Willi wrote in news:3fb3ab27$0$193$75868355
@news.frii.net:

The other novice question I have concerns the monofilament leader. I
bought 5 lb line. When I used it the end was very thin, it is a
tapered line. I'd get strikes and end up pulling in a blank end. In
other words the fish were snapping the line. Once I got down to
thicker line, I started to get at least some of the fish. The problem
is that it also gets harder to get the line through the eye of the
fly. Also... once some of the mono gets shortened, I cast better. A
heckuva a lot better. So please advise. Am I missing something? Do
you pro's shorten the mono?

You need to buy some tippet material. If you had a bunch of breakoffs
with 5 lb. use 4X tippet to start. You need to get in some more practice
handling fish on fly gear. 5lb tippet is strong enough for the vast
majority of trout you're going to hook. However, you can't horse them in
or try to really set the hook like you can with bait casting gear.



Also, you might want to look into your knot strength. The knot itself can
be substantially weaker than the line, and if you're routinely snapping off
5 lb tippet, there may be something wrong with your knots.

Scott