[meathelmet]

I was top water fishing tonight and the bass were jumping all over the place. I only caught a few small bass and was wondering if the length was to short. I had about three feet of tippet and leader before the line.

How much do you use and is there a difference for throwing a wooly?

 

[Deeps]

What size rod do you have. My rule if thumb is it should equal to your rod length

 

[ohiotuber]

That's always been my rule of thumb, is that leader plus tippet, should equal rod length (or close).
If you use a 9' rod, get a tapered 9' leader (I use 3x for bass). After you cut off/use a couple feet, just attach 2-3 ft of tippet (I just use 6 lb test Stren mono) using a double surgeons' knot. Sounds to me as though you just continued cutting away your full leader.....so did I when I first started.
Hope this helped.

Mike

 

[fishfray]

I agree on equaling the tippet to the rod length for most flies. Mine is 8 ft 6 inch and i keep the tippet at that or a little longer. But if im casting bulky bass poppers, i find it easier if you shorten the tippet a couple of feet

 

[fishfray]

By tippet I meant the entire leader, not just the finest section where the fly is tied on

 

[meathelmet]

Thanks for the tips, I was too short and throwing poppers with my 5wt. So I probably should be using a 7 or 8 wt for bass then?

 

[fishfray]

If you own one than you would be better off with that but i think a 5 weight could be enough for all but the biggest poppers. I use a 6 weight for pretty much all types of fishing and it easily handles big poppers.

 

[meathelmet]

Here's a chart I use to fish with to make a good 9' leader....the chart I circled in red and the red number indicates test pound of tippet....I use Max Ultragreen leader material.....

Thanks a is a big help

 

[Yakphisher]

I have to disagree with using tippet lengths for rod length. Maybe for dries but not for casting bulkier flies like poppers and streamers. I never go over 7.5' for that matter and even shorter on sinking lines. This is reason people try a fly rod and only get so frustrated and give up!

 

[Flymaker]

When I fish warm water fish....I don't get to concerned about lender length...If I'm fishing streamers for SM on a floating line I will use a 7.5ft leader/tippet combination with a tippet of 6lb or 8lb depending on the size of the fly ....and the entire leader/tippet is made from Maximum leader material because it is fairly stiff.....same goes for poppers......If I fish a sink tip with streamers my leader/tippet is about 5ft total length .....Leaders get more important when you are trying to dry fly for trout....but theres no need to get complicated for warm water fish......a 7.5 ft total length is plenty for warm water fish ...mine start at 25lb and taper down to 6lb 99% of the time...my sink tip leaders are the furled type made from 12lb maximum for about 5ft length and 6-8lb mono tippet.....when I fish nymphs for trout , I start out with a 7.5ft leader 1st fly is ty'd on there and the bottom fly is added in with a ft or so of tippet.....I in general ty up 2 leaders for all my fishing..A 7.5ft to use for streamers with the floating line and to nymph fish with after a add another section.....and the furled type leader butt for all sink tip fishing...The only time I get picky about my leaders are when I'm fishing a hatch on the mad or some other stream and then my leaders are built by the book and are about 12ft or a tad longer.....