Just got back from the National Fly Fishing Championships in Fergus. We had river sessions on the Grand and Conestogo Rivers, which can get technical with the need for small flies and thin tippet. I personally use fluorocarbon for lakes (Hanak) and co-polymer for the rivers.

I had been using the Arcay tippet for a few weeks before the event and was amazed at the strength for diameter and that it wasn't shiny. There are other co-polymers on the market which are well known and very good, but they tend to be flashy and need to be degreased with mud regularly. They also tend to be thicker than the diameter on the package – take a micrometer and check, you'll be surprised. Thin tippet also allows you to get small flies down fast, a game changer.

Photo: Ian (first on the left) with his teammates from Team Canada White: 2018 National Champions of Canada 

The Arcay tippet is truly amazing, much thinner than anything I've seen with diameters measured down to 3 decimal places!!! I was using 0.09 mm in the competition (which is about 8x). In one beat I  hooked a large small mouth bass and not wanting to waste time I wanted the fish off the hook fast (out of season and this was a trout comp!), I put the bricks to this fish.  The tippet didn't break and this fish pulled harder than any trout over 20 inches in the Grand river...that moment I knew this was the only tippet I was using. I must have for any river angler.

About Ian:

Ian has been fly fishing for over 30 years. A firm believer that you never stop learning, Ian spends all his free time improving his fly fishing skills and has had the benefit of learning from some of the best anglers across the globe, including World Champions and guiding mentorship from the late Ian Colin James.

Ian has a passion for competitive angling and coached the first all women team to compete in the Canadian National Championships. He is a captain of a fly fishing team and member of Team Canada, having the honour to represent Canada internationally in multiple events, most recently as part of Team Canada’s first ever Gold Medal performance, winning the 2016 Commonwealth championships. Ian earned the individual Silver Medal at the 2017 Canadian Fly Fishing Championships.
He has been guiding for the past 15 years, along with being pro-staff for the Franklin Club fishery. Ian is a certified FFF Fly Casting instructor.