm thinking is it posible to land an 8lb Brown with less than a 2lb tippet?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated as I am a beginer in fly fishing.

I'm going down to Branson again for a longer stay in a couple of weeks, and I'd like to make some changes to my flyrod.

Thanks,

JonO

[Terry Beeson]

Welcome to the forum.

I’m no “expert” by any means, but let me put my ½ cents worth in answer to your questions…

Q1 - Does anyone have any suggestions for backing, leaders, or tippets? I often am stuck between using lighter line for more bites and heavier line for a better chance to get larger fish in.

My Opinion (MO) – First – backing – I assume you are talking fly line here since backing is what goes on the reel before the fly line. If you don’t have backing on your reel, you can still cast and fish, but if you get hold of a large fish that strips your line, you may lose him when you run out of fly line. Most guys have 100 to 200 yards of backing behind the 70 or so feet of fly line.

The fly line should be matched to the rod and reel – mostly the rod. And the type of line depends on your fishing and casting styles. I would venture a guess that a WF-5wt line is on 4 out of every 5 fly rods on Taney and other trout waters in the area, but you’ll find guys that like a double taper, a 2wt, 3wt, 4wt, 6wt, 8wt, and others.

Leaders – I haven’t gotten into making my own leaders, but more on that later. I like a furled leader myself, but also use a 9 ft knotless. Sometimes I’ll drop to a 7 ½ ft knotless, but 9 ft is better for most of my fishing.

Tippet - You’ll find as many opinions on this as you’ll find fishermen on the water. I use a standard tippet in a 4X to 6X myself. There can sometimes be a very fine line (no pun intended) here. You may be using a 6X tippet and missing takes due to the fish detecting the line. You could switch to 7X and start picking up strikes, but, if a “biggun” hits your fly, you will have a harder time landing him on the smaller tippet – of course. However, many a trout has been landed on very small tippet and the best advice is, whatever size tippet you use, keep it nick free and change it after landing several larger fish.

Q2 - What are the pros and cons about building your own leader or purchasing one?

MO – The pros – you build what you want designed to your specifications on length, size, taper, etc. And the cost can be much lower.

The cons – you have to tie them yourself… LOL… And your knots may not be as strong as you need. Tying leaders is a bit of an “art” and can be done wrong.

Q3 - Does anyone have a good system for keeping leader lengths consistent, when you build your own?

MO – Tie two sections together, then trim the ends to your desired length. Get or build a leader tying station to help keep the knot tying lengths consistent.

Q4 - I was down last weekend and saw an older gentleman pull in a 25" and a 23" brown in the same day. I'm thinking is it possible to land an 8lb Brown with less than a 2lb tippet?

MO – Yes, very possible. Look at the world and state record books. Talk to guys on this and other forums. You’ll break some off, but the one out of 10 you land will be worth it…

Q5 - Any help or suggestions would be appreciated as I am a beginner in fly fishing.

I'm going down to Branson again for a longer stay in a couple of weeks, and I'd like to make some changes to my fly rod.

MO – If you are talking about a new fly rod, get with Michael at Backcountry Outfitters on this forum. If something else, give us more detail on what you want to change.