Prolong the Life of Your Leaders with Tippet Rings

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Tippet Rings are great for lengthening the life of your leaders. Photo By: Louis Cahill

Leaders have got quite expensive over the past couple decades.

Recently, I saw a pack of two fluorocarbon leaders retail for $20.00 in a fly shop. That’s a pretty good hit to the wallet if you get out on the water to fly fish regularly. One way you can prolong the life of your leaders is to use tippet rings. The tippet ring takes the leader out of the equation by providing the angler a reusable anchor point to tie on tippet and attach flies. Climax manufactures and sells tippet rings and although I don’t like using them for my dry fly fishing because they can create micro-drag, they work very well for nymph fishing.

Tippet Ring Rigging Instructions

What I like to do is take a 7 1/2′ tapered 2X or 3X leader and tie the end directly to the loop ring. I then tie 24-30″ of 4X-6x tippet to the other side of the loop rig and tie on my tandem nymph rig. This keeps me from having to cut into my leader when I’m changing out flies or if I break off on a snag fishing. The tippet rings are also very nice for anglers that struggle with their eye sight up close, and makes it very easy for them to rig up quickly. This isn’t for everyone but for an initial $5 investment, it’s a cool piece of fly fishing gear that can save you money in the long run and should be considered.

Keep it Reel,

Kent Klewein
Gink & Gasoline
www.ginkandgasoline.com
hookups@ginkandgasoline.com
 
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12 thoughts on “Prolong the Life of Your Leaders with Tippet Rings

  1. Thanks for the tip. When you say micro-drag, is that caused by the weight of the tippet ring or the bulk of the ring? I guess what I’m asking is, are my loop-to-loop connections creating micro-drag as well on my dry fly rigs?

    Love the blog. Thanks again,

    Austin

  2. Not that it matters, I’m sure, but looks like they’re using the ol’ Trilene knot on the leader, and a improved clinch on the tippet side for the packaging.

    I’ve thought about tippet rings a bit in the past… just haven’t given them a go yet. I’ve thought it’d also be pretty simple to tie on an indicator at the ring if you’re so inclined.

  3. I prefer the raven micro swivels center pinners use. The same idea just aniother product that can also help line twist.

  4. I love me some tippet rings. An improved clinch knot and I’m back fishing after a break-off or snag. To me this is in the category of Keep it Sismple – Stupid (KISS).

  5. I’ve used similar rings since the 80’s. We used to have to get them from jewelers. It’s nice to have an easy commercial source now. The main downside is letting the knot go too long before retying.

  6. Problem with these micro rings are that my strike indicator (similar to Frog Hair’s) can’t move past the ring.

    I prefer to make a mini (or even micro) Perfection Loop on a leader. I cut off the tippet part of a new leader (generally about 1.5 – 2 feet) of the tip) and tie the Perfection Loop.

    The loop is small enough to let the indicator through and I can add on new tippet without shorting the leader.

    • Jay,

      I run into the same problem with tippet rings. I really like the idea of them, but I usually use slip indicators jammed with a toothpick or jam stop thingamabobbers and no tippet ring is small enough to go through them. I will definitely steal your idae of the perfection loop, I guess if you tie it small enough it runs pretty smoothly. Cheers!

  7. I have been using tippet rings for several years and they are great although I an using tippet a around 3 – 4 feet. This gives me plenty of length for a good dry presentation and plenty of depth adjustment for an indicator when nymphing. Also tests have shown the tippet to fly connection is stronger than leader to tippet. The ring gives strong knots both ends.s k bo endsend

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