Explorer Tippet Material

[HuckFin]

Explorer makes some great fly fishing equipment and is always well priced for someone on a tight budget.

But …………………………………………†¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.

Explorer Tippet Material is absolute crap!

Now I’m sure that allot of us fly fishers have accepted the above, and moved on!
The point of this thread is not to establish the best tippet material.

What I’m after is decent tippet material at an economical price and I’m convinced that Explorer can do it after all they have achieved this with their other products why compromise on one of our main consumables?

What I hope to accomplish with this thread/poll is to give the guys at Explorer an Idea of how we feel about their product and see if they’ll come to the party.

[dizzy]

Maxima ultra green. Its all I use. Works for me. Dirt cheap too.

[wernerm]

I've long heard the rumors about explorer's tippet material. Thus, I wont even try it. Why compromise.

[HuckFin]

What breaking strain maxima do you use and to what size tippet does that equate to ?

[dizzy]

Maxima under rates their material. So a 2kg is really a 2.3kg tippet.

I use a range of different breaking strains and it all depends on the application. For trout I try to use the lightest one possible.

For yellows, I never go higher than the 3.5 kg Maxima, which will be the butt section, which taper down. (3.5lg, then 2.7kg, then 2kg)

[Nymph+O-]

I do a lot of CZ nymphing and I love using fluorocarbon tippet material on my dropper lengths. I've tried various brands and found that Double X seems to be a very good product at a price of course. I've been let down too many times before by using cheaper materials, especially when fishing for bigger, heavier, stronger fish like Yellows on the Vaal.
Ok it has its pros and cons but at the end of the day your tippet would be the first thing that fail once you hook into a good fish and to me it is a very important link in the setup as a whole and that is why I buy the best.

I use Siglon mono for the rest of my leader setup and even when I fish a traditional tapered leader for trout, I use Fluoro on the tippet section and it has served me well.

[Andre]

Yes I have also had issues with Explorer tippet material. I dont actually remember why I didn't like it, as it is several years since I have used it.
For trout on the streams I use a leader made of Rio Powerflex 6x and 7x and for yellows on the Vaal and Orange, I use a variety of tippets from Rio Flouroflex 2x 3x and 4x. For the ultimate in flourocarbon tippets, I also use Scientific anglers Mastery Series. This stuff is awesome although costs an arm and two legs, I believe gives a real advantage. I find that I am able to have the droppers quite a lot longer without tangles, and for mono nymphing, am able to manage a significantly longer leader than with any other materials.

[Yellowfever]

Maxima under rates their material. So a 2kg is really a 2.3kg tippet.

For yellows, I never go higher than the 3.5 kg Maxima, which will be the butt section, which taper down. (3.5lg, then 2.7kg, then 2kg)

Without being pedantic or over protective... Dizzy where do you use 2kg tippet, on the Vaal?

4X (5lb?) should be the minimum allowed. I just don't think you can fight a fish hard & fast enough on anything lighter. It will reduce the survival chances of the released fish.

[ShaunF]

Yip, the Xplorer tippet absolute crap. A roll of the stuff I bought a couple of year ago was quickly relegated to ribbing material. The Rio Powerflex is much better.

[FishWhisperer]

Maxima ultra green. Its all I use. Works for me. Dirt cheap too.

I second that! Stronger and a third of the price!