Bite tippet?

Last week I went to one of my favorite smallie spots on a local river. Uncharacteristically, I had three fish break me off. This has never happened to me before, but I chalked it up to maybe a malfunctioning bit of tippet. Last night I returned to this spot, and the 30" inch Northern Pike I managed to land may have provided an answer. First water wolf I have ever caught on the long rod, and quite exciting too by the way. My question is, what do ya'll use? I don't like the idea of wire tippets, but I don't like the idea of leaving fish swimming around with flies hanging off their lip either. Any thoughts?

I use the knotable wire
forget what the name brand is

Try a short piece of superbraid. Power pro in 20 or 30 pounds shoud do the trick.

You will need to replace it every now and then.

ah, a thirty inch pike. That must have been fun and it brings back some fond memories for me. A thought - I wonder if a longer hook say 6x or more would help any or perhaps use a stinger hook.

Pirates use fluorocarbon leader material in salt water.

Rusty <><

Powerbraid, that sounds like it might be the ticket. I have never used flourocarbon, is it that much tougher? The fish I caught last night was on a clouser tied on a Mustad 34007. rather short shanked, but I think I may have gotten lucky. I assume the damage is done when the fish first grabs the fly, or if it manages to get it into it's gullet with the tippet passing through it's teeth. This one was hooked right through the top lip, and the tippet was well clear of the snaggles. On Global FlyFisher there is a short article on making bite leaders out of .5 mm piano wire, which sounds possible.

Most of the scissors I have will not easly cut the PowerPro. I have Leatherman Micra clipped to my vest - it's the only decent tool that cuts the stuff. I pulled a bnunch of pickerel on my spinning gear where the line went thrigh their teeth. Yeah I had to cut that section off since it's been frayed but I never lost the fish...
You can say this stuff is tough...

Berkley fireline works as well as any of the super lines as well...just say'in

I have Fireline on one of my spinning reels, and I thought about giving that a try. That is some tough stuff. My line nippers won't touch it.

While it is a bit expensive, I have pretty much switched to short sections (3 in or so) of titanium wire. It knots well and absolutely will not kink. The problem with wire tippets is you may not have as much luck with the smallies. It may however increase your chances of actually landing the 48in pike that may be lurking nearby.

If you are tying flies just for the pike, use some long shanked hooks and tie on the rear of the hook only. This works well for bluefish in the salt.

Regards,
Keith

Went to Canada once and we tried not to catch pike. They were everywhere! Quite the pain to get off the hook if you know what I mean.


-Ole Shredded Fingers, Jr.

I was under the impression that Power Pro and lines such as that are far from invisible. That's the beauty of fluorocarbon, it's harder for the fish to see.

Rusty <><

With pike, leader visibility isn't really an issue. Sometimes I think you could tie the fly to a piece of 1/4" nylon rope and they'd still nail it. :shock:

I use the steel tippet. And make it long enough. I had a Pike take my fly and my 4" leader. Bitten off. That Pike is one I wish I had caught.

jed

I've found that 50 lb flourocarbon works really well on Bluefish up to about 7 lbs. Not sure whether what larger blues would do to it. And stripers, which are known to shy away from wire, don't seem to be bothered by flourocarbon tippet. It does get does frayed, but it's never looked close to breaking when inspected. I just retry the knot when it starts looking like a problem.

I suspect it would work for pike, but I don't know for sure.

Well the first material to be tested was straight flourocarbon. Not having access to tapered flouro leaders, I purchased some 10lb test line, and tried that as a leader. Not to bad, but it didn't turn over very well, compared to regular mono, which I use from time to time. Maybe a heavier test would help. The toothie critters didn't come out to play though, so no soap anyway. I am going to try some heavier flouro, and also try to tie on just a tippet of flouro this weekend. After that I am going to give the fireline a try, then the braid, and finally some wire. We really go to this spot for the smallie fishing, so I don't want to get too far away from that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dudley

I use the knotable wire
forget what the name brand is

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I use Tyger Wire or equal for toothy critters. Depending on fish size, anywhere from smaller strengths to the #17 test for muskies.

I've heard smallies tend to shy away from leaders though...dunno there. Go as small as possible then. Wonderful stuff. Expensive and kinks but...

Jeremy.

Has anyone mention American Surflon in the thread yet? It's knottable wire like tyger wire but less expensive. I have a spool of 17 lb material, but I've found that flourocarbon knots better.

What I've been using (for bluefish) is a straight 5' leader of 20lb flourocarbon, and about 18 inches of 50lb flourocarbon. That's on a clear, intermediate sink line.