I'd never seen nor heard of Mini Tippet Rings until sold a package at the sporting goods store in Weaverville.
These are really small, smooth, seamless rings that you tie onto the end of your leader. You can then tie your tippet into the opposite side of the ring.
As you change flies and the tippet shortens, you can clip off the tippet at the ring and tie a new one on, without shortening your leader. This extends the life of the leader quite a bit.
This was quite handy in two ways.
I was able to tie on a tippet much thinner in diameter than the end of my leader without worrying about "stepping down" my diameters. I was also able to use a mono leader and flouro tippet. (I've read more than once that you should not tie a flouro tippet onto mono. Apparently the knots don't always hold well and the flouro can cut into the mono material.)
The Mini Tippet Rings are advertised as being able to float (guess they are so small and light that they don't break the surface tension) even with 7X tippet attached.
I've read that you can also drop 2 strands of tippet from a ring, that are different lengths, and create a point fly/dropper system that's easy to change. I'll be trying this in early January when I fish the San Juan in NM.
These babies are tough. I landed a 30" steelie using this system.
The Climax Mini Tippet Rings are a bit expensive, $7.00 for a package of 10, but I just found another brand (Niche Products)for half the price at:
www.jsflyfishing.com
Merry Christmas to you all and a happy and healthy 2008.
May your nets be full,
AB
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