Bit confused here, I have my braided backing to my fly line and my leader, Am i correct in assuming that with a tapered leader (fulling 3x for example) i do not need a tippet or do i still need to attach a foot of tippet to the tapered leader before my fly? I know this sounds silly to some of you experienced guys but i am pretty new to all of this still.
Thanks,
Matt

I'm not the most experienced angler on here (not by a long way) but I believe you are ok to go tippet-less to start with. Once you've hacked of the last foot or two off the leader through wind knots etc (if you're anything like me!) you'll need to make it back up again with tippet material.

I'm sure some of the more learned members will put me right if I'm talking out of my @r$se

S

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www.northeastflyfisherman.co.uk

Nope that makes perfect sense Steven, Just tying on different flies reduces your tippet material i suppose

If you're using tapered leaders it's best to add a tippet. Yes, you can just tie a fly straight to a suitably fine diameter tapered leader but with each change of fly you're losing leader and changing the nature of the taper and eventually you'll start to compromise the delicacy or effectiveness of your turn over. If you attach a tippet with a water or fig 8 knot this will still happen each time you replace the tippet but it'll take longer.

A good idea may be to use a 'tippet ring', a very small (2mm) continuous ring that's 1/2 blood knotted to the end of your tapered leader. You then just 1/2 blood your tippet to the ring thus virtually eliminating tapered leader shrinkage when you need to change your tippet.

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I admit it, I have sharpness issues.

You'll cut down on wastage, making your leader/tippet last longer, if you use the Davy Knot.

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How poor a thing, sometimes I find,
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Are there any issues with using these rings? I have seen them in diagrams, used like you said or for droppers but do not know anyone that uses them.
Cheers

I have used those leader rings. They are fine and doen't affect anything from what I can see, just they are a bit fiddly and very expesive if you accidentally knock over your fly box and lose them all like I did. I have gone back to using water knots for my droppers for now but when I use flurocarbon I used to get line breaks so started using the rings which reduced the breakages to zero.

I always thread the tippet rings on a safety pin

I agree: add a tippet to the tapered leader.

Good advice

I use them when fishing larger rivers and have found them to be very effective).

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Dave Wiltshire

River Fly Box

Just googled them, Yep this seems like the answer. Quite expensive though for what they are. So just to recap as i'm a total newbie.....6W flyline to 8lb 3x tapered leader, Does my tippet have to be lighter than the end of my tapered leader? If my tapered leader is 6 or 8lb what strength would you recommend my tippet? I have just joined a moderate sized lake and occasionally will venture to Grafham. Once again thanks for the input