How do you keep your tippet from rotting? Is the Simms g3 vest the only answer?

[Bucky]

I store my tippet in my vest which I store in the front closet, and I have never had any issues with tippet rotting. Could be that the air is very dry out here, so no moisture builds up on the material to rot it out.

[tailingloop]

I have Orvis SuperStrong tippet with the little expiration date tags that say Nov 98 that is still as strong or stronger than listed on the spool. This includes tippet down town 7x. I also have some Umpqua, Climax, and Fenwick tippet of the same vintage that that does not seem to have lost any of its strength. Same for bulk spools of Berkley Big Game, Izorline, Ande and Stren mono. When not fishing this stuff is stored in a closet inside the house. I have had some other monofilament product that did seem to degrade over time. Trilene XT, Trilen XL, and some scientific anglers Leaders (not tippet) and Cortland tippet.

[Gandolf]

Hi Ray,

I know that there are plasticizers available for use in nylon, but don't know the extent that they are used, nor do I know whether they migrate or extract from the nylon easily. Some of the commonly used ones are solids that are added during the extrusion process, which amounts to direct conversion of mechanical energy to thermal energy to basically melt the plastic as a step in the forming process, and are added to lower the nylon viscosity so that it will be easier to mold or extrude, but there are others as well.

I know that polyvinylchloride (PVC) that is soft and flexible, like Tygon tubing, has plasticizers present to help make it soft and flexible. This would also include pastic dashes, if they are PVC. I have worked on products that were contaminated, only to figure out that the contamination, after I had analyzed it, was from the customer using the product with PVC, and it had extracted the plasticizer from the plastic into the product.

My gut feel is that leaching out of the plasticizers from nylon with things we use in fly fishing will be minimal, and so putting them back with something like Armorall will not likely be successful. I also suspect that the plasticizers for nylon will be different from those for PVC.

From looking at the Armorall website and other sources, it looks like Armorall is primarily a silicone based material that is aimed at primarily PVC and rubber. It can be used on and is useful on other things, but provides a coating to make a surface slick, shine, and make the material more oxygen and UV light resistant. It may also be intended to be aborbed, to an extent, by the plastic, and to either suppliment the original plasticizer, or to replace lost plasticizer, and thus make the treated material stay softer and less brittle.

Armorall may thus make the tippet a bit slicker, and may not hurt the tippet a bit, but whether it will help it or damage it, I can't say. Sorry for the poor knowledge level, Ray, but I honestly don't know, and plastics are pretty much out of my area of knowledge. My own gut feel is that the silicone in the Armorall could be absorbed by the nylon to a very limited extent.

I would probably not use it myself, but if a person has some tippet material that is getting weak, it would not hurt to do a few treatments of the tippet with Armorall, one treatment a day for a few days, and then retest the tippet to see if it had been helped.

Hope things are going well for you Ray. Have you been able to overcome the problem with the FAOL personal message system that your computer was having?

Thanks and regards,

Gandolf

[flickfly]

I've had Orvis super strong go bad on me with age and exposure to heat or sunlight in the past. Not had that happen in the last few batches I have purchased though. Uni Tread flytying thread will dry out and "shatter" if left out in a very dry room or climate. I always store all my thread in ziplock freezer bags in ceder cigerboxes or drawers.
I have had Maxima leader material get weak with age also.

[Bedlam]

I store all of my gear in my external shed in the mississippi heat(I am now in negotiations with my wife to move everything inside). I typically keep my vest packed in a backpack along with my waders and boots(all in separate compartments), but I have stored my vest while still damp after a trip and forgot about it which could have been the problem. Typically everything I buy is from the local bass pro, since fly fishing is not popular enough to support a shop in our area. I have also had problems with the orvis leaders right out of the paper envelope, purchased at the same BP(they had an abrasion and felt pitted). Last time I was fishing, I bought some rio leaders from a fly shop, and I vowed to never buy another orvis leader from BP. After looking at my tippet, I can see visible discoloration from the top of spool to bottom. I have never used bug spray, and am aware that it can have a negative effect. I did not realize that tippet had an expiration date, so I plan on checking the shelves of Bass Pro, the next time I am there.

[tailingloop]

I did not realize that tippet had an expiration date, so I plan on checking the shelves of Bass Pro, the next time I am there.

Orvis tippet has a date on a sticker on the back of the spool. That is the brand I use most often because that is what the local shop keeps the greatest stock of. Other brands may have a date. Like I posted, I have Orvis tippet that is 12 years past the date on the back of the spool that is still fine. I do test it, both old and new before using on the water by tying a couple of knots in some tippet and testing them. The expiration date on tippet in a shop should be at least a year into the future.

[Buddy Sanders]

Bedlam,

After reading your last post, it's pretty clear to me that it's not how you store the tippet that is causing this. If your stuff is on your vest in a backpack inside a shed, it should hold up for a couple of SEASONS at least even in the heat and humidity of a Missisippi summer (You can get it to last much longer if you climate control it, but why bother. Tippet is cheap and there's no reason not to replace it every season or two.). If it's failing after one outing, there is something else wrong. I store mine in a non climate controlled shed in Arizona and it's fine for a couple of seasons at least....

Unless you are buying the exact same tippet size from the exact same spot in the Bass Pro (it IS possible to get a bad 'batch' of line, but it's pretty rare), then there is another problem. Is it across several brands and sizes?

You said your tippet 'rots'. How did you determine that it had? Are you talking about the stuff on the spools, or about the tippet already tied to the leader? If you are testing it by pulling on it, is it breaking at the knot, or in the line between the knots?

Something is rotten in Denmark, or at least Mississippi, if your tippet seems to have rotted between outings.

Since it's acknowledged by all that I am cheap, I buy flourocarbon fishing line for my tippet material in 200 to 400 yard spools. It takes me several seasons to use up a spool of this stuff. It's all as good as the day I bought it, some now going on it's third or forth season, and I do 'test' it every year with a scale (while I'm cheap, I'm not willing to risk losing fish, so if it's not at or above rated test I throw it away).

Change brands, change where you buy it, change 'type'. A new vest won't help, but it would make you feel more stylish on the stream, and there is something valuable about style in it's own right....

Good Luck!

Buddy

[Flybyknight]

A question for Gandolf, ---- Is there a possibility that Nylon leader material could loose a plasticizer component, like the plastic on our auto dashboards, where treating with a material like Armor-All would help it retain its pliability?

Nylon is not plasticized, only vinyl.
Nylon properties are varied by adjusting the molecular weight during polymerization, or by co-extruding it with another polymer.

Dick

[Bedlam]

Last night I got online and bought a bunch of Rio tippets and leaders. It is very possible that that batch I have been buying from bass pro is part of the same batch.

I should define "rot" a little better. Basically, I can strip off about two feet give it a pull in the middle and it snaps. Knots, perfection loops and surgeons loops fail with a tug. Also, there is some discoloration.

I appreciate our local basspro for carrying fly tying and fishing material, but I have to admit, from sandals to glasses to tippet, it seems everything I buy there breaks.

[flickfly]

I've never had tippet/leader material "rot" it just got weak and failed under VERY little stress.