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Does anyone still use older nylon leaders? I have a large assortment of knotted and knotless Orvis made ones. They always have been an annoyance to me by having a memory for being coiled up.
Is there a solution or should I junk them? Stretching them to heat them in a folded piece of rubber is only a partial fix. Thank.
I'm not sure, but I think I heard somewhere that bringing them to a boil in water and cooling slowly works. I'm also not sure if that wouldn't ruin them. If you're going to junk them anyway, perhaps you have nothing to loose. Let us know.
The folded rubber thing is a great way to ruin your leader (friction=heat=reduced strength). Stretching six inches at a time between your hands by simply pulling on each section is much better, and also a great way to see if the leader is still sound. If by "old leaders" you're talking about more than 5 years old, those things are almost certainly shot.
Yes. Still use them and w/o any difficulties.
I agree with Longs for Cutts, don't use the rubber leader straighteners, you will burn and shred your leader. If you pull it through your hand on clenched fists and you start to feel your skin burning then you know you are pulling too fast, so slow down. If you are burning your skin you are also burning the leader and it will weaken it. That is the problem with the rubber or leather type, you can't feel when you are damaging the leader. As to how old the leaders are, if they have been stored in the dark they may be alright to use. Give them a good pull and if it breaks then don't use them. If they have had any amount of sunlight on them they the UV rays have done their damage. Why risk it? As for getting them wet, if that is what you want to try, then I would use warm tap water out of your faucet and let them soak in that a while since mono does absorb water. Then let it dry a bit and give it a slow pull through your hand to pull out the memory of the coils.
Larry ---sagefisher---
I just give it 2 or 3 quick tugs, after a cast or 2 it's fine
In the storage areas of the fly shop I help operate I found dozens of Orvis, Cortland, and Scientific Anglers leaders from the early 1990's through early 2000's. All were stored away from light.
I have been using a lot of these leaders since I found them in 2009. We don't sell them.
I have found that most of these leaders were just fine though a few of the Cortland leaders did seem to have weaker tippet section.
Most of these could be straightened just by giving a good pull with the hands. For the rest, I just tape them up taught on a wall using blue painters tape. They usually relax over night.
On a few, yes I have pulled them through rubber - but only the butt and mid sections. This may weaken the mono but as long as these sections are still stronger than the tippet all is good.
Some of these leaders are now 20+ years old and are still fine. I use them a lot for local fishing for bass and panfish and stocked trout. I also use them when fishing smaller trout waters.
For old leaders I find with weakened tippet sections I just cut off the factory tippet and tie on new tippet material.
When I fish somewhere where i might have a consistent shot at trophy fish I do use new leaders.
The technologies used to produce tapered leaders has improved over the years so newer leaders may have improved characteristics like more supple tippets and better knot strength and strength for tippet diameter but these old leaders work fine for me in many situations.