Fine lines. - Old nylon does it still work?

[The 'GENT']

Hi All.

Last night I tied on a size 20 fly to my 4lb Stroft and it looked far too thick .12 I think?

But speaking to another angler recently I found he still used nylon, Drennan sub-surface green, and Bayer too.

I've just looked and Bayer is .14 for 2.6 lb. Does anyone use nylon still?

For nymph fishing I don't think it really matters myself, but for dry fly applications I think fine tippet is important.

If your expecting decent size trout of a pound or more fishing dries, what tippet strength do you suggest.

I was on 4lb last night as the fish I was after was around 2lb.

What diameter do you use for sub 20 flies, dries? and in what situations?

[jomeder]

Hi,

I use Maxima Ultragreen quite a lot but not really for dries fished on their own. 10 lb Maxima is 0.012" so if your Stroft is 4 lb and 0.012" then wow :-).

Here in NZ a 1 lb fish is a tiddler but I have caught quite a few of them on dries on 5 lb tippet, usually Powerflex or Umpqua, so copolymer I guess. Fish that size here are young and often quite aggressive, so not super picky and usually not the fish I was trying to catch :-). 5 lb (or 5X) is the lightest tippet I ever use though. I've caught a few fish (3-4 lb) on size 20 dries using 5 lb.

I guess it depends on your fish, but tippet thickness is not really a consideration for me. Stiffness/limpness is more of a factor, because I think that effects presentation more.

Regards,

Jo

[Paul Arden]

I've been using .10 Samurai, says it's 2kg. I've only found it for sale in Bosnia, it's cheap made by B-Tech and without doubt the strongest I've used. I have great confidence in it, but you have to lock your half blood or they slip.

Cheers, Paul

[Paul Arden]

I've caught grayling to over a kilo and trout to close to 2 no problems, on 5 weight tackle!