I never knew that tippet had to be matched to the hook size until I happened to read the stuff on the back of a packet of leader. I had always assumed that you just used the smallest tippet you possibly could given the size of fish you anticipated catching.
Note the comment on the pact that the size of tippet matters in the natural drift of the fly! While I guess this does not matter with streamers, it would make a difference with nymphs and dries.
So – word to the wise. Geez. Guess I’ll have to learn more about hook sizes now. Can’t just rely on sorting them by big, medium, small and teeny… What this does tell me is that I do not need to go to 7X. 6X gets me to the smallest stuff I think I have.
Of course, there appears to be controversy here as well.
Over on Sexyloops, they never mention hook size, but do comment that having a tapered leader is important. Obviously, the tippet is at the end of that and should probably be of the same size or smaller as the original… which changes as you use up the leader.
Anyway, I’ll do the hook matching thing and see if it makes a difference. I’ll probably just keep using the smallest I can deal with as I believe the above table is merely a caution against putting a 0X tippet on a teeny fly.
Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore