I asked Santa Clause this past Christmas for a Tippet Dispenser, well, Santa got me a Streamworks model. It is very nice. The reason I asked is that last summer I got pretty much fed up with leader spools coming unspooled in my vest and thought there had to be something better. Well, here I am tonight, getting ready to go Spring Atlantic Salmon fishing tomorrow morning and low and behold the Maxima spools I have don’t fit. What do you guys use for tippet spools in this model. I like and use Maxima all the time since it blends in perfectly with the river water so I guess I will have to acquire some empty spools of some other brand and transfer the leader to them. Any suggestions???
I have a problem with this dispenser too. I bought this three-piece set myself last month, loaded it up with Rio 3X, 4X and 5X. I found the spools didn’t turn freely and the tippet was too hard to pull out. If you pull too hard on flouro, you get curly tippet. Not good. I went back to using the spools by themselves. If anybody knows of flouro tippet that works in them, let me know too.
Unfortunately there isn’t a tippet dispenser out there that doesn’t have a spool size issue because all the spools out there are a different size.
And if that isn’t a big enough pain in the butt section; the manufacturers change their spool sizes from time to time so even if you find that brand X spool fits like a glove in 2008, it may not fit at all in 2009. I can remember sanding off the “interlocking” spindle on some Orvis tippet spools when they first appeared because the new protrusion screwed up the fit in a few fishing bags I use with tippet dispensing pockets.
If you can resign yourself to re-spooling the tippet brand of choice on to a spool size that fits you are set IF you can find a size that does fit. But it gets even worse; sometimes the spool size that does fit is some brand you don’t like so you have either buy a few just to get the empty spools or hope you can find someone who likes the stuff and will save you their empties.
Been there…done that!
So for all of those reasons I would NEVER buy a tippet dispenser that uses tippet manufacturers spools. I do the refilling thing. There are a few dispensers out there that come with empty spools that you have to refill. Those are a much better option. I have been using a dispenser for YEARS that I refill the spools on. While refilling spools can be a hassle at times; it isn’t the biggest deal in the world since you don’t have to do it every time you fish.
I have some Rio tippet spools that have a elastic band around the tippet with a hole in the band where the end of the tippet feeds though. As long as you don’t clip the tippet too close to the hole the band controls the tippet.
Somewhere I bought the same elastic bands with the feeder hole that would fit Maxima spools, but I haven’t used them yet.
I have one of those Streamworks tippet holders, but I just feel that it is too big to carry on my vest. I prefer the plain tippet posts and the rope cord tippet holders.
If you don’t mind elastic bands without the feeder hole, you can use hair elastics for ponytails which are about the same size. They work fine for controlling tippet, and if your spool is slotted, you won’t lose the end.
I’ve gone through several makes/models of these tippet thingy’s. All got in my way or proved cumbersome hanging around, outside my vest.
My Simms vest has a small pocket that I find keeps my 3 spools of 5X-7X handy w/the elastic strap w/a hole that comes with it. It stays ut.
I build my own leaders and rarely…rarely need to replace the 4X so the 5X and 6X get used 95% of the time. The 7X is used only for rare occasions too, depending on the hatch. Those 3 spools fit nicely in the pocket and stay outa the way!
I HATE excess crap hanging/swinging around. That bloody net is bad enough but I forget about that until (unless) it’s needed for my little trout!
One of the main reasons that I purchased the Fishpond Gore Range Vest was because it had a tippet pouch on each side of the vest. I prefer to have a couple of spools of tippet in these pouches to having them attached to a vest. But I do fish both ways.
The Sportsman Warehouse tippet and the Orvis Mirage both work in the tippet dispenser. Sportsman are $4.95 a spool. I just have a few old ones that I reload with Pline Flouro. Pline is great stuff and cheap in spools of 150.