Rio Extreme Tippet - Furled

[JohnScott]

Noticed some Rio Extreme tippet at the Grizzly Hackle Saturday. Pretty pricey stuff at $8.95 for a 20 yard spool. But it was on sale at a pretty attractive price, assuming that it would work for a furled leader, so I worked out a deal with the managing partner there.

Furled the 5X tippet to a finished length 70" leader with a 10-8-6 configuration and 40%-30%-30% proportions ( roughly ). The leader was noticeably stiffer than the thread furled leaders I normally use, but had no memory. It had a slimmer profile than the thread furled leader I made immediately following out of Danville 210 Flymaster Plus.

Took it out for a field test Saturday afternoon. Fished it with my Hexagraph medium fast 7' 9" for 4/5 with a Rio Selective Trout WF4F line, and fished flies from a size 6, or thereabouts, FEB Hopper off 4X mono tippet down to a size 16 ClackaCaddis ( a Walter Wiese fly ) off 5X mono tippet.

The leader turned over the FEB Hopper quite nicely and put it down on the water very softly. The stiffness was noticeable immediately, with pros and cons. The pros are how well it handled the larger fly and how much better it will work in a breeze compared to a thread furled leader. Also, it doesn't have the stretch that a thread leader has, and probably won't ball up into a twisted mess if pulled taut and suddenly released like a thread leader will. It also handled the smaller flies on the lighter tippet quite nicely. The leader seems to submerge a bit, but not as much as a thread leader - the little ClackaCaddis just kept on floating through the entire drift, every time.

The major "con" relates to the stiffness. When fished across mini-currents, the leader tends to drag or steer the fly whereas the more supple thread leader will generally absorb the mini-currents for a better drift. When fished across consistent current, the Extreme Tippet leader performed quite nicely.

As to catching - it was quite good. Landed somewhere around 15 cutthroat in about three hours of field testing the leader.



The 5X Extreme tippet leader was just about right for the 4 wt. This morning Dan and I field tested it with a 5 wt rod on the Clark Fork with 3X tippet and a large Chubby Chernobyl. The leader handled that set up just as well as it did the 4 wt line. Nevertheless, I took advantage of the sale prices to buy some 4X and 3X tippet to make leaders for my 5 and 7 wt rods. I think the 3X will make a great furled leader for the 7wt for fishing big water, big flies, and big wind.

John

P.S. Did I mention strong ?? It is Extreme.

[Uncle Jesse]

John,

I have never understood the X thing with leader material but lbs. calculated in my mind. The diameters shown on the spools .006 in. for 10 lb., seem small for nylon. Is that some type polymer, Spectra or some "exotic" material?

[Tig]

There used to be a time when you took the X number, example 4X and subtracted it from 9 you would get the approximate lb. test strength of the material, but that doesn't seem to work all the time now.

[JohnScott]

... Is that some type polymer, Spectra or some "exotic" material?

Don't know what material is used to make the Extreme tippets. It has the look or feel of a finely braided something, it is black, and it is coated with a waxy feeling substance. When I first saw it a couple years ago, it didn't strike me as a material that would have any application in trout fishing.

Yesterday I field tested the leader furled from the 4X Extreme tippet on my TFO BVK 9' for 5 wt, with a Rio Selective Trout DT5F line. I tipped it with 3X mono to fish an FEB Hopper, and then added a short piece of 5X mono to fish some smaller dries. The leader performed very well, quite similar to the 5X leader described above. It was a bit windier yesterday, and it was obvious that this leader has real advantages in such conditions over the thread leaders I normally use. Well worth the time and money ( at sale prices ) to have this leader.

I thought I would also fish the 3X leader on my 7 wt yesterday, but never got around to it. This leader does seem a bit much - too bulky and heavy in hand - but I still think it will prove a strong performer for it's intended use. Will get out to field test it in the next week or so.

As I suspected, these Extreme tippet leaders do not develop any twist / knots when pulled hard and released suddenly. Also, the material does not stretch, which makes setting it up for furling a bit more demanding than setting up thread for furling, and which makes for leaders with a very positive hook set. The other day I broke off ( 4X mono tippet ) a good size fish on the hook set, which I think was partly due to the fact the leader has no give.

John

[JohnScott]

... fishing the 3X version off a Sage Fli 9' for 7 wt lined with a Rio Selective Trout II WF7F. The weather didn't cooperate, just cold and rainy, not windy.

Used 3X mono tippet to fish a CFC October Caddis ( approx size 8 ) and then the OC with 3X mono to a San Juan worm as a dropper. The Extreme tippet furled leader handled both these quite nicely. The San Juan worm took the biggest cutt of the day - pushing 18". The OC took a very nice fish late in the afternoon when it finally warmed up a bit and the fish started coming up.

At the other extreme, I extended the 3X mono with a short piece of 4X mono and fished a couple size 16 caddis patterns. Both floated well and maintained a good drift on some fairly soft water with a very steady current. On some rougher water, the deer hair version of the Harrop's Henry's Fork Caddis held a very good drift when fished to a cutt that had been rising regularly - and got him.

Overall, I'm really pleased with how these furled leaders perform. The Extreme tippet is pricey, but my guess is that these leaders will last almost forever, and over the long term, might prove less expensive than leaders made with much less expensive material. If you can get some on sale, I think you will be pleased with your investment.

John

[WarrenP]

John,

From your description of the material, it almost sounds like it is very close to being like Kevlar tying thread.

Just a thought.....

[JohnScott]

John,

From your description of the material, it almost sounds like it is very close to being like Kevlar tying thread.

Just a thought.....

While the Extreme tippet is as strong, or stronger than Kevlar, and produces a rather stiff leader, somewhat stiffer than Kevlar, actually, it doesn't look or feel like Kevlar, which is the material I used for the first furled leader I made. The similarities are there, Warren, until you get them both in hand and compare them.

Also, Kevlar tends to fray around the tip ring after extended use - my guess is that the Extreme tippet will not fray, which is a major factor in long term durability.

John

[JohnScott]

... on these leaders.

First, it does look like these leaders will last almost forever. I've fished the 4X version quite a bit and it shows no sign of wear, except it has faded a bit from black to a dark gray.

Second, the 3X version has proven too heavy for my liking, even on the 7 wt rod. I've gone to the 4X version for that rod and it works just fine, both for a wide range of dry flies and large nymphs under an indicator.

Third, the matter of stretch is a personal preference thing, and I do tend to prefer the stretch that I get with thread furled leaders. That, and more "slack" in a thread leader compared the Extreme Tippet leaders which tend to lay out much straighter to the fly, have some advantages for the type of fishing I do. Particularly cutthroat trout fishing since cutts are a bit slower to the fly and to take the fly.

I do like these leaders for some situations. If you find the material on sale for a good price, you might want to put your own twist on it.

John

[JohnScott]

... today.



No - that's not it.

One of the really nice things about these leaders is how you can add indicators and keep them positioned where you want them on the leader by using a simple overhand knot through whatever loop you have on the indicator. Changing the position is as simple as loosening the knot and working the indicator(s) up or down the leader.

Today I was curious if I could use two of the smaller size thingamabobbers rather than one larger one to get a bit more visibility and floatation than is possible with just one of the small ones, especially with larger nymphs or tandems of smaller ones. So I used one overhand knot through the loops of two small "bobbers". It worked quite nicely, with one pink and one white giving great floatation and better visibility in tough water and light conditions than either of them would have provided by itself.

Another advantage would be the ease adding or removing one of the smaller "bobbers" depending on the flies used and conditions encountered. Simply undo the overhand knot, add or remove one of the bobbers, and retie the knot.

John

[gmfishe]

Rio Extreme tippet is a Dyneema material which has a specific gravity of 0.97.(floats) Suffix Performance Braid is the same material.. http://www.sufix.com/usa/fishing_lin...ormance_braid/ and costs about $15 for 150 yds.
I am not a furler,but I would say you could obtain the same results by using Sufix.
I have been tying tapered leaders out of Sufix for about 10 yr and have found them to be the best leader for dry ..dry/dropper.
I treat the leader with a mixture of Sno seal and albolene cream.

gmfishe