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Leaders
I was wondering the opinion of the fine folks on this site on hand tying your leaders. The post about the poorly tied leader led me to go ahead and post to see what everyone thinks. I read in a magazine that hand tied knotted leaders are better than I guess the ones you buy. Is there any merit to this, or just a good line to get you to buy the leader kits? I could see one benefit as maybe saving money, but again I don't know. Thanks. Looking forward to the MI fish in.
Drew
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A bum-legged old man and a drunk. That's all you got?
That's WHAT I got.
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The 'knotless' ones you buy... don't have ..knots! knots to catch on grass, weeds, guides, tip-tops,,, or to break. I kind of like them,,, http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/wink.gif
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Tie a few leaders so you learn how to make the knots well. Eventually you will be using knotless leaders because the knots are undesirable.-Migs
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In my opinion, knotless leaders have very little if any merit.
In the course of an evening, I might change my leader configuration five or six times depending on the situation.
With a knotless leader, you don't have the flexibility of changing your leader formula to match the conditions and if/when you do, you essentially have a knotted leader anyway.
Take your time when you are tying your knots and if tied properly, the fail rate will be next to never.
With a permanent butt section attached to my fly line and an assortment of leader material from 4x down, I can match any condition that comes my way.
Your opinion may vary,
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Maybe the knotted leaders are better for the author of the article. You will discover for yourself what works for you. IMHO some magazine articles are tainted with nonsense.
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I have tied my own for many years.
IMO, tying your own is the only way to get a proper presentation in multible situations.
I tie 7 1/2' nymph leaders with built in indcators
I tie 10' and 14' leaders George Harvey style for dry fly fishing
I tie both long and short leaders with heavy butts to turn over bulky flys
I tie leaders for salt water, warm water, still water, fast water ,short, long, stiff, supple. You name it.
When you tie your own there are things you learn about leader construction that would nor occur to you if you just bought them.
Just like tying your own flys, leader construction is something every serious fly fisherman should do to more fully understand the sport.
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Friends don't let friends drive gas hogs
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I think much of the answer depends on what you fish for and how you fish. Personally, I can't stand using knotted leaders any more. As previously mentioned, the knots will catch anything and everything imaginable. If you do any fishing in the winter and have to deal with ice in the guides, a knotted leader can be devastating. I have lost many nice fish from knots hanging up in the guides or the ice in the guides.
Now if I lived in an area where ice in the guides or moss, etc wasn't an issue I think I might totally be into knotted leaders. You can tailor a leader to specific situations and doing so can become a hobby of its own. Programs such as LeaderCalc make the process interesting and it can be very rewarding in the right situations. Even so, I haven't tied my own in about two years.
If you haven't tried it and are interested, I suggest you do. Only you can be the ultimate arbitor of whether it is for you or a waste of time. If you are going to get started, I suggest that you don't buy a kit though. I think you would be better served by buying your butt and tippet material in the sizes that you are going to need for the specific leaders you want to tie versus some sort of kit. Like fly tying, if you "catch the bug," you will end up buying more than you ever need in every size and combination imagineable.
Here's a link to the LeaderCalc program if you are interested: [url=http://makeashorterlink.com/?J2CE1242D:f6c67]http://makeashorterlink.com/?J2CE1242D[/url:f6c67]
Also keep in mind that you can use a knotless leader and "tune" it based upon your current situation just as easily as you can a knotted leader; you just won't have so many knots to deal with.
Hope this helps in whatever you decide doing. Enjoy the journey and may you learn something during the process.
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Warren F.
Bozeman, MT
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Funny thing. I agree with all of you guys. Knotless and knotted. I think it depends a lot on where, what for, how etc. you fish. Sometimes I use the same leader for several trips, just re-tie the fly each time. (Saltwater salmon fishing) http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/wink.gif But foe Rocky Ford,,, lots of tippets.
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JC,
I think that is the crux of the problem; there is no clear, definitive answer. The same holds true with many other issues that occur on this board. That's what makes forums such as this so special. People can share their experiences with each other and make up their own minds depending on how it directly effects them and simply let the cards fall where they may as it relates to their own personal fishing experiences.
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Warren F.
Bozeman, MT
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I love reading posts like this where there is no universal opinion. I doubt I am alone when I conclude after reading such opposite points of view that it therefore really doesn't make any difference what you use.
As my brother, the best caster I have ever seen, once said: "the best leader to use is the one that is on the end of the fly line". I remember inquireing further by asking him what leader is on the end of his line? He responded: "the one I put on there last year". He's always been a wise guy *grin*.
For the record, I use a 5-section knotted leader to which I attach a 3x,4x,or 5x tippet for wet fly fishing and a two-part tippet for dries.
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Peter F
www.fishingwithflies.com
pfrailey@hotmail.com