For the purpose of this discussion, let’s put ‘quality’ of the tippet material aside for a moment.
I’m guessing that like most of you, I have tippet material made by different companies. For the most part, each one comes in a slightly different dispenser. Some have various types of slots in which you slide the end of the tippet. One has a rubber band with a raised piece for you to grasp. One has a rubber band within a soft material. Another has an expanding belt with a hole through which the tippet passes. Finally the last one I have has an outside frame with a rubberized slot.
I carry about 6 or 7 of these spools on a ‘tippet spool holder’. It seems that every time I have occassion to go to it for tippet there’s a problem. Usually: one or more of the tippet ends has become loose and there are several feet of tippet hanging out; one of the tippets has gotten tangled around the holding cylinder; I can’t grasp the holding devise to release the tippet; or as I pull the tippet out of its spool it stretches, gets some abrassions, or curls.
So I ask, what do you think is the best tippet dispenser or dispensing method? Also, do you think that ‘tippet spool holders’ are worth it or is it easier to reach into a pocket and pull out individual spools?
I carry a couple of small spools of Berkley Vanish. 2lb, 4lb and 6lb test. Saves money on tippet, which comes in small amounts on those little spools. It’s flourocarbon and makes great tippet. I just keep them in my vest, not on a dispenser.
I have one of those lanyard type tippet dispenser things filled with Orvis Super-Strong and I can honestly say that in over three seasons of use the tippet has never once begun to unspool.
If I say anything, it would be that with my fading eyesight I often have a hard time locating the end of the tippet under the thick fabric coated rubber-band to pull off a fresh section.
Years ago I had the Simms neoprene tippet dispenser. It was a zipped case that held 4 spools and you passed the tippet through a small hole and wrapped the tag end around a rivet. It too performed flawlessly, but I no longer wear a vest, and the dispenser is too bulky for my chest pack.
The dispensers that Rio, Dai-Riki, Bear Creek and some other folks used to sell that consisted of small plastic pieces that snapped together around which the tippet was wound and held in place with a spring clip also did the job well.
The only tippet I ever have problems with is my bass tippet. I use Maxima and the dinky little rubber bands that come on a Maxima spool do a lousy job of holding the tippet in place on the spool.
Many years ago after watching tippet spool sizes change every year; I made my own dispenser out of a Dewitt type box that allowed me to carry 10 spools of tippet material in a neat 3.5" X 5.5" X 1" box. I mounted plastic posts in the bottom of the box and drilled holes in the side to feed the leader through, added some Velcro dots to secure the tag ends and voila! Years later when I ditched the vest, I made a smaller version that holds 6 spools of tippet material and is only 2.5" X 4" X .5".
The biggest challenge when making my own dispenser was finding spools that would fit the box I chose for the dispenser. I searched everywhere for my first spools and found an old Orvis leader kit that had the perfect size spools for the 10 spool box. When I designed the 6 spool box, I MADE the first spools out of plastic sewing thread spools and later had a machinist friend make some out of Derlin for me.
The only downside to my homemade dispenser is re-spooling the material from the manufacturers spools to mine but it only take a minute with the MOTORIZED re-spooling device I made for the purpose .
If you can deal with re-spooling I’d recommend one of the available dispensers out there that require it. It really isn’t that big a deal even if you do it by hand.
Or make your own like I did.
A added note:
Go to the drugstore and look for the different sizes of elastic ponytail thingies they sell for girls hair. Make sure they are the kind that are FLAT and have NO METAL clips to hold them in a loop. They are made Goody or Scunci and come in a rainbow of colors and different materials and make GREAT spool covers to keep your tippet material from unraveling. I color code my spools using ROY G. BIV with 3x being RED, 4X ORANGE, etc.
I also use the small size to secure the loose end of my leader onto the reel foot of my reels after wrapping the end of the leader a few times around the foot.
Sorry Dot Man .
[This message has been edited by Bamboozle (edited 08 June 2006).]
After years of looking at dispensers like<A HREF=“http://www.ffo-tackle.com/detail.cfm?PassProdId=748” TARGET=_blank>
this</A> I made myself somethimg similar out of a check book wallet.
Not perfect but better than a bunch of loose spools in the vest pocket
May the fish that you catch always be larger than the hole in your net
I have a few short sections of large rope. I keep my different ‘types’ of material separated on each rope. An overhand knot on each end keeps the spools in order and yet available. There are times when I will untie one knot and pull the rope to add or subtract a spool or some other silly reason. Constantly adjustable just by placement of the knot. Been using this system for years. May have had easily a hundred spools at any given time with no problems. Sometimes I will actually give a whole rope to someone who seems to need it far more than I.
If a ‘end’ has come loose, it is usually my fault.
I’m with Elkhunter. I just use the tippet spools that the material came on. My waist bag has a velcro pouch in the front just made for holding these small spools, and for a typical warmwater day I only need two or three spools to cover all my situations. The little dispensers the mfg give you work well for me.
Good fishing,
Bob
I use the spools the stuff comes on, carry only what I need on the water (for me, never more than two sizes at the time), and either stick them in the pockets of my shorts, or if wearing a vest (rarely), put them in the outer mesh pockets and feed the end of the tippet thru the pocket bottom, where I can pull out what I need. I’ve seen vests of solid material with grommeted holes in the outer pockets for feeding tippet through. If I am carrying spools in my pants, it actually helps me keep up with which size I have in hand if the spools are different. Everything else stays in the tackle bag.
I use the Mayfly Tippet post. On that, I have 8 spools. 7x - 4x in both flouro and regular. I keep a couple of spools of flouro, heavy tippet, in my vest pocket for streamers.
I only use one brand of tippet, so everything fits together nicely.
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