Smallmouth Leader and Tippet System

Here is a grid I put together so you can make your own leaders. I use Berkley Big Game Monofilament to make the leaders, but you can use just about any brand and be o.k. These leaders make so much more sense than buying pre-made tapered leaders.

There are some huge benefits to making these leaders. First of all they are super strong and turn over flies really well. Each segment is joined using a ligature knot (more on that knot later) which is super strong.

The other huge benefit of this system is the way the leader attaches to your fly line and tippet with loop-to-loop connections. If you tie on a bunch of flies and your tippet gets short, just pop it off and loop on another one. No more knots in the field or replacing entire leaders when the tip section gets short.

Here is a cave drawing (literally) of my setup - just tap on the drawing to enlarge it. Notice the connections are all loop-to-loop! The leader itself is 7' giving you room anywhere from 2-4' for the bimini tippet.

The Bimini tippet is kind of hard to visualize and at first they are confusing to tie, but the effort is well worth it. I can tie up a complete tippet in under 2 minutes. No more hauling tippet spools for me.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE BIMINI TIPPET IS IN ART SCHECK"S BOOK FLY FISH BETTER.