Leaders, Tippet, & Accessories
The Equipment We Trust
Recommended Leader Materials
Maxima Chameleon
Maxima Chameleon is the most popular leader building material for a reason. It has the perfect stiffness, weight, and sizing to create effective leaders for basically any type of fishing. I use it for all my tapered dry fly and bass leaders, as well as the occasional tapered euro leader for specific situations. I’ve tried a lot of leader materials, and keep coming back to Maxima because it really is the best.
Native Chromos
Native Chromos is the material I’m currently using for my micro leader systems. It is a little bit stiffer than many of the other materials, and the opaque yellow coloring makes it the easiest material for me to see. The sizing is more accurate than Sempe, with sizes running around 0.005-0.01mm larger than advertised.
Pierre Sempe
Pierre Sempe is one of the more popular micro leader materials on the market. It has a good blend of visibility and strength, and comes in a ton of sizes and colors. I prefer the 0.12-0.16mm sizes in green or yellow. Go for a single colored option as the bicolor options are a bit duller. Sizes run a bit large, with most being ~0.15mm larger than advertised.
Hends Micro Rings
The XXS Hends Micro Rings are the best and smallest tippet rings available. They are significantly better than standard tippet rings because they don’t cause hinging and sag. I use them on my nymphing leaders as well as some dry dropper setups, though they’re still too much for a light single dry setup.
Recommended Tippets
Trouthunter Tippet
Trouthunter Fluorocarbon is the best tippet you can buy. I don’t have the numbers to back that up (yet), but from my personal experience it is the strongest, truest to size offering on the market. I use it for all my nymphing and dry fly fishing. It’s the official tippet of Team USA for a reason!
Seaguar INVIZX
Seaguar INVIZX is the only tippet material I use besides TroutHunter (it’s basically the same material). It’s only made down to 4x, so I primarily use it for stillwater fishing, hunting big fish, or warmwater species. The posted breaking strengths are lower than they actually are because it is tested to a different standard, so look at the diameters when comparing it to tippet.
Pro Bands Spool Tenders
Pro Bands are a great solution for keeping your tippet spools a bit cleaner. They stop tippet from unraveling or slipping under where you can’t get to it, and are much better than the bands most spools come with. They make them for TroutHunter spools as well as most other popular brands.
Recommended Accessories
Loon Rogue Nippers
I’ve used the Loon Rogue nippers for years. They’re high quality, sharp, and reasonably priced.
Loon Rogue Zinger
I have the Rogue Zinger paired with my nippers. It’s smooth, durable, and will keep your tools where they belong.
Sakura Solid Paint Marker
Sakura Solid Paint Markers are my favorite option for adding a secondary sighter to my system or brightening up my leader. The paint is highly visible and dries onto the leader so it won’t wipe off and get all over like a wax. It also has a bit of floatation to it, so it’s great for sighter floating techniques. I pretty much always have some on my leader when nymphing.
Loon Payette Paste
Loon Payette Paste is what I use to keep my leaders and fly lines floating- adding a thin coat keeps the system from breaking the surface tension. It’s a necessity for dry fly and dry dropper fishing, as well as sighter floating techniques.
Honbay Rigging Foams
I don’t use rigging foams much in my day to day fishing, but they are integral to my competition fishing strategy. I always have a few pre-tied rigs ready to go for when I break off so I can get back to fishing faster. You can also use these to store leaders and micro leaders. I like these foams because their large diameter reduces memory.
Gear Keeper Net Retractor
The Gear Keeper is an excellent tool for keeping your net at hand. I like it a lot more than the bungees or elastic chords some anglers use because it’s much more contained. It’s strong enough that the net won’t get pulled away in the current, but not so strong that it makes it hard to get it out. My last one lasted for more than a decade of very hard use, so you’ll get your money out of it!
Tactical Fly Fisher Net Magnet
This is a standard, low profile net magnet. It’s just the right strength to hold the net well without making it hard to detach. I use a similar one in conjunction with the Gear Keeper to keep my net in the right position.
Frogs Fanny Fly Floating
Frogs Fanny is a popular desiccant option for keeping dry flies floating. Powder floatant is the most important step in drying out your flies and keeping them on the surface. I use this, but mostly just buy it for the bottle with the brush. I then refill the bottles with the next thing on the list.
Bohning Arrow Fletching Powder
Arrow fletching powder is the same thing as dry fly floatant (hydrophobic fumed silica). I buy this and refill my floaant bottles for a significant discount.
TFF Stomach Pump
Stomach pumps are great for figuring out what fish have been eating. I use them on particularly technical rivers and Stillwater’s to match the forage as best I can.
O'Pros Third Hand Rod Holder
The O’Pros Third Hand is the best option for carrying a second or even third rod with you on the water. I’ve tried a number of other options, but none are as low profile, secure, and unobtrusive. It’s offers an adjustable angle so you can set it to whatever is comfortable for your system.
TFF Landing Net
The Tactical Fly Fisher landing net has a large hoop and medium-stiff rubber dipped net bag that makes landing fish easy. This basic style net is popular among competitive anglers across the country, and I used a very similar model back in the day.
Mivardi Competition Landing Net
The Mivardi landing net is a favorite among top ranked competitors, and is what I personally use. The aluminum frame and thin mesh bag make it ultra light and easy to maneuver, and the micro mesh bottom keeps hooks from falling through and getting stuck. The net doesn’t come with a handle, but screws into most commercially available net handles. You can also fit the frame into a TFF landing net handle, which is what I do.
Smith Guide's Choice Sunglasses, Low Light Yellow
If you’re not using yellow lenses, you’re missing out! They are the best for most trout fishing conditions and make spotting the fish or your leader notably easier. Smith has some of the best yellow lenses available, and I’ve had a great experience using them over the past few years.
TFF 4 Page Fly Box
These simple, inexpensive 4-page boxes make up most of my fly storage. They hold up to hard use but are not too heavy or bulky. The foam slots are durable, don’t deform quickly, and hold flies from a size 8-20 well. This box makes up the base of my chest pack system.
Fulling Mill Stealth Box
The Fulling Mill Stealth box is a great option for low profile, limited selection fly storage. It’s just thick enough to fit bulky flies like mops while still remaining unobtrusive. The foam is some of the most durable around and will hold any size of fly well. I use these for storing my junk flies or smaller selections for specific rivers or competitions.
Ferrera's Tippet Wallet
This tippet wallet is a great option for on-water tippet storage. I keep one velcro’d on the front of my pack to give me quick access to the tippet sizes I’ll use most that day. I like it because I can completely detach it and have full range of motion to measure out long sections of tippet. Holds 4 spools.
Black Hair Ties
There’s a lot of loose ends we need to trap down in fly fishing, and hair ties are a great option for doing it. I like these ties because the elastic is a bit looser and they can be opened up to lay flay. They’re great for larger tippet spools, fly lines, securing rods, and everything else.
Leatherman Wave Plus Multitool
I’ve been saved by my multitool on the water many times. It’s the perfect tool for making gear modifications or fixing malfunctions while away from home, and every angler should have one in their kit. This is not the exact one I use, because mine is over 20 years old and still going strong, but it’s a similar model.
Neodymium Bar Magnets
I use magnets in place of a fly patch for quick fly switches. Mine consists of two of these with a velcro backing. They’re also useful for attaching other metal gear like hemostats or nippers.
Large Velcro Sheets
I like these large velcro sheets for modifying equipment. I use the full sheets for making my chest pack, or cut complex shapes out for specific uses.
Juminiz 1x4" Velcro Strips
I use these velcro strips for attaching my accessories to my pack. Some velcro brands are too stiff to wrap around accessories properly, and others have adhesives that don’t hold up well to heat. These don’t have either issue and work great.
Velcro Cinch Straps
Another tool for keeping gear contained. I use these cinch straps mainly to keep rods bundled together, but find tons of random uses for them.
Rod Socks (12 pack)
Rod socks are an amazing piece of gear for moving around with fully rigged rods. I use them to keep things from getting tangled when I throw rods in my car, or when I’m traveling to sessions while competing.