I have heard of that issue, but have not seen it in my spools. I've even seen tests of climbing ropes testing lower after years in storage My tippet is stored in the proverbial cool dry place away from light so that might help.

Also, I'm told that fluoro tippet is bad for the environment because it takes eons to break down. Can we assume it degrades slower than mono tippet on the spool as well?

I have nylon that is several years old and still fine and I have had premium brand tippet that was crap from the day I bought it. What I do is try to break it before using it and if it feels good try to break it again after tying it on and then try to break the fly off before casting it. If I have one failure, I reckon it is me tying a bad knot and try again but if repeated a few times I discard that spool of junk whether new or old. Do this testing all the time and there will be some well known brands you steer clear of. I really don't count on the label information as to diameter or strength, I measure before each use and use according to diameter not test-rating. I find that in general if I stay with the same brand/material throughout the leader taper that I will get better results than if I mix brands or materials. Maxima Chameleon suits me down to 5x- 0.006" and if going smaller several of the tippet specific brands suffice. At those smaller sizes I'm very careful to test all knots.
Umpqua has been good in my experience.

Thanks for the replies folks
It’s weird. I’ve got old chameleon l use for butt section with no issues ever.

Trev I usually measure diameter too however some tippet now comes in sealed packages and like you l never trust the stated dia. until l measure it myself.

I use Seaguar Fluoro too but again every time l use it I’m reminded of that never degrading thing.

I have some tapered leaders I’ve had on lines for years . I tie a small perfection loop on the end so l can loop a tippet section on. Oddly I’ve never had issues with the tapered leader tips rotting.
Just bought a couple new spools of the Trouthunter evo tippet so I’m hoping!

I don't think I've never had any nylon leader material go bad in storage except premium tippet material. I think it is linked to the limpness, with super limp materials being short life materials.
Stalkermike, I have that problem trying to use fluorocarbon myself, it works fine, but I can't feel good about the chances of a break off that has a half life of eternity. I shouldn't let it bother me because no one else does or it would be banned. still ...

Karstopo...I’ve only had one spool of bad fluoro and that was years ago when it first came out. Right out of the store a small tug would break it.

Trev. I also think about all the other synthetic junk we lose such as dubbings, assorted body materials and the like. Foams. The list seems never ending.

Paveglass. I’ve been using Varivas tapered leaders with great success but l tie my own for my 2 weights as l start out with a .016” butt section.

I think I’ll just go with the Seaguar 200 yd. spool red label

Michael

I have had good luck with Trout Hunter and just bought some of the new Evo and hope it’s good as the old stuff.........Aurelio

i knot my own leaders and use Maxima Cameleon for heavier than 0x, and Umpqua flouro for 0x and lighter.

I havent bought leader material in at least 5years, and maybe more like 8.

I keep the spools stored in my game bag, never exposed to light. I think that helps.

Fluro is great stuff but you should take care when tightening that knot,I think in haste or just being complacent we tighten that knot dry or force it and the wraps get out of order etc.I make my own leaders and carry spools in my bag to cobble one together on the bank or in the boat.Cant remember the last time i had line break at the knot.I try to tie my basic knots not even looking at them and feeling it all slide into place ,you can feel when the knot is hanging up more than see it.I still mostly bite the tags off when tying a fly or lure on.Drives my wife nuts.Yeah and i hate people who leave line all over the place.Cant do much if its in a tree tho.

I've had 6x go bad, but to be fair it was over a decade old..

These days buy 100m spools of Maxima green 8lb for bass/carp tippet, Stroft for all trout sizes, and respool onto old Orvis tippet spools.
I have some 6x and 7x fluoro which gets used maybe once every few years, when my friends drag me out to the technical tailwaters and I can't make 5x work.

mono in sunlight (UV) will degrade to less than half its strength in a couple hundred hours of exposure. For lost pieces of line outside, that is less than a year in most fishing environments. Mono will also lose some strength just through water absorption. This makes it easy for birds etc trapped in coils of loose line to break free. Fluoro basically doesn't degrade. So I try to avoid it mostly.
These numbers are mentioned frequently but I can't find a definitive citation.

Go ribs1. My leader and tippet material is reasonably well stored, and I don't fuss about how old it is. If I have a good fish "break off," a poorly tied knot is usually to blame. Time was I could tie an 18 on to 6X at night without a flashlight, but now I have a hard job to do that in good light between poor feel in my fingertips and changes in my eyesight. I'm careful with knots, though, and still don't tie a sloppy one often. I think the other cause is wear on the leader and tippet from the very popular but very imbalanced rigs that produce a lot of herky-jerky casting and, with weighted rigs, abrasion on the tippet. Too soft and too long leaders yield "wind" knots, the face-saving name for casting knots. If the material ties and survives a pull-hard test, it is breaking for another reason than deterioration. Someplace--I see it every few years--I have a spools of Gladding 5X and 6X--from the late 1970s. They passed that test on the few times I've used them since then, and so do various spools 6x and up in Cortland and a few other brands accumulated over the last 20 years. So anyhow, I'm not fussy about the age of the material, but I am very careful to tie balanced leaders that don't snap and whip the fly or the material around. They fish better anyway.

BlackHackle, 3x for dries gives most of us visions of a bug big enough to pick up and carry off the trout. For the most part, we use the biggest tippet size that will fit our hook eyes.

The day after l lost those trout l sat down with those spools of tippet and spools of new tippet.
Tied the 4x to 3x several times using different knots and lubing with a bit o spit or Knot Sense . Pulled the line up slowly too.
Guess what? Same result every time. 4x went ping! The stuff’s rotten.
The new tippet....no problem.
From now on nylon goes out at end of each season or maybe just go to Seaguar.

BlackHackle. Quite often I’ve found 6x will make the difference in getting trout or not.