Fluorocarbon Tippet & Knot Comparison

I spend a lot of time, money and effort to go fishing. My nearest trout stream is ninety minutes by highway drive from my home. My favorite fishing area is four hours by car and beyond that, I often drive or fly to Colorado which is an eight to twelve hour drive and often, quite a hike at the end of the road. I have fished for trout in the Waimea Canyon streams of Kauai and have fished with many experts in Japan on a couple of trips in the various mountain streams of their area. I've used two types of tippet on my trips and what follows are my reasons why I choose what I do.

For all of the time and energy that I take to pick out my target stream, I have had even more time to think about my equipment and compare it to all the other equipment that I've used. I use a technique of minimalism to maximize the quality of my kit. 

With all my experience choosing equipment, the long drive, the plane trip and the effort of getting to where I want to go, the last thing I want to happen is to catch the fish of a lifetime only to have my tippet let go...

Tippet choices are important to successful fishing. Nylon and Fluorocarbon are readily available in many sizes. I choose fluorocarbon for my tenkara rigging. It sinks and is nearly invisible in water as well as it hold knots well. In addition, it is stable in that it does not readily degrade with age or sunlight. Often a spool will last over a season so I continue to use it till it is gone without concern that it will become weaker. I choose a tippet that does not alarm the fish, if I know there are fish and they do not take, I will step down a tippet size until I am catching. .

.8 or 5x is my go to tippet size.

The rod I use basically determines the size tippet I choose.

For example, one of my tenkara choices is a travel rod that I throw in a bag not really as a primary rod but to have if the opportunity presents itself. Opportunistic tenkara fishing is one of my favorite types of fishing. I'm on a trip with my family and I come upon a stream, my travel kit is in my backpack and takes a minute or two to be rigged. The rod I choose is strong but fragile, I don't want oversized tippet if I get into a large fish, I want it to break if I catch a fish too big for the rod.

The lines I design are contrary to most tenkara fishers. I design a line for the shortest length of tippet. I want control over my kebari/fly. I want a naturally presented kebari but the shortest length of tippet to feel the take. Shortest being fifty centimeters or about eighteen to twenty inches, that's where I cut out the tippet and start over. 

I design my lines for one meter of tippet or less.

Over the years, I've used all kinds of knots. I keep returning to the basic 5 to 6 turn clinch knot to attach to the tippet ring on my mainline and the same knot to tye on my kebari. Often I use a silk bead cord eyed Japanese bait hook Sakasa kebari or a Ishigaki pattern on a Tiemco, Gamakatsu or a Owner eyed hook. I also use a tippet ring on the terminal end of my custom designed lines. The tippet ring works very well to give the clinch knot an even surface to break. If I I have to pull off my line because it is stuck, ninety percent of the time, my tippet breaks at the tippet ring. This is what I want to happen. One hundred percent of my fish are caught with a tippet ring and not once ever has my tippet ring failed. They work very well, I suggest you try them.

I use a clinch knot for the tippet ring and to tye on the kebari.

In the last 35 years, I have used many different brands of tippet. Rio, Orvis, Varivas, Scientific Anglers, Seaguar and Trouthunter.

Seaguar GranMax FX and Trouthunter are my favorites for several seasons.

I don't see that changing.

GrandMax FX and Trouthunter are available on fifty meter spools. That's nearly a hundred tippet changes for me. Enough to last through a regular season as I often re-use my tippet from day to day. If I know that I am fishing over rocks in a stream and I'm playing fish around them, I check the tippet for abrasion and replace it if I see evidence in the form of fray or discoloration.

I want my tippet to stay strong until I don't. 

I quit fly fishing more than ten years ago now to learn tenkara from the Japanese. I quit fly fishing, I did not give up my knowledge of where the fish where, the dynamics of casting or the skill in playing fish. Tenkara is a specialized technique and purpose built equipment for that technique yet many of the skills in Western fly fishing apply. I am not fly fishing with a western rod, I am using my knowledge of fishing a stream using tenkara techniques and equipment.

There is no tenkara specific tippet and if there was, I probably would not use it unless it was better than GranMax FX or Trouthunter. There is a single application where I use a non-specific tenkara line for Honryu tenkara techniques because there is not a Japanese tenkara line that does a better job. I do not adhere to a specific recipe in my tenkara, I choose Japanese tenkara techniques because they are superior to western fly fishing in mountain streams and in some applications on a river. The Japanese have refined their tenkara equipment and techniques over the decades and have shared their knowledge readily in their language and through ambassadors such as Hisao Ishigaki, Masami Sakakibara and Yuzo Sebata. There are many other experts in social media that also comprise the body of Japanese tenkara anglers.

Given that, I use the knowledge of our western fly fishers that test all kinds of tippet in a scientific method that is easily replicated multiple times in order to find the properties of each tippet. 

Below you will find a few links that may be of some assistance to you.

02X : 4.0 Go
01X : 3.5
0X : 3.0
1X : 2.5
2X : 2.0
3X : 1.5
4X : 1.0
5X : 0.8
6X : 0.6
7X : 0.4
8X : 0.3
9X : 0.25
10X : 0.2

Yellowstone Angler Tippet Shootout - Knot Comparison

Animation of Tying a Clinch Knot

Tippet Rings

This is a Karasu 400 with 5x or .8 tippet with a silk bead cord eye Wrong Kebari. Big fish that resulted in the hook pulling out. The tippet held strong.

Sugegasa

Adding in Sebata san kebari...

I've always had an interest in Japanese culture. The Japanese way make sense, their architecture is aesthetically pleasing, their community acts appropriately. The Japanese markets in my area are always affordable with products not found in American markets. 

I bought my first sugegasa in the 80's, I believe I got my first one from an International market place. It was made of straw like the one I use now. I have always had at least one rice farmer hat somewhere in the house. I used them for working outside and I remember one of them getting away from me, lost in a dust devil, the thermal literally carrying it into the sky, I watched it for a while thinking I'll just follow it and it will come down but no, not the case, it was lost in someone's back yard or out in the desert... That's ok, I'll get another one, they don't cost very much.

Ever since Kavu offered a version of their sugegasa, the "Chillba" I've owned one. They are made of cloth and foam, they float and you can stuff them for short periods of time so you can travel with them. Kavu is a progressive company and they do a good job with their rice hat. If you want to get fancy, they have many different patterns to choose from, I have always stuck with the basic colors.

In the nineties I started using them for small stream fishing. Back then, Yoshikazu Fujioka and I were making Internet sites on small stream fly fishing, his site tailored to his area, my site focused on the places I fished. I was always reading and looking at the pictures of Japanese stream anglers when making my own site. It is amazing, I knew about tenkara, sawanobori and many other Japanese things but it was so far away. I was fishing a zero weight in small streams and doing so well with it. Yoshikazu and I have been doing this for a long time. I learned about tenkara first from him but I had no idea.

How could tenkara be so much better? 

That was like going backwards to fishing when I was a kid.

I knew about a lot of Japanese fishing things but had no idea the tenkara rods did what they do so well.

I did use a few Japanese items and sugegasa are functional in Arizona. In my area, the sun is hot and relentless. They work well for keeping the UV rays off your head. I also wore them when I was fishing in Glen Canyon fly fishing for river rainbows. When it got windy, I would switch to a ballcap or some other sort of hat.

In 2009, I quit fly fishing to learn about tenkara and at that time, even more Japanese culture and fishing were my interest. I knew I wanted to find out about Japanese tenkara rods and equipment. I found out about Yuzo Sebata and it was pleasing to me that he was iconic with his sugegasa. I finally ended up visiting Sebata san and was able to see his laying there in the bansho. Funny, it was just a part of what I understood as functional equipment and I didn't even give it a second thought.

That was my problem, I got home and realized, it was my second trip to Japan and I did not buy one while I was there. Sugegasa are large and unless they are made to fold or crush down, they are big and cumbersome for travel on a plane. They are farmer's hats, not a travel item. I just didn't pick one out because I didn't want to carry it. I meet a new friend at the bansho, Isaac Tait and he also wore a sugegasa. Probably the only other American tenkara fisher that wore one with any authenticity in Japan. 

You see, Isaac san lived in Japan and his wearing one was a tribute to the old ways and it is quite functional. I have seen many people wearing them because it is Japanese and it is...ahh,  nevermind. I asked Isaac san to join us at the bansho, Sebata san telling me, "invite your friends, this is a fishing party." You would not believe the friendships I help foster with my own invitation to visit Sebata san. One day I will tell the story of that but today isn't that day.

This is the story of my own sugegasa from Japan. 

I asked Isaac san if he would help me pick up one and send it to me. He told me, "Of course Adam san, lets pick one out together for you." And we passed back and forth, comments on the different ones that he had available in the markets in his area. We finally decided on a humble one that didn't cost much. It arrived in a big box and it had a couple of bands to attach depending on the size of my head. I just used a couple of tie bands. I could have used some string but I wanted it simple and it took literally two minutes to band it on and cut the tag end. If I needed, I could cut these and replace the band with another one.

 

I always liked the way Sebata san carried a few flys in his. It wasn't that important at the bansho to look at his and ask him. He did hand his sugegasa to me during my visit and I did see the piece of wet suit neoprene material but I didn't put too much thought into it at the time. It wasn't time for that. But now I wanted to kit mine out that way and I didn't want to re-invent the wheel so I remembered that Danial had taken a video of Sebata san and it had a close up of his flys stuck in his hat. I found the video and in short order, I had my picture so that I could fix mine the way Sebata san did his. 

 

I get a lot of my stuff from eBay. It's just this place where I can pick and choose. It took me a while to find a small piece of neoprene that was reasonable. I looked now and then for a piece and couldn't find one. The other day when I look, I found a place where they offered the right thickness and at a reasonable price. It was an 18" square piece too, enough for the rest of my life so I purchased it and in short order it arrived.

It's always fun for me to figure out the best method to do things and I thought a little bit about how I was going to attach the neoprene piece to the straw. I thought first I would tack it on with some silk thread, no, too much work, how about glueing it on? Yes, that's what I will do. What kind of glue and I thought for a while, really, what kind of glue? 

Hmm.

Glue tech is important to me. When I was making bamboo fly rods, I would have lengthy discussions with many other makers on what glue they used for binding their bamboo rods together. My teacher used Nyatex so I ended up using it too. Nyatex is a glue that General Motors uses for flocking the rubber window trim on car doors. It is some serious stuff and I really like it but difficult to buy and in small quantities? It's a two part glue and not all that many makers use it. I'm not going to ask one of my old friends for some so...

  


I'll use Pliobond, it has an interesting story behind it. It was developed and used for plywood bonding to metal. I had used it on a couple of beautiful bamboo rods I made to glue the metal ferules to the bamboo blanks. Really interesting stuff. I've got a little bottle of it but it's getting old. It is sold at hardware stores, so I took Noah and we went off to our local Ace Hardware and found out that they were not carrying it anymore but there was a single tube of it available in the discontinued bin. I didn't know it came in a tube, I've always purchased it in a little brown bottle. I bought the tube and some blue masking tape so that I could mask off where I was glueing and do a nice job. I really like Pliobond and it works well for bonding rubber to wood, wood to metal, all different kinds of applications.

I like the back story.

I always have a few kebari for myself that Sebata san gave me. I also have a bunch that I give to friends that I am helping orient or turning on to tenkara. Sebata san's kebari have saved the day more than a few times, enough that I will always carry them with me. 

They are my magic kebari.

I'm going to keep a few under my hat just like Yuzo Sebata.

I think I will also add in a few flys from Jun Maeda, Toshiro Todoroki, a few of my wrong kebari and well, I'll pick out a few kebari from other special friends to keep with me under my hat.

  

Patagonia Middle Fork Packable Waders

Patagonia Middle Fork Packable Waders are by far my favorite waders I've ever owned. I have owned many pairs of Simms, at least two pairs of the Simms guide pants and multiple Simms chest waders. The Middle Forks are light where they can be, strong and light were they need to be and tough in high wear areas.

I don't work for Patagonia, I don't receive any gifts from them, I bought all of my gear full price just like the rest of you. I'm writing this endorsement because they are worthy of my hard earned money and my favorite time on the river and stream.

The foot on the wader is a sort of rubber, not a wetsuit material but a rubber sock so to speak. I put my waders on fast and pull up on them getting the wrinkles out and I wear thin liner socks on the inside and my feet don't get cold and the wader sock does not bunch up. They work really well. I wear them with wetsuit booties with a felt sole or with my sawanobori boots, they both work like it was meant to be.

When it comes to packing them up, I just take them off, lay them flat, roll 'em up and stuff them in the nice stuff sack. They end up being about the size of a 1 liter nalgene water bottle. That's with the included wader belt. For packrafting or a minimalist traveler, these things are so nice to wear, pack up small and are tough. Were I fish, I have to do some hiking and through the brush and these waders have stood up to it so far.

I am not a fan of waders, I prefer wet wading yet at a tailwater, waders are a necessity. If I'm traveling, they do not take up much space at all and I can throw them in a small backpack and use them with packable wetsuit felt sole booties or rubber sole boots.

The wader workstation works well with this system an allows me to have many choices in the way I approach my streams or rivers.

Minimalist: Zimmerbuilt Micro Pack

In my own pursuit of only using what I need, I have found that I really like the Micro Pack that Chris Zimmer produces at his company, Zimmerbuilt. I've worked with Chris to create my own version of a Tenkara pack, the Kaizen and I really like it and enjoy it to this day. But in my effort to really take things down to the minimum, I use the micro pack and this is the evolution for "rod, line and fly" simplicity.

Chris developed the pack to be versatile and easy to integrate into his other products. I like that and I own one of the stock packs that I have used but always go back to my version. In the past, I cut off the attachment parts that I felt I didn't need, then I decided that I did need them and now I'm back to a fully customized pack that is for hanging on a strap.

As a minimalist, whether it be backpacking or tenkara, only what I need so I contacted Chris myself to see if he would customize one of his packs for me and literally in three days, I had it in my hand. I really like it so I decided to purchase and set up all the things that I wanted to have with me. Much of these things were taken from the Tenkara USA strap pack that I've also been using.

My Zimmerbuilt Micro Pack is highly customized. I had Chris add in a pocket on the back and remove all elastic straps and top nylon loop. 

If you are going to order this pack, ask for configuration like "Adam Trahan from Tenkara-Fisher" or send him this page in a contact e-mail.

List of Pack Accessories

• Para Cord
• Micro Cord
• Zimmerbuilt Micro Pack
• 3/32" Stainless Steel Mallion Rapide Quick Links

I start out with a length of colored paracord from boredparacord.com This company will let you purchase a short ten foot length instead of purchasing fifty or more feet. I'll purchase a few short lengths in colors I like to see which one I want to use. I take the inside line out of the paracord that I use. I much prefer using just the sheath as it is more than strong enough and if I put a heavy backpack on over my fishing bag or if the shoulder strap gets caught under another gear strap, the flat paracord does not dig into my neck our shoulder.

To attach my para cord shoulder strap, I use a Mallion Rapide Quick Links size 3/32" which is petite yet has a working load of 220lbs.

For the attachment to the para cord to the quick links, I use a bowline knot to produce a loop at the end of the paracord.

For my nippers, I use a short length of Micro Cord 1.18mm from Atwood Rope Mfg. To attach the length of micro cord to the para cord, and to make that adjustable, I use a prussic knot. This knot will slide up and down the length of the para cord and then stop and not move where ever you place it.

List of pack contents

• 1 x Zimmerbuilt Micro Pack
• 1 x Yamawa Line Card Spools
• 1 x 6x Seaguar GrandMax Fluorocarbon Tippet
• 1 x 6 Compartment Plastic box with hair band
• 1 x Anglers Image Nippers
• 1 x Derf Needle Holder
• 2 x Gripper Pads
• 1 x Micro Bottle with Gink Floatant

Your pack contents might be close to mine, give or take a couple of items because this pack is really very small. 

Here is a brief discussion on some of my choices.

Having a good set of needle drivers to quickly remove embedded hooks deep in a fish's mouth is necessary for my fishing. I use a petite needle driver called a Derf. I get mine from eBay for about $10 delivered. My original pair is 20 years old and cost a couple of hundred dollars if you were a eye surgeon, I'm not, I'm a cheap fisherman but I like equipment that is designed well. Even the cheapest Derfs will work better than your hemostats but I buy stainless steel ones from Germany off of eBay.

For the floatant I use, I choose a micro drop bottle from Arrowhead Equipment. I personally like Gink Floatant and just squeeze the contents into the micro bottle. I've used the same micro bottle (I like the clear one) fill from a couple of years ago. I don't use a lot of floatant but I do like to have it along. The tiny micro bottle just disappears in the front elastic pocket.

For tippet I use Seaguar GrandMax, it's the best and 6x will protect nearly every rod I use. For my Nissin Mini V3's, I use the same tippet in 7x.

This exercise in minimalism is strictly geared around the small six compartment plastic box that is readily available. Plano makes a version and I have a small stack of them from various trades and gifts from Japanese anglers. The box is small and is able to handle about a couple of dozen flys really packed in, I typically carry 18 or so. I use a hair tie to keep the box from flipping open in the wind of my hands spilling the flys or if I drop it. It is very light an petite. I've never dropped one but the hair tie is probably overkill but it seems like I should have one.

If you are interested in going as light as possible, this is your pack.

 

Zimmerbuilt: Kaizen Pack - Sling Lite - Tailwater Pack - Micro Pack
Tenkara USA Strap Pack

Re-Purposed PET Bottle, "Early Times"

It's easy to take the sticker off in some hot water...

I learned about the little pocket bottle (for water) from Yoshikazu Fujioka, I can't remember when, it has been years. I've known Fujioka-san for like 20 years now. Anyway, I saw it on his web site and I thought to myself, "Hey, what can it hurt to get a 1/2 pint of Kentucky Whiskey and give it a try?" 

I did.

Not just any bottle of whiskey, has to be "Early Times" as the bottle is curved. The other PET bottles are rounded on both sides, the Early Times bottle is curved in on one side, makes is a bit more stealthy and rides in your small pocket much better.

When I end up hiking way farther than I should have, didn't bring a water, don't have my pack or a filter, I have this little bottle in my front pants or shorts pocket for a drink. It has saved me more than once because it is so small and light. It fits nicely in the wax pocket of my surf trunks very well.

Now I carry the bottle with me everywhere I go. When I go check music, hiking, moving around, I always have it. I have one for the city and another for country. It has come in so handy that I bought another one for my monk bag that I carry around every day.

It has become a part of my kit.

Check it out.

Daniel Galhardo brought Fujioka-san to the 2015 Tenkara Summit

Zimmerbuilt Tailwater Pack

My Tailwater pack loaded up with lots of photography, hiking and fishing equipment

I've got a magic backpack. It's super light and it goes with me everywhere. I use it at home, I use it when I travel, I even use it when I'm not fishing. It just fits on my back, as it should and like my Sling Lite, it's not there, till I need it and then I have all my stuff. 

The Zimmerbuilt Tailwater Pack I use is a few years old. I've customized it, sewn on patches from friends and cool things I like.

When I'm traveling, I use it for shopping and to put a thermos and something to eat in it. I'll carry a rain jacket, depending on the weather. It's not just a tenkara pack, it's a day pack for sure.

A Nissin Pocket Mini V3 can be found in it somewhere too.

Sewing on patches

Each patch means something...

Morning coffee and a quick break

I carry a lot of stuff in it. Sometimes a chair but all the time I have the Therm-a-Rest Lite Seat, a self inflating sit pad. It fits in the pack and is perfect for pulling out when you are tired for a comfy ass seat. The pack seems like it was made for it and the Lite Seat made for the Tailwater Pack.

Looking for a compact day pack that will serve your tenkara fishing needs?

I really like my pack

Zimmerbuilt used this one for their advertising some time ago

Zimmerbuilt: Kaizen Pack - Sling Lite - Tailwater Pack