Why Half-Size Tippet Material Matters

You may have seen spools of half-size tippet material in the fly shop and thought to yourself, “Who needs that?” Well, according to Tim Schultz, writing in Hatch magazine, you need it. Using the notes in the musical scale as an example, he shows why the leaps from one tippet size to another are often larger than you think:

For the thick stuff, 1X is about 11 percent thicker than 2X. For the thin stuff, 9X is 100 percent thicker than 10X. For wind resistance, pliability, and breaking strength, these differences are not the same. Switching by a single X designation depends on where you are on the scale. The standard transitions from 7X to 2X increase the diameter by 25, 20, 17, 14, and 13 percent for each transition.

Click here to read the full article in Hatch