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Why Tippet?

Here at Trident, we love testing fly fishing products so that you can make the best possible buying decisions, whether you’re shopping for a premium fly rod or a spool of tippet. Being an informed buyer will help you find more enjoyment in your fly fishing.

Tippet is an often overlooked piece of gear, but it is crucial to your success on the water. Considering the amount of time, energy, and money we put into our angling pursuits, the last thing we want is our tippet to fail when it matters most. Although there have been previous tippet shootouts performed by other fly shops, they are now outdated. We wanted to update you on the current products available, and how they perform in a series of tests.

In this shootout, we’ll examine a plethora of 20lb tippet materials from several manufacturers, and test them to see which tippet material is the right choice for your fishing endeavors. Continue reading to learn which tippets came out on top, and how we tested each material for this 20lb tippet shootout.

Nylon v. Fluorocarbon?

For years, the tackle industry has proclaimed fluorocarbon to offer superior abrasion resistance, better invisibility underwater, and a quicker sink rate. Nylon, by contrast, is advertised as being more supple and neutrally buoyant. Although we couldn’t test all of these claims in this shootout, we did find some surprising results. Out of the 36 tippet materials we tested, the top 6 combined scores were nylon materials. This came as a shock to us, as we expected a more even split. Even abrasion resistance - fluorocarbon’s claim to fame - was not a decisive win for fluorocarbon, with many nylon materials scoring high. Considering our findings, we decided that a proper head-to-head battle between nylon and fluorocarbon is necessary. Keep an eye out for that ultimate tippet material comparison in the future.

The Winner

Scientific Anglers Absolute Clear Nylon

I’ve personally spent years fishing 20lb fluoro and there isn’t anyone more surprised than me to see nylon come out on top - but the evidence is compelling. SA Absolute Clear earns the highest strength-to-diameter score of any of the tippets we tested, scoring a whopping 93 points. It tested out to 20.44 lbs with a mere 0.323mm diameter. Further, it had the highest knot strength score at 89 points (with the uni knot breaking at an exceptional 18.54 lbs) and an above-average 79 points for abrasion resistance. And while we didn’t consider it in the scoring, it’s also reasonably priced at 27 cents per yard.

Other Recommended Tippet

While we recommend Absolute Clear for most situations, we understand some anglers will want something different – like say, fluorocarbon. Below is our shortlist of other top performing tippets.

Best Fluorocarbon: Scientific Anglers Absolute Fluorocarbon Saltwater Supreme

SA Absolute Saltwater Supreme primarily stands out in its strength-to-diameter score, ranking just a smidge below the two best nylon materials at 91 points. It also scores solidly in knot strength (77 points) and abrasion resistance (79 points). Unfortunately, you’ll pay for its performance at 91 cents per yard, making it the third most expensive material in the shootout.

Best Value Nylon: Orvis Superstrong Plus

The Orvis nylon is very robust for its diameter, and even more affordable than SA’s Absolute Clear at only 18 cents per yard. It scored 88 points for knot strength, 91 points for tensile strength, and 79 points for abrasion resistance. If you’re looking for a trustworthy nylon that won’t break the bank, don’t sleep on Orvis Superstrong Plus.

Best Value Fluorocarbon: Seaguar Tatsu

At 32 cents per yard, Seaguar Tatsu is the best-performing fluorocarbon material for the price. Of all the fluorocarbon tippets, it had the second-best tensile strength score at 90 points. It also showed great abrasion resistance at 83 points and average knot strength at 71 points. Unfortunately, this tippet is designed for conventional reels and comes in fairly large spools (by fly fishing standards) only.

Another Recommended Fluorocarbon: Umpqua Deceiver HD Big Game

Deceiver HD doesn’t dominate any one category, but it scores well across the board. It earns 87 points for tensile strength, 80 points for knot strength, and 79 points for abrasion resistance. From a cost perspective, it's middle-of-the-pack for fluorocarbon at 60 cents per yard. 

Most Abrasion Resistant: Scientific Anglers Absolute Hard Mono

If you’re primarily looking for high abrasion resistance, Scientific Anglers Absolute Hard Mono is the winner, with Rio’s Saltwater Hard Mono being a close second. Both of these 20lb materials retained good breaking strength with abrasion (over 17 pounds). That being said, they scored quite poorly in every other category, mainly because our scoring formulas account for diameter, and hard mono materials are considerably thicker than others, measuring over 0.5 mm. To put this in context, it’s just about as thick as 40lb fluorocarbon. However, if you *must* have a 20lb test line AND you need max abrasion resistance, this is the way to accomplish that.

Best IGFA Nylon: Rio Powerflex

If chasing world records is your thing, IGFA-compliant tippets are important. Rio Powerflex sports a very honest diameter of 0.334mm and scores exceptionally well across the board.  It earns 84 points for tensile strength, 83 points for knot strength, and 81 points for abrasion resistance. At 18 cents per yard, it's the fifth most affordable tippet in the shootout, tied with Orvis Superstrong Plus. 

Best IGFA Fluorocarbon: Varivas Super Tippet Master Spec II Fluoro Carbon

Although its name is a mouthful, Varivas Master Spec II measures within spec at 0.337mm in diameter. It scores 87 points for tensile strength, 71 points for knot strength, and 85 points for abrasion resistance.

The Raw Data

The Full Dataset

Scores

Tensile Strength to Diameter Chart

Scoring

Each material is scored using 3 criteria:

1. Tensile strength

Based on the tensile strength tests, we used a complex formula to convert the relationship between tensile strength and diameter into a numeric score.

2. Knot strength 

Based on the uni knot tests, we used a complex formula to convert the relationship between tensile strength and diameter into a numeric score.

3. Abrasion Resistance

Based on the abrasion resistance tests, we used a complex formula to convert the relationship between abrasion resistance and diameter into a numeric score.

Scoring: Understanding the relationship between tensile strength and diameter

As diameter increases, so too does tensile strength. Unfortunately, there's no standard for the diameter of 20lb tippet, so all of the tippets that we tested have different diameters - and some vastly so. So we came up with a formula to attempt to mathematically capture this relationship. Unfortunately, it doesn't intuitively translate to the real world, so to make sense of our scoring, we found it helpful to look at the results of our tensile strength tests on a graph.

But since we tested so many different materials, it's a little complicated to look at, and we wanted to provide a simplified version that makes explaining this extremely important relationship much simpler.

Three basic comparisons are easily visible on the graph below:

1. Similar diameter, different strengths. This is displayed vertically on the chart, and tippet that is higher on the chart is better because it is stronger for a similar diameter. In the example below, Orvis Superstrong Plus is better than Varivas Super Tippet Master Spec II Fluorocarbon. When we refer to our scoring table, we confirm that the Orvis Superstrong Material scored higher in tensile strength to diameter, earning 91 points compared to Varivas' 87 points.

2. Similar strength, different diameter. This is displayed horizontally on the graph and tippet that is further to the left is better because it has a similar tensile strength, but a smaller diameter. Therefore, Varivas (87 points) scored higher than Umpqua Pink (80 points). The two materials are very similar in tensile strength, but Umpqua has a larger diameter.

3. Different strength and diameter. This is where it starts to get complicated. When we try to compare Varivas Super Tippet to the Umpqua Deceiver HD, which is better? This is where our score comes in handy because, visually, you can't definitively determine which tippet is better. In this case, both scored 87 points and therefore we know that the two materials are relatively equivalent.

Testing Procedure

Tippet Selection

We limited this shootout to the ~20lb size, in both nylon and fluorocarbon materials. This helped keep the shootout manageable for us, and also useful to you, by only testing the most commonly used materials. We then contacted most major tippet manufacturers (and some smaller companies, too) and asked if they'd provide tippets for the shootout. In doing so, we tried to get the latest tippet technology available and, in most cases, we did.

Measured Diameter

Tippet Diameter is usually advertised on spools in inches or millimeters. To measure the diameter of each material, we used our digital micrometer, which is accurate to 1/1000th of a millimeter. For each test, we were cautious to ensure that the tippet material was positioned correctly in the micrometer and that the equipment was tared properly. For each material, we took three measurements of the diameter in millimeters and calculated the average. Some materials proved to be more consistent in diameter than others, which likely led to inconsistencies in other tests such as tensile strength and knot strength.

Tensile Strength

Tensile strength is the pound (or Kg) test rating you see advertised on spools of tippet. This is the breaking strength of a material with zero knots involved. To test tensile strength, we used our Admet Universal Testing Machine, which is accurate to 1/100th of a pound. In setting up the testing machine for each test, we were cautious to ensure that the tippet material was positioned correctly and that the equipment was tared properly. For each material, we measured the tensile breaking strength in pounds. To ensure our data was accurate, we performed multiple tests on each material. We found a relatively low variation from one test to the next, which gave us confidence that our tensile strength results were accurate.

Stretch

During each tensile strength test, our universal testing machine also measures stretch, from starting position to breaking point, in inches. This was not scored and was included in our data for informational purposes only. Interestingly, fluorocarbon stretched more than nylon, on average.

Uni Knot Strength

To test knot strength, we chose to use the Uni Knot for several reasons. First, we wanted a knot that was easy to tie repeatedly for hours at a time, which the Uni Knot is. Secondly, the Uni Knot can be tied “blind”, or unattached to a hook, and then seated down on a hook once ready. This was important because of the setup of the testing machine, which would make other knots very difficult/awkward to tie directly onto the hook. We wanted to be comfortable and confident in our knots, and the Uni Knot offered the best in both categories. 

It’s important to note that this is not a knot shootout. Every angler has their knot preferences, and you should stick to what you trust. For this shootout, we needed to use the same knot for every material to determine how each tippet performs when knotted. Whether or not a Uni Knot is the strongest knot possible is a moot point for this test, which is to compare the materials.

For the 20lb tests, we did a 4-turn Uni Knot. Each knot was tied “blind”, then lubricated with water, slid over the testing machine hook, and seated down snugly. If we noticed a knot did not seat correctly, we snipped it and re-tied it. We then measured the breaking strength, in pounds, of each tippet material with the Uni Knot. For the top contenders, we tested each material several times to ensure consistency.

We would be remiss if we did not mention that there is a fair bit of variability in knot strength between a good, great, or poorly tied knot - and it’s not always visible. Because of this, the results are definitely not statistically significant and are merely representative of the material in our opinion. We simply did not have time to tie 50-100 knots for 36 different tippets.

Wind Knot Strength

We included a wind knot test to see how each material fared with a small, compact knot. Since wind knots are common occurrences when fishing, we felt this test has real-world value to anglers when comparing tippets. The setup of the wind knot test was nearly identical to the tensile strength test but with an overhand knot seated snugly in the center of the tested section. For each test, we measured and recorded the breaking strength of the material, in pounds, with a wind knot. Like stretch, this was done for informational purposes only and was not scored. Outliers were retested.

Abrasion Resistance

To test abrasion resistance, we set up each tippet material for a tensile strength test on the universal testing machine. We then used 220 grit sandpaper to make a 9” pass with 1 pound of consistent pressure against the tippet material. Lastly, we ran the testing machine and recorded the tensile strength, in pounds, with the abraded section. Outliers were retested.

Things We Wanted To Test But Couldn’t

There are lots of ways to test tippet materials, and some are more subjective than others. Because of this, we didn’t test certain attributes and chose to test only measurable metrics for this shootout. Below are some of the attributes that we chose not to test.

Light Refraction

Anglers refer to light refraction when discussing the merits of fluorocarbon vs nylon and how “invisible” they appear underwater. While we agree that this can be important in certain situations, we simply do not have the equipment to accurately test light refraction.

Density

Tippet weight relates to material density, which can affect how well a material floats or sinks. Although we have digital scales here at Trident, testing density proved to be too difficult and time-consuming due to the small amounts of tippet that we have.

Factors Potentially Impacting Our Results

Tippet Age & Degradation

Each tippet material we tested was brand-new, delivered straight from the manufacturer, or purchased off the rack. We stored the material on its original spool, away from sunlight, heaters, or any other source of degradation (e.g. UV or heat). That being said, we have no way of knowing when exactly each material was manufactured at the factory. Some materials could be old, potentially leading to degradation.

Knots

While we were extremely careful while tying the knots for our Uni Knot tests, there remains a human variable involved. Human hands will never be as precise or replicable as a machine, so there may be discrepancies in each knot tied. To best combat any errors, we did deviation tests on several materials, in which we tested each material with a Uni Knot ten times, to determine the consistency of knot strength tests. Suffice to say there was some degree of deviation with each material. If we noticed an abnormal data point, we re-tested to ensure it was not caused by human error.

Tippet Diameter Inconsistency

In a perfect world, a spool of tippet would be completely consistent in strength and diameter from end to end. Unfortunately, this is not the case as the production techniques used to create tippet are not perfect. Based on our micrometer diameter tests, it appears that some materials are more consistent than others, but none are 100% consistent in diameter. In the case of measuring diameters, we took three measurements of each material, 12 inches apart from each other. We then calculated the average of the three diameter measurements to determine the measured diameter. The inconsistency of tippet diameters likely results in inconsistencies in strength, stretch, and abrasion resistance.

The Full Tippet List & Discussion

We’d like to give a big thank you to the companies that provided us with the tippet material for this shootout. Below is a list of each material we tested.

Berkley Trilene Fluorocarbon

Berkley Trilene is probably better known in conventional fishing than in fly fishing, but given its legacy, we wanted to see how it performed. The Trilene Fluorocarbon ranked 24th best in overall score. Although it scored a respectable 81 points for tensile strength, its knot strength was only average at 70 points. Interestingly, it had the 3rd highest stretch of all materials. 

Spool Design: This material comes on a 200-yard bulk spool that cannot be connected to other spools and lacks a tippet band. The benefit of a bulk spool, however, is price. Trilene is the 3rd cheapest material overall at 14 cents per yard.

Frog Hair Deep Blue Saltwater Nylon

Frog Hair’s specialty saltwater nylon material impressed us. It scored 6th best overall, earning points in the low 80s across the board. It comes in middle-of-the-pack for price, at 33 cents per yard. 

Spool Design: Unfortunately, Frog Hair’s spool design needs improvement with its small arbor size and 25-meter capacity. The spools also have to be aligned to snap together, which is cumbersome.

Frog Hair Nylon

Frog Hair nylon ranked 31st overall in combined score. While its tensile and knot strengths were in the mid-70s, it lost points for abrasion resistance, where it scored a not-so-nice 69 points. It costs 33 cents per yard, which is on the high end of nylon prices.

Spool Design: Unfortunately, Frog Hair’s spool design needs improvement with its small arbor size and 25-meter capacity. The spools also have to be aligned to snap together, which is cumbersome.

Frog Hair FC Fluorocarbon

Frog Hair fluorocarbon ranked 12th in overall points, racking up solid scores in strength and abrasion resistance. While other FH tippets proved to be a reasonable value, this is the most expensive material in the shootout at $1.05 per yard. Given that there’s really nothing special about it, the price is far too high.

Spool Design: Unfortunately, Frog Hair’s spool design needs improvement with its small arbor size and 25-meter capacity. The spools also have to be aligned to snap together, which is cumbersome.

Hatch Professional Series Fluorocarbon

Hatch came in 11th overall in combined points, showing great tensile strength at 88 points and solid abrasion resistance at 86 points. It lost some points for knot strength where it scored a 71. Hatch is the second most expensive material at 95 cents per yard. 

Spool Design: The Hatch spool doesn’t connect with other spools, but it does feature a functional elastic tippet band.

Maxima Chameleon Nylon

Maxima Chameleon is a beloved leader material among… far too many anglers. While I’ve been telling people for years that Maxima is overrated, our test finally proved that definitively. It scored in 34th place with low marks in tensile strength and knot strength. The worst offense, however, is that Maxima tested above 20lbs (22.24lbs to be exact). So while it’s true that Maxima “never breaks”, the reason is that you bought 22lb test instead of 20lb. When we apply our formula to score its diameter, the true character is revealed. To its credit, it held up well in abrasion resistance, which aligns with how other ‘hard mono’ materials performed in the shootout. A 27-yard spool of Chameleon costs 22 cents per yard, making it middle-of-the-pack for price. 

Spool Design: Maxima spools are among the least user-friendly in the shootout. The spools don’t snap together, and they come with an unnecessary plastic cover that serves little purpose other than allowing them to hang on a rack. They do feature a rubber tippet band, but it is little more than a basic rubber band.

Maxima Clear Nylon

Maxima Clear, like Chameleon, performed poorly (for the same reasons) and came in 27th place in the shootout, featuring lackluster tensile strength and knot strength scores. Interestingly, it was the best in abrasion resistance, scoring 90 points. I would have bet money that a fluorocarbon material would’ve won in abrasion, but luckily I’m not a betting man. Like the other Maxima materials, Maxima Clear is priced at 22 cents per yard.

Spool Design: Clear shares the same spool design as Chameleon.

Maxima Ultragreen Nylon

Maxima Ultragreen scored in 30th place, with scores similar to the other Maxima materials. It showed subpar tensile and knot strength but above-average abrasion resistance. Like the other Maxima materials, Maxima Ultragreen is priced at 22 cents per yard.

Spool Design: Ultragreen shares the same spool design as Chameleon.

Orvis Mirage Fluorocarbon

Orvis Mirage scored midfield in 20th place overall. It earned 77 points for tensile strength, 74 points for knot strength, and 85 points for abrasion resistance. Its price is average for fluorocarbon at 46 cents per yard. 

Spool Design: Orvis and SA share the same spool design, and it's one of our favorites. Multiple spools click together securely and rotate independently. Each spool features a functional elastic tippet band with a pull tab.

Orvis Superstrong Plus Nylon

The overall 2nd place finisher is Orvis Superstrong Plus, boasting high scores across the board. It earns 91 points for tensile strength, 88 points for knot strength, and 79 points for abrasion resistance. It’s also priced very reasonably at 18 cents per yard. This nylon material seriously puts into question the merits of paying 3x more for fluorocarbon.

Spool Design: Orvis and SA share the same spool design, and it's one of our favorites. Multiple spools click together securely and rotate independently. Each spool features a functional elastic tippet band with a pull tab.

P-line Fluorocarbon

A guide favorite, P-line fluorocarbon came in 26th place overall with average tensile and abrasion scores but below-average knot strength. On the plus side, it showed the most stretch of any material in the shootout, which we found very interesting. Additionally, it's the second cheapest fluorocarbon material in the shootout at just 12 cents per yard. 

Spool Design: P-line comes in 250-yard bulk spools with no tippet band.

Rio Fluoroflex Strong Fluorocarbon

Rio Fluoroflex Strong placed 19th overall, scoring 77 points for tensile strength, 73 points for knot strength, and 86 points for abrasion resistance. This is a midfield material that’s fairly expensive at 83 cents per yard.

Spool Design: We’re fans of the Rio spools, which click together well and rotate independently. They also feature an elastic tippet band with a pull tab.

Rio Freshwater Fluoroflex Fluorocarbon

Rio Freshwater Fluoroflex placed 18th overall with a tensile strength score of 79 points and a solid abrasion resistance score of 86 points. It struggled a bit with knot strength, however, earning 71 points. It's priced at 67 cents per yard, which makes it the 7th most expensive material in the shootout. Based on our testing, it’s not clear that there’s any difference between this and fluoroflex strong. If you’re a Rio fan, save yourself some money and buy this one.

Spool Design: We’re fans of the Rio spools, which click together well and rotate independently. They also feature an elastic tippet band with a pull tab.

Rio Hard Mono Saltwater Nylon

Hard mono materials did not fare well in our shootout, solely because our scores factor in diameter, and hard mono materials are considerably thicker than supple nylon or fluorocarbon. If you only look at the breaking strength in pounds, you’d think hard monos are exceptionally strong. But in reality, they are ~1.5 times thicker than most other materials, so it's rather unfair to compare hard mono to much thinner competitors. Put another way, if we tested all materials of equal diameter, it would reveal how inferior hard monos are in strength. Rio Hard Mono Saltwater Nylon placed 35th in total combined points. It scored 46 points for tensile strength, 45 points for knot strength, and 74 points for abrasion resistance. It's priced at 23 cents per yard, which is midfield for nylon.

Spool Design: We’re fans of the Rio spools, which click together well and rotate independently. They also feature an elastic tippet band with a pull tab.

Rio Powerflex Nylon

Rio Powerflex came in 5th place overall, earning scores in the 80s across the board. It scored 84 points for tensile strength, 83 points for knot strength, and 81 points for abrasion resistance. It’s also our pick for best IGFA tippet since it’s the top performer that tested *below* 20lbs. It is fairly priced at only 18 cents per yard.

Spool Design: We’re fans of the Rio spools, which click together well and rotate independently. They also feature an elastic tippet band with a pull tab.

Rio Salmon / Steelhead Nylon

Rio Salmon / Steelhead Nylon placed 33rd out of 36 overall, losing points because of its thick diameter of 0.449mm. Some might classify this as a 25lb tippet…

Spool Design: We’re fans of the Rio spools, which click together well and rotate independently. They also feature an elastic tippet band with a pull tab.

Rio Saltwater Fluoroflex Fluorocarbon

Placing 14th overall, Rio Saltwater Fluoroflex demonstrated above-average tensile and knot strength. Abrasion resistance is where this material shines, however, earning 87 points which was the 2nd best score in the shootout. At 67 cents per yard, it's moderately expensive, but not exorbitant for fluorocarbon.

Spool Design: We’re fans of the Rio spools, which click together well and rotate independently. They also feature an elastic tippet band with a pull tab.

Rio Saltwater Mono Nylon

With a measured diameter of 0.455mm, Rio Saltwater Mono was the third-thickest material in the shootout, which cost it points in our scoring system. It placed 32nd of 35 tippets, with its highest score awarded for abrasion resistance at 85 points. Again, if you don’t mind a tippet material that's much thicker than average, you’ll be happy with Rio Saltwater Mono. However, if chasing IGFA records is your goal, you’ll want to steer clear of this oversized material. It also makes us wonder why Rio has so many tippets.

Spool Design: We’re fans of the Rio spools, which click together well and rotate independently. They also feature an elastic tippet band with a pull tab.

Scientific Anglers Absolute Clear Nylon

The winner of the shootout! SA’s absolute clear nylon surprised us with its tensile strength, knot strength, and abrasion resistance. What’s more, we measured its diameter at 0.323mm, which is (slightly) thinner than its advertised diameter of 0.33mm. Overall, it earned a whopping 260 combined points to take first place. And the best news is, at just 27 cents per yard you’re paying a fraction of the price of fluorocarbon materials and getting better performance.

Spool Design: SA’s spool design is our favorite of all the brands in the shootout, featuring interlocking spools that rotate independently, and user-friendly tippet bands with pull tabs.

Scientific Anglers Absolute Fluorocarbon

Placing 22nd overall, SA Absolute Fluorocarbon sports average scores in tensile and knot strength, and above average marks for abrasion resistance. It earns a combined score of 234 points and costs 52 cents per yard. If you’re looking for an SA fluoro, go with the ‘Supreme’ variety.

Spool Design: SA’s spool design is our favorite of all the brands in the shootout, featuring interlocking spools that rotate independently, and user-friendly tippet bands with pull tabs.

Scientific Anglers Absolute Fluorocarbon Saltwater

We’re not certain what makes SA Absolute Fluorocarbon Saltwater tippet intended for saltwater use. Compared to the regular Absolute Fluorocarbon material, it scored similarly in all categories, except for abrasion resistance, where the regular material scored higher. Perhaps the saltwater material is more invisible underwater, but we couldn’t test for light refraction. We’d be curious to know how ‘saltwater’ tippets differ from others in their manufacturing. SA Absolute Fluorocarbon Saltwater ranked 28th overall, with a price of 52 cents per yard.

Spool Design: SA’s spool design is our favorite of all the brands in the shootout, featuring interlocking spools that rotate independently, and user-friendly tippet bands with pull tabs.

Scientific Anglers Absolute Fluorocarbon Saltwater Supreme

The best fluorocarbon in the shootout! SA Fluorocarbon Saltwater Supreme is thin (0.334mm), strong, and abrasion-resistant. As we were testing, we suspected that this might have a shot at being the overall winner. Of course, we were surprised when six nylon materials outperformed it, but it's still a capable tippet material nonetheless. That being said, it is the third most expensive material in the shootout at 91 cents per yard.

Spool Design: SA’s spool design is our favorite of all the brands in the shootout, featuring interlocking spools that rotate independently, and user-friendly tippet bands with pull tabs.

Scientific Anglers Absolute Hard Mono Nylon

If this were Little League, SA Absolute Hard Mono would only earn a participation trophy for coming in dead last in the shootout. Absolute Hard Mono was the thickest material in the shootout by a considerable margin, measuring 0.567mm. Like the other hard mono materials, this oversizing hurt its scores across the board. It scored a mere 16 points for tensile strength, 13 points for knot strength, and 59 points for abrasion resistance. A 55-yard spool costs $16.95, or 31 cents per yard.

Spool Design: Absolute Hard Mono comes on a larger ‘donut’ spool, so it can’t be connected to other spools and takes up more space than conventional spools.

Scientific Anglers Absolute Leader Material Nylon

SA Absolute Leader Material placed 29th overall, scoring below average in tensile strength strength and knot strength, and just OK in abrasion resistance. At 24 cents per yard, it’s reasonably affordable for building leaders, but for the same price you could opt for Umpqua’s Perform X HD Nylon, which placed 9th overall.

Spool Design: Absolute Leader Material comes on a larger ‘donut’ spool, so it can’t be connected to other spools and takes up more space than conventional spools.

Seaguar Basix Fluorocarbon

The most affordable tippet in the shootout! That’s right, the cheapest material we tested is a fluorocarbon, priced at only 8 cents per yard on a bulk 175-yard spool. Seaguar Basix came in 25th place overall with average performance throughout the tests. Interestingly, this was one of the thickest fluorocarbon materials at 0.405mm in diameter. Like the hard mono materials, Seaguar Basix’s larger diameter didn’t help its score. If you don’t care about diameter, this is one of the best value materials you’ll find, especially for fluorocarbon.

Spool Design: Seaguar’s bulk spool isn’t very user-friendly. It cannot snap together with other spools and does not feature a tippet band.

Seaguar Tatsu Fluorocarbon

Tatsu is Seaguar’s premier fluorocarbon material that costs 32 cents per yard on a 200-yard bulk spool. It placed 13th overall with outstanding tensile strength (90 points), and great abrasion resistance (83 points). It lost some points in knot strength, where it scored 71 points. Overall, this is one of the best performance fluorocarbon tippets for the money, earning it ‘best value fluorocarbon’ in the shootout.

Spool Design: Seaguar’s bulk spool isn’t very user-friendly. It cannot snap together with other spools and does not feature a tippet band.

Shimano Mastiff FC Fluorocarbon

Another bulk-spool material, Shimano Mastiff came in 21st place overall. Although it boasts solid abrasion resistance, it was only average in knot strength and tensile strength. On the plus side, it only costs 15 cents per yard, making it the 4th cheapest material in the shootout.

Spool Design: Shimano’s bulk spool isn’t very user-friendly. It cannot snap together with other spools and does not feature a tippet band.

TroutHunter Big Game Fluorocarbon

In 10th place overall, TroutHunter Big Game was the third-best fluorocarbon material in the shootout. It scores 87 points for tensile strength, 78 points for knot strength, and 81 points for abrasion resistance. Unfortunately, it's the 5th most expensive tippet in the shootout at 82 cents per yard. 

Spool Design: While some notable fly fishermen have praised it, the truth is that for most of us, TroutHunter’s spool design isn’t very functional, even though it looks cool. The spools lock together, but sadly they don’t rotate independently. It also requires a specialized tippet bar due to its large diameter. Also, the tippet band doesn’t feature a pull tab like others, so unless you’re willing to buy a 3rd party band, don’t try to wind the tippet back onto the spool.

Umpqua Deceiver HD Big Game Fluorocarbon

Taking 8th place overall, Umpqua Deceiver HD Big Game Fluoro proved to be strong, and fairly abrasion-resistant. It earned 87 points for tensile strength, 80 points for knot strength, and 79 points for abrasion resistance. At 60 cents per yard, it's expensive, but not unreasonable considering its performance.

Spool Design: The Umpqua spools click together but don’t rotate independently. However, we appreciate the silicone tippet bands which feature a handy pull tab.

Umpqua Deceiver HD Big Game Fluorocarbon Pink

Apparently, the color additive Umpqua uses to make their Big Game Fluoro turn pink does affect its performance, as the pink version scored considerably lower than its clear counterpart. In 23rd place overall, Deceiver HD Pink scored OK in tensile strength and abrasion resistance, but just average in knot strength. To be fair, the hype around this pink tippet is its invisibility underwater, and we couldn’t test that claim. Perhaps the advantage you’d get concerning light refraction is worth its lower strength. Let us know in the comments if you have experience with this or other pink tippet materials.

Spool Design: The Umpqua spools click together but don’t rotate independently. However, we appreciate the silicone tippet bands which feature a handy pull tab.

Umpqua Perform X HD Nylon

In 9th place overall, Umpqua Perform X HD Nylon proved to be a strong material with equally robust abrasion resistance. While this tippet is *very* thick at 0.431mm, it still scored well because of its great performance across the board. As you’d expect with such a diameter, this tippet tested well above 20lbs at a whopping 29.02 pounds - the highest of any tippet in the shootout. It also took 25.06 pounds of pressure to break a uni knot, the second-best in the shootout. Additionally, it had the highest wind knot strength in the shootout at 23.34 pounds. While it’s an impressive material, it’s hard to recommend a tippet that clearly falsifies its true lb test.

Spool Design: The Umpqua spools click together but don’t rotate independently. However, we appreciate the silicone tippet bands which feature a handy pull tab.

Varivas Super Tippet Master Spec II Fluorocarbon

Although Varivas isn’t a popular brand in the US, their overall performance was solid. Master Spec II placed 15th overall, with excellent marks in tensile strength (87 points), and abrasion resistance (85 points). Its knot strength score was just average at 71 points. This is a decent midfield performer with a price of 55 cents per yard. Could we get a new name though?

Spool Design: Varivas’ spool design leaves much to be desired, as the spools don’t lock together and feature an elastic/yarn tippet band with no pull tab.

Varivas Seabass Shock Leader Premium Fluorocarbon

Every Varivas material we tested showcased excellent tensile strength, and Seabass Shock Leader Fluoro was no exception at 88 points. This Japanese material ranks 16th overall in the shootout and costs 49 cents per yard.

Spool Design: Varivas’ spool design leaves much to be desired, as the spools don’t lock together and feature an elastic/yarn tippet band with no pull tab.

Varivas Seabass Shock Leader VEP-F Nylon

Placing 4th in the shootout, Varivas Seabass Shock Leader was one of the nylon materials that impressed us with its tensile and knot strength scores in the 80s. At 34 cents per yard, you’ll get better performance than every fluorocarbon in the shootout with this underrated material.

Spool Design: Varivas’ spool design leaves much to be desired, as the spools don’t lock together and feature an elastic/yarn tippet band with no pull tab.

Varivas Super Trout Advance Extreme Shock Leader Nylon

Taking 3rd place in the shootout, Varivas Super Trout Extreme was right up there with SA absolute Clear and Orvis Superstrong Plus in overall points. Had the Varivas been just a smidge thinner in diameter, it could have been the overall winner. Interestingly, this material has an orange tint, similar to Maxima Chameleon. Although its name is a mouthful, you’ll get exceptional performance from Super Trout Extreme for 30 cents per yard.

Spool Design: Varivas’ spool design leaves much to be desired, as the spools don’t lock together and feature an elastic/yarn tippet band with no pull tab.

Varivas Super Trout Advance Big Trout Shock Leader VSP Fluorocarbon

Placing 17th overall, Varivas Big Trout Shock Leader ranked in the midfield for fluorocarbon materials, scoring 88 points for tensile strength, but losing some points in knot strength and abrasion resistance. Overall, it’s a decent value material at 49 cents per yard.

Spool Design: Varivas’ spool design leaves much to be desired, as the spools don’t lock together and feature an elastic/yarn tippet band with no pull tab.

Conclusion

There’s a lot to learn about tippet material based on this shootout. First, don’t assume price equates to performance. As we can see with materials like Seaguar Tatsu and Orvis Superstrong Plus, affordable materials can offer exceptional performance, saving you money. Secondly, nylon materials can offer similar or better performance than fluorocarbon. We plan on doing a dedicated ‘nylon vs fluorocarbon’ head-to-head comparison soon. Lastly, not all 20lb tippets are labeled honestly. Examining hard mono materials, for example, many of them were considerably thicker than average and tested well above 20lb in tensile strength. This matters for world-record enthusiasts and in situations where diameter is important, like spooky fish, as well as IGFA record-chasers. 

Overall, we found the results of the 20lb tippet shootout compelling, and we hope you find value in it. Tippet material is one of the most important pieces of equipment for any angler. It’s something you need every time you fish and is often the weakest link between you and the fish of a lifetime. Consider this shootout as a helpful guide when shopping for your next big trip, or for your home waters. Whether you want the strongest tippet available, or the most cost-effective option, we hope this tippet shootout helps you find the right material for your fishing needs and budget.