Scientific Anglers released their all-new Absolute Tippet this fall at the IFTD show in Denver. During the IFTD show, Scientific Anglers took home the award for Best New Leader/Tippet with Absolute Trout Tippet. So we wanted to learn a little bit more about the tippet so we asked Scientific Angler’s own R+D Manager Josh Jenkins a couple of questions.
Flylords: How is Absolute Tippet (Mono) different from SA’s previous mono tippet?
Josh: Absolute monofilament is completely new material for SA. The magic in creating a great monofilament boils down to material blends and coatings. There are a bunch of varieties and grades of nylon that can be blended together to obtain different properties. For Absolute, we selected a blend to obtain the highest possible wet knot strength. We emphasize wet knot strength because it is the metric that best represents how tippet is used in the field: it will always be used on water and it will always have a knot in it. Once we selected an optimal material, we found a coating that further enhances those properties. The coating is there to limit water absorption (which weakens nylon) and to reduce friction generated heat from knots.
Flylords: What improvements can anglers expect from the new Absolute tippets?
Josh: We’ve been able to achieve a 30% strength gain in wet knot strength over our older nylon material, so anglers have a huge advantage in fishing strength out of the gate. Our coating also means that Absolute has a longer shelf life, so it won’t degrade as quickly as other monofilaments when it’s sitting on a pack or in a boat. We’ve also created new retaining bands for our tippet that are made of soft rubber. Compared to older, metal grommet style bands, these provide better protection from the environment and they eliminate the possibility of weakening tippet through contact with metal.
Flylords: Tell us a little bit about the Absolute Stealth tippet line.
Josh: Absolute stealth tippet uses the same base material and coating, but has a light olive tint. It sounds counterintuitive, because a fully clear tippet seems stealthier, but the truth is that all monofilament casts a shadow when it is floating on the surface of water. From underneath, floating tippet looks like a dark shadow, and on sunny days it can even be fairly reflective. The olive tint helps to absorb some of that light, so fish see less line flash, especially on high sun days.
Flylords: Will Guide-Size spools be offered?
Josh: 100M guide spools are coming in 2021, so keep an eye out!
Flylords: Any other products we should be on the lookout for heading into 2020?
Josh: We’ve added our popular general-purpose Infinity taper into Amplitude, so that is now available with texturing. We also took what we learned from creating the freshwater Infinity and made a saltwater version. Infinity Salt is available in Amplitude and Amplitude Smooth. It has a longer head length than most of our salt lines. It’s great for accurate, long shots but it still has enough mass to turn over large flies and combat wind.
To get your hands on the all-new line of tippet check out SA online and on Instagram.
Photos from Jesse Packwood of Team Flylords on their recent adventure to British Columbia.
