[Mike Barrio]

Hi folks

How important do you think hiding your tippet/cast/leader is when fishing dry flies?

If you use a really light set up and perhaps as thin as 3 lb or 4 lb tippet, do you think it matters if you can see the tippet near your fly?

Best wishes
Mike

[Jim Eddie]

Mike

Logic tells me it does not matter, we managed to catch plenty fish in the past with gut and before that with horsehair , not that I remember that personally 

However I still degrease my leader when fishing dries , confidence thing for me , not sure how the fish feel about it 

 

Jim
 

[Noel Kelly]

On the days when I get refusals or the flies are getting completely ignored then I will degrease and degrease and still see the leader.
Other days when I'm getting lots of takes, fish moving out of their lies to hammer the dry etc then I wont notice anything but the next rise
In general I will degrease when I'm casting to a better than average fish.     

[Iain Goolager]

It's an obsession with me to degrease the leader/tippet when fishing on the surface. Depending on the leader material that can be every few casts
Just can't stand to see any trace of it.

Iain

[Rob Brownfield]

Interesting topic Mike.

Add to that line colour. Lots of experiments have been done recently on this subject with carp and suprisingly they spooked away from clear lines more than they did coloured lines. The theory is that they see the coloured line from a greater distance and therfore its not "such a surprise" when they get up close.

My own experiments with line colour and trout have seen me fish two dry flies, one on a clear dropper, the other on a coloured point section or visa versa. On dull, cloudy days the dark line outscored the clear. On bright sunny days, its the clear that is better, but only just.

With flurocarbon lines it seems to matter which make you use. The fulling Mill stuff seems to be better than some of the more expensive lines in my limited experience.

I have not tried this experiment in running water although for years i fished the burns around the Mearns using 3lb Maxima as a tippet for dry flies and never seemed to have a problem, degreased or not.

[Iain Cameron]

If you use a really light set up and perhaps as thin as 3 lb or 4 lb tippet, do you think it matters if you can see the tippet near your fly?

it bugs me if I can see the tippet floating on the surface. So, I degrease (fullers earth & fairy liquid) regularly.

In a flat calm on stillwater, my feeling is that the floating tippet creates a bulge in the surface layer, making the line more visible. I will sometimes fish a tiny sparse spider on the dropper to help pull the leader down below the surface a little. that can help when the surface tension is otherwise keeping everything up top.

On really still days, I will also increase the length of the leader - have had enough occasions when was getting no takes, so increased the leader length (sometimes also reduced the diameter of the tippet) and found takes started to come, perhaps just because fly is further away from fly line. who knows

but of course, on other days, I've had 6lb mono clearly visible on the surface, and the trouts have engulfed the flies. !!!

[Korrie Broos]

on our clear streams in the Cape, if the tippet is lying on the water, the fish will mostly refuse the fly.
Degrease and get the tippet to sink, and the fish takes the fly.

We have had refusals, with a floating line, gone a X down, and the thinner tippet also floats the fish still refuses it, but degrease the tippet and get it to sink, the fish takes it.

Some of us believe that the new tippet, even if it sinks, has a "glossy" finish, which deters trout.
So all tippet, even flouro carbon gets the treatment, to reduce the "flash" component.

If you can't see it, the fish should also have a smaller chance to see it as well.

[Mike Barrio]

Yes, if I can see the tippet, leader, cast, nylon etc floating on the surface I don't get offers, maybe a confidence thing? ..... but I certainly notice the difference, especially without a good ripple on the water!

Today's bright conditions at Haddo ....... No fullers Earth or degreaser = a lot less takes, or even none

Best wishes
Mike