Careful with Tippet

by Sean W
(Rochester)

I was browsing J Stockard fly shop online for some fly tying supplies, and out of curiousity looked at the Rio tippets they had.

I saw one specifically, Powerflex Plus, advertised to be 20% stronger for the diameter. 6x was 4lb, 5x was 6lb!!!!

Needless to say, where this might be an obvious advantage for other fishermen, its probably not a simple advantage for the keiryu and tenkara rods. 4lb line on a rod rated for 6x is more likely to break a rod if too big a fish gets on.

The advantage I see for this line would be to use a smaller diameter line and have the better strength, but still sneaking in under the rod's rating. For example, using a 6x 4lb line on a 5x rated rod. Not quite as strong as 5x, but pretty good!

Additionally, thinner line on the main part of a keiryu line means less wind resistance.

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” - Benjamin Franklin

"Be sure in casting, that your fly fall first into the water, for if the line fall first, it scares or frightens the fish..." -
Col. Robert Venables 1662

As age slows my pace, I will become more like the heron.

We've all had situations where seriously chewed up flies kept catching fish after fish after fish. It is no sin to tie flies that come off the vise looking seriously chewed up.