Finally got away from work and headed north. The fish were picky, but at least they were feeding. Strangely, they seemed most active in the middle of the day. I was out last night from 7-9pm looking for cahills without success. Then up this morning and on the water before 6am, but nothing biting until around 8.

Nymphed the whole time and got about 50/50 takes on the midge and the flashback pheasant (sz 16). Unfortunately I had a hard time keeping them on the point fly (top one, whichever that is). Still had plenty to hand.

Anyway, no complaints. Fished my new Scott a3 4wt and had a blast landing robust 14inchers on 6x. However, I hooked into a big boy TWICE and failed to land him both times. First time I snapped off in a matter of minutes overestimating my 4wt's tippet protecting ability. Came back to the same hole an hour later and had another big fish on (had to be the same one, I can't imagine two this size tolerating each other in the same hole). I fought him for a good 10 mins just letting him take line. Kept him on for 3 big runs (across the river and down deep) and lots of vicious head shakes. I was completely unable to turn his head. Then on the 4th run, when I thought he was tiring, I put a little pressure on, and the sz 18 midge popped off. It was painful. Time to go back to 5x.

Pics just for fun. This particular fish had an awesome blue sheen to it from the gill plate down the sides. You can barely see it here, unfortunately.

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Wildfish,
I can't say with ant certianty, but maybe just stick to 5X. I very seldom use 6X even for tricos. But if that is what makes the difference maybe you have a bad spool. Try some newer stuff. If you have the tippet doo-dad that lets your spools hang from your vest/ pack/bag, perhaps the sunlight has deteriorated it.
OR, some people just get excited when they get a big fish on... That's really why we do this in the first place, right? Keep a firm hand on the fish and try to just keep the pressure even.
Lastly, just hooking a good fish is an accomplishment. Enjoy that for what it is and take heart in the fact that at least you didn't play the fish to death. Literally.

I rarely use 6X, but carry it with me. A problem with even 3X is that a fish's teeth wear at the line after a short time. I've had sunfish wear down 3X pretty quickly, and re-tie often. A battle of 10 minutes on 6X could create enough wear to break the line (unless you could see that it broke at the knot). A couple years ago, I stumbled onto a stretch of hungry browns. I was using a #16 BWO on 5X tippet. I hooked and landed 5, and knew I should have re-tied my fly, but the action was way too fun. The sixth brown was a beauty, and the tippet popped about 1 foot from the net(!!!). That was one fish I wanted to land, and photograph. I probably re-tie too often now...LOL!

I learned the lesson on using 6x last weekend when I hooked into two big fish one of which was a 18 to 20 inch wild brown that I came so close to netting but it took a run right before the net and snapped the line just above the fly. Have you ever tried the Orvis Flurocarbon Mirage Maxknot tippet? I think I'm going to invest in some of that before I loose another big one.

I may have to invest in flouro for the lighter stuff.

The 6x is a tradeoff. I can understand not using anything smaller than 5x for nymphing. I will say, however, that I had a lot more hookups on the midge with 6x. Almost double (I started with 5x and switched after watching two fish refuse the fly). And since 99% of the fish were between 9-14 inches, and since I was using a lighter rod, I figured it was worth the risk. Full disclosure, I really want to join the 20/20 club (20 inch fish on a sz 20 fly), and like using smaller line on smaller flies.

That said, I fell asleep thinking about that thingamabobber shaking back and forth, almost making it to the surface before the fish made its final run. I've landed 18inch browns on 6x (twice). This fish was definitely bigger. At the very least, it was much, much stronger. But there are no regrets. I've been too busy to get out this spring--too busy, or not motivated enough. Now I'm planning another trip to that river--to that hole--for next week. Landing 12+ fish on the new 4wt was its own reward. Watching a 14inch feisty brown launch himself out of the riffles twice was icing on the cake. And now I have an excuse to play hooky, tie some new flies, and chase the one that got away. After all, this is why we stand in a cold river on a perfectly nice day and swear at fish we couldn't catch and didn't intend to eat anyway, right?

If you are getting refusals on 5X, or just feel you aren't getting as many hits as you should, try using a longer length of the 5X the tippet before switching down to 6X. As long as you don't make it so long it won't turn over adequately, the extra "slack" can help the drift. I think sometimes the micro-drag is the issue as opposed to fish seeing the thicker line.

There are a number of mentions of fluorocarbon leader material in this thread. This past spring is decided to bite the bullet and spend the $$$ for the switch to fluorocarbon across the board (Frog Hair in this instance). I typically fish nymphs from a furled leader and then sections of 2-3X down to 4-5X with a dropper above the last section. The problem I had with the fluorocarbon was not that it would break but that it would pull out at the knots, either where the tip sections were joined or at the fly itself. That's problem I seldom had with the more pedestrian leader material I had previously used. So, for those who use and love fluorocarbon, what advice can you give?

mcneishm, fluro has a lower breaking strength than mono of similiar diameter. I think part of it is due to lesser knot strength and the fact it stretches less. Fluro is clearer, more dense, and more abrasion resistant, but again, not stronger.
That said, I haven't had any unusual problems tying knots with it. I use triple surgenons and orvis tippet knots for attaching tippet and the orvis knot or a rapala loop for tippet to fly connection. Wet the line to tighten the knot, test the knot, and leave an adequate tag. Check your tippet for knicks and re-tie as neccesary.

One of the big things is the stretch. The stretch in a mono gives you the effect of a soft rod tip, it's a tippet protector.

Now, I'm not a fan of fluoro, but you can have fluoro at the business end and still get the stretch. Just don't use ALL fluoro, have a good length of mono up on the leader somewhere.

I have yet to be convinced that invisibility is any advantage at all. As others have said, most often it's microdrag, not fish seeing the line. And fluoro is stiffer than an equivalent diameter of a good copolymer, so this issue is WORSE with fluoro than with mono. Plus, as was said, it doesn't hold knots as well, shot slides all over it, and it lacks stretch.

I think it actually is a touch stronger in tensile strength, and it does indeed have better wear resistance for toothy fish. It also holds up to UV light and water longer, good for the fishermen not ruining material, bad for the environment when it never degrades.

Regardless of tippet material, at 6x, you are going to break your share of fish off.