TroutHunter Tippets and Leaders

TroutHunter co-owner Rich Paini took us through their new line of extraordinarily strong tippets and leaders this morning. TroutHunter, Paini says, took the non-obvious route and decided to go to Japan for the absolute best material they could find. The company offers tippet material and tapered leaders in both fluorocarbon and nylon, and each spool holds around 50 yards of tipper — considerably more than the average of 30-35. But the most impressive thing about the material is its breaking strength. It was very difficult to break the 5X we tested, and the 2X (which has been tested in Belize) was hard to break even with a wind knot tied in it.

Paini also had an interesting tip on leader use: “Always cut off the last 18 inches of a tapered leader and tie on a new tippet, because the machines have a hard time controlling quality on the end.”