I bought some tippet rings for my level lines and have some on my furled leaders.
As of late I have noticed that I have had a lot of failures at the tippet ring connection. Not on fish, but on pulling snags.
It is definitely something to do with structure the ring, as I use a clinch on both my fly and tippet ring. On the fly hook, when I tighten down I never get any deformation of the line. I rarely have the fly connection fail. On the Tippet ring, I always get some evidence of friction, as seen with line that curls and gets wiggly. It is not line on line friction, but friction as it passes over the metal ring. The wire on the ring seems to be oval ralther than completely round. If I am careful, I can minimize the weakening of the line and not have any distortion, but even after being careful i have noticed the line will still fail at the tippet ring on a snag.
I am using monofiliment. 6-5x.
Is there any knot or trick to reduce this?
Are there tippet rings with round rather than flat wire?
Can I polish or smooth the ring so it does not have this effect on my tippet?
My work around is just to tie onto the casting line. I like the ring because its easier to tie, and clean/trim off new and old tippet.
Late last summer I had driven to a spot I love to fish and found I didn’t have my nippers and had forgotten my knife at home. I drove to the nearest town and found a fly shop (which technically I knew existed, but I had never stopped before). I later came to find I had lost my nippers, hemostats, and couple of other tools that were connected together.
While I was wandering around the shop, I found they had some tippet rings and on a whim purchased them. The shop owner told me they were the only perfectly round rings he had ever found and they often took two to three months to get from the supplier. Unfortunately, I do not have the package any longer and have no clue who makes them.
In the ensuing times I fished them (maybe 8 - 10) the tippet only broke once at the tippet ring and that was actually when I got a fly caught in a tree. I only use level line, so I cannot speak to the furled lines. But in my limited experience I haven’t had any serious issues such as those talked about in the thread linked above or what Stephen references. Personally, I also really like the convenience of using them.
By the way, I don’t know if it’s of any interest to anyone; but, when attaching both tenkara line to tippet ring and tippet to tippet ring, I use the Trilene knot.
Then I use the Improved Clinch knot for tippet to fly.
Fish the way you want, but I just don’t see an advantage of a tippet ring for Tenkara. A stopper knot is simple and works. Seems like a solution in search of a problem, at least in the Tenkara world.
I hear what your saying jay especially considering the dilemma…and for level lines that’s what I have been doing…but just don’t care for the stopper…and just feel can tie faster with a ring. As it is… my vision going and these light tippets give me trouble. Thread the ring…and I don’t have to double or triple check if its around the mainline before I tighten down.
My recent experiment with them and level Ines are a failure.
I like that the connection is in-line when using the ring…instead of being perpendicular. This might be an illogical preference.
All of my furled lines have rings…it is unusual that I am just noticing this problem recently and suspect it may be limited to one new line I purchased and a pack of tippet rings that I will probably toss.
In looking around I noticed waspi makes some rings that look rounded and well polished. Might check them out.
Just being stubborn. We will see where this adventure goes
Maybe find some type of small loop knot? Perfection knot might be a little too bulky, but something that is more streamlined, cuts through the wind, but easier to tie on compared to tippet ring might work.
I don’t know if the Non-Slip Mono Knot (aka: Left Kreh Knot) would work or if it would be too bulky at the end of a tenkara line for attaching the tipet?
When I’m tying my tippet onto the mainline, i basically fold a loop of the LL in my left hand, making a giant “eye” to tie into. Then after tightening the tippet’s Davy down, I just pull that knot down to the stopper.
I landed a 22.5" rainbow on a single Davy above stopper a few months back, after a long high-pressure fight. I have no doubts in this knot.
Cabelas…but noticed amazon and just about every major online joints have them too.
I bought two sizes …the large and some regular or small. Not sure as the pack was unmarked.
Give me some time to test them…but already I see a miraculous improvement seeing how quick tying a regular clinch with 6x produced a connection and knot that didn’t fail but the mainline broke 6" from the ring
As an update. The tippet ring thing was isolated to just one manufacturer of pakaged rings. It was not related to any leaders I bought with tippet rings.
Since then I have tried angler image and have not had an incident with them. Breakoffs are 50-50 between mainline and at the ring knot and are failing around breaking strength. Where before…they were failing far below breaking strength consistently at the tippet ring.
Last two outings I have used the Davy Knot. I am converted…thanks!
