"Michael Makela" wrote in message
om...
Jeff Miller wrote in message
news:SW4sc.4106$zE6.3079@lakeread06...
snipped
stunned me with the viciousness of
the take, then simply turned in a power i've never felt before. had them
on until they decided to zip away

It's what keeps me coming back..

...they broke me off laughingly easy (5x and 4x tippet).

3X in Penn's is the standard. If they won't hit it, it's not worth the
heartbreak..although Roger showed up with some super-duper tippet from
the Northlands, maybe that would work better??



Which brings up a cultural thing that I've noticed (even in my novice
status). The idea of working with the lightest tippet you can get away with
is definately a North American thing. I know there are trade-offs, like the
supposition that fish won't strike if they see the leader, or that a thicker
tippet won't turn over as well so you need lighter tips to improve your
presentation. But those are directly outweighed by the simple fact that a
lighter tippet = more lost fish.

Everywhere else I have fished (Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, South
Africa, Norway...) the rule of thumb is to use the LARGEST tippet you can
get away with. Whereas a US angler might try a #7, get snapped off and move
to a #6, then a #5 if they continue to get busted, other folks start with a
#2 or #3, then move to a finer tippet if they find that they are being
ignored. And IMLE, they get ignored a lot less than you'd think, so they
usually just stick with the #3.

When I tied on some #7 tippet in front of a Finnish guide, he was amazed as
he had almost never seen tippet that light, although he had heard of it.
Shops hardly stocked it.

--riverman