Q: “I use tippet rings for trout and find them to be a great advantage. Do these rings have a place in saltwater fly-fishing?”
—Jim Wilson
A: For anyone not aware, tippet rings are minute rings that have been polished smooth. A ring is attached to the end of the tapered portion of the leader. To this ring, you tie the tippet. This allows you to change tippets without disturbing the tapered leader. Unfortunately, they are too small for general saltwater fly-fishing, and I cannot find larger ones. I would imagine someone must make them, and if anyone locates them, I’d like to know for myself where to find them.
If the larger rings are available, one could be tied to the leader minus the tippet. It would be a simple matter to change class or bite tippets. It is sometimes difficult to splice thin class to a bite tippet of heavy monofilament, fluorocarbon or wire. An interesting footnote is that the legendary Harry Kime, who probably caught more tarpon with a fly rod than anyone, used tippet rings to connect his bite leader during the 1960s and ’70s when he fished the great tarpon camp Casa Mar, in Costa Rica.
