Tippet size; it's your thing!

[FrequentTyer]

pcray1231 wrote:
dub, the fundamental question is whether those fish are tippet shy, or drag shy. Nobody doubts that they're "something" shy.

If it's truly seeing the tippet that spooks them, then your only recourse is to try to make the tippet invisible, by going smaller, or switching to fluoro, etc.

But if they are drag shy, then going smaller in tippet will absolutely help with drag issues. So will increasing the tippet length. So will going to a softer tippet material. So will adjusting the leader construction. So will adjusting the mechanics of the cast, as well as the angle of the cast. And many would prefer to do any of the latter before resorting to 7x and 8x tippets.

You probably have heard the stories about George Harvey sticking pieces of heavy monofilament into live beetles and watching trout snap them off the surface without noticing the obvious "tippet" sticking out of their butts. He also is rumored to have fished tricos on 3x to prove the point that drag, and more importantly micro-drag is the culprit. Given all the stuff floating around most streams a fish that is tippet shy would soon starve.
Someone said they don't always want the fly to turn over because it can pile up and create a slack cast. Maybe, but you are sacrificing accuracy and the fly might not be landing right if it does not turn over. Using the hook size to tippet charts posted earlier and making allowances for fly density, wind, etc is the best way to insure that the fly is presented properly. You want the leader to turn over, but you also want to be able to use a slack cast to throw some s-curves in the leader and tippet to delay the onset of micro-drag. Pcray alluded to the fact that the stiffness of the tippet is a function of both the diameter and the length of the section. So you can go from 5X down to 7X by adding 12 inches of 6X and 20 inches of 7X, or you could just extend your 5X segment 30 or 40 inches and achieve practically the same results.
Of course, if your catching fish and enjoying the process, then you don't need to change a thing.