knotted leader/tippet help

"notbob" wrote in message
...
On 2008-04-15, Wolfgang wrote:

Tippet is another matter.

First, How so?

Your choice of tippet will depend on more than simple diameter or strength.
Not that these considerations should be ignored, but other factors also come
into play. Stiffness versus limpness, memory, some people think color
matters.

Second, was the tippet on my original taper somehow
different than the rest of the leader or is a tapered leader just that and
I was supposed to add a tippet?

In principle, the skinny end of a knotless tapered leader IS the tippet.
Generally though, when people speak of tippet they refer to added material.
You can fish for a while with the factory end of the leader as tippet but
you'll quickly notice that it gets thicker and stiffer with each change of
bug. Since most commercial tapered leaders are fairly to very short anyway,
you might as well save time (and generally improve performance) by snipping
off a few inches on the leader straight out of the package.....it's quite
likely weaker than tippet of the same diameter anyway, and it is often
considerably out of round.....and tying in a suitable amount of the tippet
material.

Regardless of whether you use knotless leaders or tie your own, you get just
so many rebuilds before you have to start a new one. Typically, I get more
out of home made leaders, and they perform better. Lots cheaper too.

Wolfgang