# Crash course in tarpon rigging.



## Salty_South (Feb 25, 2009)

An 8 wt is great for little tarpon. For the little guys, try 30lb tippet.


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

I only target small tarpon on fly on the regular.
I use 20lb tippet most of the time, but I fish for tarpon in the 5-15lb range.
I do use 40lb around the bridges for the 30-60lb fish, but haven't been able to get one of those to stick.
But I'm using an 8wt anyway, so I'm sure I can't bring a midrange one in. 

I assume you'd want at least a 10wt, but I hear a 12wt is the usual?


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## Yoreese (Oct 15, 2009)

7-8wt is fine for baby tarpon under 40#, you can rig a few ways 6' butt section with 40# put a perfection loop in the end. This will let you loop on new flies easily with class/bite tippet. Next tie bimini in each end of class tippet 12# is fine and leave about 18-20" between the knots, tie double surgeons or perfection loop in one end this will be used for quick attach to butt section. Then attach fly to 30-40# Floro bite tippet with knot of choice, tie 12-18" of bite tippet to double line from bimini with Huffnagle, Albright or a few other knots. This is the best but not only way to rig for tarpon. Rob Fordyce has a "stealth leader" in his book that ties the class tippet directly to the butt section. It may be a little simpler but doesn't give you the ease of changing flies and chewed up tippet. 

WOW!!! That turned out way longer than I had intended but should get you started in the right direction.


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## Yoreese (Oct 15, 2009)

I found a few links for some useful knots.

http://www.midcurrent.com/articles/knots/slim_beauty.aspx

http://www.midcurrent.com/articles/knots/perfection.aspx

http://www.midcurrent.com/video/clips/anderson_bimini.aspx


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## Michael (Jul 22, 2009)

Please keep in mind that you want the fish to survive the fight. For Tarpon 5-20lbs an 8 wt may be adequate but for the larger fish I'd go to a 10wt. I agree with the butt being 40-50#4-6' ending with a perfection loop. I would tie only 1 bimini then double the line and tie a slim beauty to connect that to a bite tippet 40-80#'s. Loop knot to the fly and your fishing.


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## SClay115 (May 18, 2009)

> Please keep in mind that you want the fish to survive the fight. For Tarpon 5-20lbs an 8 wt may be adequate but for the larger fish I'd go to a 10wt. I agree with the butt being 40-50#4-6' ending with a perfection loop. I would tie only 1 bimini then double the line and tie a slim beauty to connect that to a bite tippet 40-80#'s. Loop knot to the fly and your fishing.



Absolutely, that is why I am asking here to see what is ideal. Better to learn from folks who have done this before than learn the hard way and seriously danger a fish. Thanks for all the great information so far, if anyone has anything else to add, I would be most grateful.

Steve


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## SClay115 (May 18, 2009)

Wanted to bring this back up here as I have gotten myself a 10 weight rig, and have been fussing around with leader construction. 

And I have a few questions, is the sole purpose of a Bimini to handle immediate shock? Since you are basically tying in another loop knot after the Bimini is seated, I am just curious as to if that is it's only purpose. 

And the slim beauty, it looks like it shares some of the same characteristics of the Bimini, does it share some of the same traits as well? As in the shock resiliency? 

Steve


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## Salty_South (Feb 25, 2009)

This may not answer your question, but all those knots are for IGFA records. You do not need all those special knots to tame the poon.


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

If you can use a surgeons knot to catch tarpon on monofilament spinning tackle
then you know it'll work fine to build a quick and dirty leader.
There's a post here somewhere with a story about a guide
who got tired of his client wasting fishing time building leaders
and used the surgeons knot to put a leader together so the client
could catch a tarpon.


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## phwhite101 (Mar 3, 2010)

The small fish I use a 9wt to quickly get these guys to the boat and release them. Leaders are same set up for that class rod with 30lb bite guard. For the bigger fish, do not mess around, use a 12 wt to power these guys to submission. A 10wt will just tire the fish to exhaustion (and you). Leaders should start with 80lb and taper down to 20lb if you need to break off. Bite guard should be 80lb. Become familuar with Stu Apt's method of "down and dirty" with these big fish to subdue them. A quick release will ensure thier survivability.


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## SClay115 (May 18, 2009)

> This may not answer your question, but all those knots are for IGFA records.  You do not need all those special knots to tame the poon.



Is there a reason they are used for the records? Just seems strange that someone would go through that whole ordeal to build a leader with Biminis, when you could just slam something together with surgeon's knots. I use the surgeon's knots on all my leaders at the moment and have never had one problem. If I ever break off, it's usually in the middle of one of the mono sections, not at the knot junction.

I can't get a blood knot to seat correctly with the thickness of mono I am using, and everything else is just very time consuming. There is something to be said about a knot that can be tied in dim light, by feel, very quickly. So if I can use the same setup on the stepped up leaders, that would just be fantastic. I had assumed, since every website I stumbled upon about Tarpon rigging said Bimini this, Bimini that, that there was some special reason to use that knot.

Steve

P.S. Finally got a chance to swing that 10 weight around on a side yard Brett. And you are right, probably easier to cast than my 8! Load the rod with the head of the line, and it would fire into the 10-15mph headwind very nicely, and would lay out a ton of line if I let it.


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## Salty_South (Feb 25, 2009)

Well, as for all the fancy knots, they are the best way to connect class tippet to leader, and bite sections.  That being said, if you are not worried about setting a record with 10lb class tippet, then you would be fine using the blood knots for the entire leader.  The big deal about the bimini twist is that it is supposed to be nearly 100% strength of the line.  Which means that if you were fishing 20lb class tippet for IGFA, you would want your class tippet section as strong as possible(using the bimini twist would accomplish this).  

Now if you just want to fish for tarpon with a fly rod, try this leader;  60lb, 50, 40, 60.  The blood knot is tricky with the heavier mono/fluorocarbon.  I leave myself plenty of tag end and reduce the number of wraps to 3 or 4 on each side. And plenty of spit!


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## Michael (Jul 22, 2009)

On a hot day that spit can be valuable  May I suggest chapstick. It's surprising how well it works on biminis and blood knots. Keep it in the cooler :
A note on that leader you suggest; most fly lines are 30# rated, to go above that may be asking for trouble.


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## iFly (Mar 9, 2010)

> On a hot day that spit can be valuable  May I suggest chapstick. It's surprising how well it works on biminis and blood knots. Keep it in the cooler :
> A note on that leader you suggest; most fly lines are 30# rated,* to go above that may be asking for trouble.*


It's an interesting point and a good one. When dealing with fish that could possibly do damage to your equipment (burn your drag out, break your line, spool you) I like to pick a place where the failure is likely to happen. And by failure, I mean a safety release point. Sometimes I pick the hook (using a thin wire) and sometimes I pick the leader. I don't want to break a rod or the line.

This is not a comment on anyone's set-ups. Just something I think about while putting all the pieces together.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

I've read everyone's input on this thread and noted a few misconceptions that might be easy to sort out...

First off, IGFA rules only say what your leader dimensions can be and say nothing about the knots you use. Your bite (or shock, as some call it) tippet can not be any longer than
12" overall, including the knot connecting it to the tippet (and you're under no obligation to use a bite tippet at all, but with most tarpon, no bite tippet, no fish). The tippet, itself must be at least 15" long, no shorter (for tarpon leaders I like a 20 to as much as 24" tippet since it gives you a bit of stretch in the overall leader), and not including any knots.... The strength of your tippet will put you in one line class or another, or if it's too strong (over 20lb, you're out of consideration for a record). Make your leader any way you want, keep within the above limits and you're pretty good for record consideration (if you care about that sort of stuff...).

Now for the knots... Generally a knot is a weak spot in your leader with a few exceptions and for big fish (really big fish compared to line strength, say a 30lb fish on 4lb line, or a 200lb fish on 20lb line) that knot strength becomes critical if you intend to win the fight. That's where the bimini twist comes into play since it's actually rope making technique and is just as strong as the line itself... That's why everyone goes to the trouble of tying them up to double the line before tying it to a bite tippet, etc. You can use any knot you want but you'll be hard pressed to beat a bimini for that purpose (the exception for me is braid, for that I use a nine turn spider for doubling the line).

Now for a real world demonstration about why knots are so important - if everything is done properly you can go right to the limits of your line's strength while fighting a fish - if you have to.... Here's a drill I encourage my tarpon anglers to work with to see just how much you can pull on a given leader.... Tie one end to a fence or other fixed object then back up about forty feet, take all the slack out of the line while pointing at the fence, and pull as hard as you can with your fly rod by raising it while holding the spool so that the line can't slip at all. Most think that they're really hauling on the line but if you put a scale on the other end you'd never see more than 3lbs of pressure using the rod this way... Now back up a step, take every bit of slack out of the line while pointing the rod straight down the line, grab the spool again and pull to the side. If you've wound down tight enough before you pull to the side you'll be able to put 10, 12, 14, pounds of pressure at the other end all the way until you're finally actually able to break the line (20lb) with the rod used this way. After all of the above, while pulling to the side.. do it for twenty minutes and you'll have a good idea of what a really big fish may require to win.... 

I actually have one angler that can beat a 100lb tarpon with a fly rod in 12 minutes (and has done it in shorter times) regularly. That boy can pull on them. Within the first five minutes he can stop and roll a tarpon over with the rod unless it's a particularly stubborn fish. You can't go that route unless every part of your leader is as strong as possible, and that's where the right knots are so important.


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## riptide (Dec 31, 2009)

> Most think that they're really hauling on the line but if you put a scale on the other end you'd never see more than 3lbs of pressure using the rod this way... Now back up a step, take every bit of slack out of the line while pointing the rod straight down the line, grab the spool again and pull to the side. If you've wound down tight enough before you pull to the side you'll be able to put 10, 12, 14, pounds of pressure at the other end all the way until you're finally actually able to break the line (20lb) with the rod used this way.


Many people don't know how to fight fish , the best way i can describe it if you are pulling up on an 100lb fish at say 60 degree angle with 5lb drag you are putting more drag or pull on pulling the fish out of the water 

If you put your rod tip in a way that you are pulling the opposite direction of the fish you are now making that 100 lb fish pull all of your set drag.

making the fish pull 5lb around is better than trying to lift a big fish out of the water ,the key i think is keep the rod pulling the fish backwards , when he changes direction you do to.


same idea just explained diff


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