integrating the tippet with the fly?

[chadk]

Has anyone tried this before? It may have been discussed on the board - sounds familiar...

Anyway, I was thinking about tying tiny flies (size 18 and smaller) and how I hate how the knot of the tippet seems to distract from the fly (to me at least).

It's also much harder to tie up these tying flies at the river or lake, epsecially if it is dark, rainy, cold, you have bad eyes, shakey hands, etc. I think OMJ would like this idea...

Basically you'd tie in 18 or more inches of tippet into the body of the fly (kind of a reverse stinger hook approach). You could put a loop at the end and have a leader wallet or something to hold them. Then on the river\lake you could just do loop to loop \ hand shake connections.


:confused:

[Jonathan Gardner]

If it works, this could be a great idea. My wife fishes with me but has no patience for hand tying on each fly, so she uses a small hook tied to the end of her tippet on which she clips the fly. Not exactly visually enhancing. With the method you suggest, she could change flies rapidly and without the extra hardware. Have you tried it? If used, would the eye of the hook even be necessary? Very interesting...

[chadk]

Yes. Works great actually. I'll put up some pics later when I get the chance.

As for not needing the eye of the hook, that's possible, but I wouldn't go that far.

One issue is that if you get any abrasions in the tippet, you'll want to be able to cut back the tippet or add a new one. But if you are doing this because your hands shake or your eyes are bad, then you'd just toss the fly and go to your next rig in your fly\leader wallet. Heck, most chiro patterns are so simple, it's not like you can't stand to lose a few new and then.

Also, for eyes that are at an angle, I like to run the tippet through the eyelet. It ties on more securely that way I think and the other cool thing is that the fly will not get all half cocked at a weird angle in the water because of the knot used.

[CM_Stewart]

I hate to admit it, but I'm old enough to remember snelled flies - which were similar to what you are asking about. Of course, they were wet flies and the "tippet" had to have been at least 20 pound test, with a loop already tied in the end.

Some people who fish droppers a lot tie them up ahead of time and keep them in a box like this: http://www.orvis.com/store/product_choice.asp?pf_id=76KH&dir_id=758&group_id=792&cat_id=5135&subcat_id=6030 I'm sure it would work for your idea as well.

There may be new things under the sun, but they are few and far between.

[steve s]

I was just talking to a friend about trying this approach for flies that I'll use on heavily fished waters and smaller flies. I am thinking about using the egg loop knot which is what a lot of baitcasters use when fishing for salmon and steelhead. The only issue that I thought that I'd have is that the fly may have less of a natural movement but if the tippet is light enough it shouldn't matter much. I'll let you know how it works.

Steve S

[g_smolt]

Threader Fly Box (http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Scientific_Anglers/Fly-Fishing/Products/CnFDesign/ThreaderFlyBox/MidgeThread6Row/)

These guys have a pretty good solution...

Having said that, I pre-rig clousers and bead-rigs with tippet for quick-change capability. 12" tippet knotted to the fly (or hook, for beads), perfection loop at the end, and presto...

[Nick Riggs]

I got a whole bunch of hooks from a now retired fly tyer that don't even have hook eyes, just a flattened piece where the eye should be. I figured that integrating the tippet into the fly is what they were made for, am I wrong? Is there something else they're designed for? I was also thinking they were made to be strictly used as stinger hooks, as to not waste a perfectly good normal hook as a stinger, thoughts?:confused:

[CM_Stewart]

The hooks without eyes could be blind eye salmon hooks. See http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/board/showthread.php?t=30034
for a tutorial.

[Nick Riggs]

Whoa, that's crazy. Thanks!