The purists of the sport may not enjoy reading this but I will be the first to admit, I am all on board the tippet ring train. Companies like Rio have been selling tippet rings for years but it seems like they have really taken off recently as more and more people became aware of the benefits they offer. Here are a few ways tippet rings make my life easier.
- Easy set up. You don’t need to worry about a big jump in leader/tippet size. With a tippet ring, you can go from 0X to 5X if you want. A thinner diameter piece a line wont cut through the thicker piece because the two are not tied together. You simply put a knot (improved clinch is my preference) to each end of the tippet ring and you are good to go.
- Following up the previous point, it allows for a quicker set up. Some beginners struggle with line to line connectors like the Blood Knot. No need for one if you have a tippet ring..
- They make your leader last! This is my personal favorite benefit of the tippet ring. If you are using a fluorocarbon leader, you are costing yourself some good coin every time your line breaks and you need to retie. With a tippet ring, I will use an all fluorocarbon leader to the ring. Then tie a slightly lighter piece of fluorocarbon off of the ring to my fly. If I ever break off, I can just retie off of the ring, I am never cutting into the leader itself.
- They serve as a great attachment point for tungsten puddy. I love using tung puddy but it is frustrating when you attach it to the knot on your leader just to have it fall off. The puddy sticks very well to a tippet ring allowing you to easily add/subtract a specific amount of weight.
- Having a small tippet ring on your line is not enough to sink a dry fly. You know those all fluorocarbon leaders that people love to fish to pressured trout? You can use one with a tippet ring and still fish a dry fly.
- Creative rigging opportunities. I have even seen people fish a “Drop Shot” type of set up with tippet rings. They have their leader coming in from one end, then tie a piece of tippet off the bottom with a chunk of weight on there, then tie their flies on a third piece of tippet from the middle of the ring. At first this sounded like one big tangle to me but I have watched people effectively fish this set up. And if their weight ever gets snagged on the bottom, the can break just that off and save their flies.
Do you have any other ways that a Tippet Ring has made your life easier?
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Luv those tippet rings! I make my own leaders now….butt say .012 twisted makes a .024 butt section loop to looped to a shorter section of .010. , and then surgeons knotted to a .011 (0X) 1 ft single strand section, and cinch knotted to a tippet ring…now I often change my tippet, and have a leader to go for much of the season.
And a good bobber dropper set up is to use a small interlock swivel. The snap is strong, and will not open up with a tippet tied to it. Use that instead of a tippet ring, and then the bobber above it, and the snap will swivel down when the wt’d fly/flies hit the water, and drop quickly below the bobber.
I use tippet rings. But a problem I find is that tippet rings you buy come on a swivel, such as shown in the figure. I have taken individual tippet rings off of the swivel, and then when I have them on my finger and try to thread the leader, I have lost more rings into the river than end up on my flyline.
My solution was to take a piece of very fine piano wire and thread the rings on that wire. The hole in the tippet ring is now large enough to thread the leader through the ring while it is on the wife. Then you can slip the threaded ring off the piano wire. I pushed one end of the piano wire in a cork, and the other end in a soft foam earplug I had. The rings are contained between those two “stoppers”. The wire can be removed from the foam and reinserted. That system goes in my fishing vest.
Hey Bob,
I just attach the tippet ring when it is still on the swivel. Simply tie your connecting knot to the top tippet ring, then just slide it off the swivel and it will already be attached so no worries if you drop it.
Hope that helps!
I’m an avid bonefisher and the advantage of tippet rings is that you don’t have to keep snipping away at your leader – you just keep changing the tippet. It also avoids the risks of joining different diameters of fluorocarbon together. However, there is a problem! My tippet keeps breaking at the tippet ring. After studying them carefully, I realised that the wire they are made of is elliptical so, even if they are smooth, they cut into the fluorocarbon. SOMEONE needs to make tippet rings of ROUND wire (like the eye of a hook) and that would solve the problem.