I remember one time when I was a teenager, I was fishing the mainstem and a couple of old guys that seemed like they had been doing this a while were walking down the trail with my dad and I to the river. At some point in the conversation we had during that walk they mentioned that they were fishing Isos on 3x. That comment blew my mind. 3x to me at that point in time seemed like rope, impossible that someone could realistically expect to catch fish on a dry fly using 3x tippet.
The fact I was this dumb was supported by other bad decisions I can recall during the same relative time period. One in particular is very vivid. My dad and I had been fishing a small stream we liked during that time that flowed into the very lower Delaware in the fall. When we got to a waterfall pool that always held fish, we looked down into it and saw a brown that was legitimately 10 pounds or more. At that time, I knew I had to go heavier on my tippet and a streamer was going to be the approach I took. I cut off my 6x tippet, and put on a 3x 9 foot leader. I tied on a wooly bugger. I thought alright I’m rigged with heavy tippet now and ready to target this fish of a lifetime I have no business catching as a 13 year old that just started fly-fishing a few years ago. I made a cast to the fish and came up slightly short. The fly when it sank got slightly caught on a piece of shale, and the brown charged the fly and pinned it with his nose basically daring it to move another inch. I was trying to gently wiggle my rod to not spook the fish, and to also get the fly off the shale so I could trigger the fish to take. The fish at some point saw my frantic rod motion and took off and disappeared even being as big as he was in a small stream. The fact a 30’ fish in a stream running 100 cfs could vanish like that is something I will never forget. In retrospect however, it’s probably good that fish didn’t take. First off, you can’t be 13 and get a 30’’ wild brown. Your life is ruined and you got too lucky too soon. There has to be a build up before something like that happens to you to appreciate the gravity of a fish like that being landed. But secondly, the fish would have absolutely broke me off if I got him to strike. 15’’ trout break 3x with minimal effort when retrieving a streamer. A 10lb fish going full force on my fly tied to 3x would have blewit off like a cobb web and it would have been over quickly.
These two examples of how my mind viewed acceptable tippet for dry fly and big fish streamer situations are funny, in that I clearly was so off on what is appropriate and capable of working to the extent that my heavy streamer tippet in fact is what I commonly use as dry fly tippet today. But it took time to come to grips with that and to start committing to that.
The first 10 years that I fly fished, I viewed acceptable dry fly tippet sizes to be anything between 5-7x. I commonly fished 6x, summer time meant 7x, and 5x was briefly used early season before I blamed it as the reason that I wasn’t getting takes on fish and quickly resorted to 6x as my comfort zone. I commonly fished small flies then by choice, and without even considering whether there were larger patterns as options that I could realistically get the fish to take to allow me to alter proportions fly-tippet and get away with heavier tippet as a result. I just threw 20-24 olives almost all the time, small rusty spinners, typical go to patterns that often work if you rely on them and fish them often. During those first ten years, I got a lot of big fish on 5-7x. But the fact is I lost a ton of big fish too. Hooksets that caused me to break off, big fish that immediately ran to cover and broke me off. During times big bugs were coming off that were larger than a size 14 insect, I’d commonly see that far casts were causing my leader and tippet to spin into a memory wound tangle that made me cut the fly off and rebuild my leader. This didn’t register with me as the clearest tell tale sign that I was fishing way too light of tippet relative to the fly I was throwing.
It wasn’t until a high water spring that I was forced to expand my cliché view of what tippet sizes were appropriate and when. The rivers were up with flows being 2-5k cfs no matter where you were fishing for much of April and into early May. Landing fish in these heavy flows required adjustments, as getting the fish to the boat and to the surface to net them required a little extra strength in the tippet you were using. I started using 4x that season as my dry fly tippet during that high water period.
When flows receded and conditions normalized for what is typical for mid spring, I still had the 4x in my vest and because I had been using it, I figured whatever I’m gunna try it and see if the fish still take my offerings. I didn’t notice any difference when it came to fish taking well presented drifts. I fished that 4x spool up through late June/early July of that year. When that spool ran out, I went to my 5x spool as the next closest tippet I had. I broke the first couple fish off as my muscle memory on setting on fish and breaking strength had become used to heavier 4x. It occurred to me at that time that I was reverting back to what I was beginning to challenge and consider a bad habit in my mind. I had been getting fish to take on 4x consistently. The only reason I wasn’t using 4x now is because a random spool I bought of a rare tippet I never previously fished before that high water season, was now done. I didn’t want to go back to just fishing 5x. I bought a couple spools of 4x and got through the entire summer with that and no issues on fish or their selectivity. This summer was a fundamental shift in my mind that was very important- where I truly accepted the fact that tippet is rarely if ever the reason a fish is not taking your fly. It was always the bug or your presentation. Nothing that summer proved that realization to be wrong on a summer that I fished a lot and to well educated fish in support of this idea.
Fast forward to the next spring, I was fishing a march brown hatch one day that it was windy. I was making a far cast to a fish and after 5 minutes or so of presenting to the fish, I noticed my leader was spun up with muscle memory. The same exact thing that would happen when I used to fish 6 and 7x on 14 hendricksons in wind, the same exact thing and mistake I used to make all the time and thought I had overcome with my new found appreciation for 4x. I thought to myself holy shit- 4x is not heavy enough to throw size 8 bugs longer distances in the wind. 4x is too light for the large mayflies and aggressive fish that show to take those bugs during that time. I stopped in the shop and bought my first spool of 3x that I had ever purchased for the specific purpose of dry fly fishing. This was give or take 10 years ago.
March Browns and Drakes that year I fished 3x consistently and found even on a low water year on the upper east branch, fish were not refusing the fly based on my tippet and upgrading to 3x. I wasn’t breaking fish off. Very aggressive takes that visually to me equated to “yeah that fish def broke me off” were suddenly hooked and I was like wow I’m actually gunna land this fish. I tried to ride the 3x train as long as I could that year, finding that somewhere in July during the sulpher hatch, the 3x would result in refusals from fish- though I will say I did catch fish on sulphers on 3x that same season. The fact was though I was definitely getting my offering refused due to the tippet far too commonly, and I acknowledged ok this is where the 3x run is officially over. I found 4x to be fine after accepting the run was done and by the end of the summer my 3 primary tippet spools were 3x,4x. and 5x. I didn’t have a 6x spool anymore. The thought of 7x was ridiculous to me. And I never bought another spool of 6x or 7x again accounting for approximately 10 seasons up to the present time.
So what is the point of all this? To be a meathead and say real men fish 3x when everyone else fishes 5-7x? No, its to address how psychologically anglers are conditioned to just adopt what tippet sizes are acceptable for “technical” trout fishing based off norms of what retail fly fishing says is right. And that’s based on really nothing. And then, when those become baked into your mind, you frame your decisions and thought process on tippet based on those introductory metrics that were made at a time you were uninformed and didn’t really even know why they were there in the first place. And the fact is it’s dumb to fish lighter line than you need to fish when trying to not just target, but actually land big trout.
Often, when I say that I’m using 3x, someone I’m fishing with that uses the typical 5-7x regiment of tippet looks at me like I’m crazy. I could catch 3-5-10 trout with them that same day, and they won’t change their mind on what tippet they are fishing. They will still use 5 or 6x. It is this very situation and response that causes me to write this and point out how ridiculous that is. If someone is getting fish on 3x- aka 10lb test, and you still say ok even with that understanding I’m going to choose to fish 5-6lb test instead, what other word can be used to describe that decision making other than stupidity? This common reaction and response also goes directly to the core point that tippet for most people is a mental “what thy are comfortable with decision”, and that the unwillingness of people to think critically and evolve their ideas or preconceived notions as anglers once they have been fishing for a number of years is very real. Anglers are all ears and open minded when they know they suck- but when they think they are good- they stick to their guns.
Often, I hear anglers say “Well I know the breaking strength of 6x and I’m comfortable with it and very rarely if ever do I break fish off”. I don’t pick the argument then and there because the fact is I’m trying to fish and I don’t care if you break fish off. But for purposes of discussing it here- lets fight about it. Fishing 6x and saying you know how to manage and temper your hookset and fight fish to not break it is ridiculous when you know as a matter of fact that 3x is working side by side you on that very same day. Have some very big fish been landed on 6x over the course of fly-fishing history? Yes absolutely. Have more big fish been landed on 3x and does 3x provide you with a better ability to fight the same fish when you do encounter that next level large fish that rarely comes around over the course of your fishing life? Undisputedly, the answer is yes. To accept these facts, and then still say just as a matter of personal preference you prefer 6x because it fits the norms in your mind is illogical, and whether you want to admit it or not, causing you to lose fish you could have potentially landed on 3x.
FLY SELECTION AND HOW IT INFLUENCES/PROVIDES A BETTER ABILITY TO FISH HEAVIER TIPPET:
I will go further with my barstool argument on light tippet and people fishing too light for the fish they hope to catch. People that like to fish 6 and 7x are also the same people that naturally fish unreasonably and unnecessary small bugs as their go to patterns to rising trout. It’s a whole persona and mentality for them. They think go light, go small I’m doing some techy high level shit and that’s what I do I’m the technical small fly, light line, delicate approach dry fly guy that prides myself on my craft. I will argue that taking this initial approach before considering ways to use larger patterns with more hook and with that a higher hookup percentage/chance is also dumb.
Example- Your on the west branch of the Delaware and its July 20. Fish have already been raped to the point you have a brown you’ve nick named jody foster behind the rock under the log on the far bank of barking dog. Sulphers are mediocre at best, the river feels like a white trash myrtle beach all inclusive resort and you’re like jesus christ why did I even think I would enjoy this today. but it’s Sunday you had nothing else to do and you say alright don’t get negative “any day on the water is better than a day at work” and laugh at yourself that you are really saying that expression to yourself right now to keep your head in the game. You see a few big fish rise once, 5-7 minutes goes by and you see the fish again. You’re like alright 250 bugs went over this fish’s head between the two rises I’ve seen and the fish is clearly paranoid to even eat the real thing. So why do I have a sulphertied on right now to 6x thinking the fish is going to get pumped about that? You make the cast with a 12 foot 6x leader anyway, cover the fish nothing happens. You do that a few more times. You’re like alright fish is done and make one last cast half heartedly to where you last saw him rise. Expecting nothing, it’s at that moment the fish decides he likes your sulpher, comes up, and you react being surprised by the take. 6x blown off like a cobb web fish gone,. You say it was a 22’’ fish rather than admitting you tuna set the fish throwing a fly on light line that you weren’t even expecting to get eaten leading up to the time it did. That’s why you snapped the fish off.
Alternative approach to make my point: You have two rods one rigged with 4x and a size 12-14 ant or beetle. As you go down the river you see fish rising in places you kind of expect wont be overly consistent. Fish rising in the middle of the river, fish that are just in those pain in the ass nooks and spots that are always one and done or quickly put down whenever you’ve fished there before. Fish that just aren’t rising in a way that you think screams totally in the zone and focused on the surface. You focus on strategic fish that are under trees or near the bank, you quickly do 3-5 casts to those fish with the ant. You figure an ant, like an iso or any other opportunistic offering is going to draw the take within the first few drifts over the fish. Fish one doesn’t take you move on you wasted 5 minutes tops. Second fish doesn’t take 10 minutes used combined. Third fish- first cast the fish comes up eats the ant. Shade lines start to creep in as the afternoon continues and you start getting more buggy terrestrial set ups along banks and places that make sense an ant would fall on that fish’s face. Heads of interest you rule out with the same 5-10 minute ant approach, and if it’s a real good one that’s fairly steady and no love is shown for the ant, you rotate to the sulpher. Now you become obsessed with this fish on principle. You change sulphers 20 times burn 2 hours on this fish, 20 boats pass you during that time, and you finally get the fish to eat and realize you misjudged the fish you thought it was 20 but it was really just a 16’’ mediocre brown in a big fish spot. Was that efficient?
I am prepared and ready for the old school gentleman that speaks to the gratification that comes from getting THAT ONE FISH they determined was the best use of their time whether there was any factual reason the fish was truly the best one to target in the pool or immediate area. Ok- I know what you want to say- I’m a douche approaching this too seriously and the process and allure of going to battle with a fish for hours is fun and the trout fishing equivalent to the old man and the sea. Again- if that fish was actually just a 16’’ fish being a pain in the ass that took up a third of your day was it really the best approach?
Focusing this on the tippet issue- there is a bug or a series of bugs that you can go to and fish to create a better proportional set up with heavy tippet to fly and consequently disguise heavy tippet almost everywhere at any time of year. Sometimes oversizing bugs but tying them in more cripple/funky spinner- weird and buggy but bigger versions is good enough on its own. Tie size 12 hendricksons that are crippled enough the fish don’t care. Tie oversized spent caddis and just end the fly short on the shank. Your list of crafty versions of bugs that are relevant or just buggy fish catchers that aren’t relevant but work any way grow with this approach and when you see a big head your first thought isn’t what is the fish eating- its what can I get that fish to eat that is on the biggest hook possible. You alter your fly selection from there based on what you observe and how the fish is reacting to your fly. The fact is that if your first fly choice when seeing a fish rise is a size 20 or smaller I can state with 99% certainty that this is again a matter of your personalized approach to how you have done it for a while, and not based on answering the simple question- what is the biggest hook I can throw and convert on this fish? If there is a better question to ask than that as your first consideration when you see a big fish rise, I would like to know what that question is? Ok- maybe you first ask yourself if it’s a brown trout creating the rise you just witnessed. Funky hackle wing spinners, oversized Griffiths gnats, etc in 10-12-14 will never hurt you as the first shot and opportunity to realistically be in the game to get a fish to take and justify/assist in disguising 3-4x tippet to fish in the mid to later spring months. The terrestrials come into play to serve that same purpose in the summer months when the diversity of bug life hatching and around is diminished to the point you are left with more limited options. An ant over a fish’s head is never going to seem absurd and blow up the situation. If you can get a fish to take a size 12-14 ant on 4x or that same fish taking a size 22 olive on 6x, there is a factually correct answer as to which scenario is the best percentage chance of hooking and landing the fish.
Writing this might be a lost cause- people have their preferences and just like anything else in life people don’t like being told to adopt another person’s personal preferences as there’s. That said, I would argue these aren’t personal preferences when your habits and decision making on the water consistently favor using line and flies that are less capable of landing a large fish when compared against heavier line and a bigger hook. Critical thinking and challenging norms that were presented to you as you joined the sport and never thought to question or reject become the true reason why many people choose certain things as their core set up when rigging and choosing patterns. And that’s not really a reason at all- and if anything certainly isn’t something that sentimentally needs to be followed and honored. Seeing what you can get away with rather than being overly cautious will quickly reveal for you as the angler that your beliefs are simply things you never thought to challenge. Is there a time that you gotta bite the bullet and fish the 20-22 bug and go to 5 or 6x? Yes, but very rarely. With a variety of tippets now on the market for each “X” category, you can stagger your selection of 3 and 4x tippets so that you have more supple, stronger and thicker/tougher, and everything in between to suit different bug situations and present well to the fish without just resorting to going light. Trout Hunter tends to allow for better presentations with smaller flies, with 4x passing the smell test on almost every tough and technical dry fly fisherman I have fished since committing to the heavier tippet approach. Some people think about the fact they often miss or lose the biggest fish on any given trip or outing as a nostalgic thing- like itssomething that happens and is just part of the game. That’s just not the case- it’s a sign that you aren’t making the best tactical decisions in terms of what patterns and tippet you are using for the fish that matter most when you’re on the water. Hook size, hook gap, and tippet size are things that aren’t thought about enough, and arguably matter the most on converting opportunities to fish landed. The few fish that matter each season don’t come around often and you don’t get a re-do. Starting the battle from a position of strength rather than through habits that were absent mindedly adopted is a process I’m glad I forced myself to question, and I wouldn’t be saying it if I didn’t think it made a significant difference in results over recent years. If anything can be taken away from this, its that the thought of 7x should sound way crazier to you as a tippet choice than 3x, and I mean that for any river you can possibly name in the lower 48. Just throw that spool away.