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LET'S TALK LEADERS
Recently I had a rather animated discussion with a local fishing outfitter. Not exactly a novice, he has been guiding fly fishing clients for over 30 years, and over those years has probably spent more time helping clients connect to wild trout on our local rivers and spring creeks than most of us will spend fishing in two lifetimes. While he doesn't like the title 'expert' anyone that knows him would consider that he fits the title.
Good article, Neil. Long ago I read a piece written by George Harvey regarding his style of leaders. He wrote of sticking pieces of thick mono into beetles, and floating them down to Pennsylvania spring creek trout. They gobbled the beetles without hesitation. His point, of course, was that the bugs were still acting naturally, not being tethered to a leader and line. Thus the need to control drag trumped the diameter of the tippet.
Chuck
Gees, Chuck. I can't believe you mentioned George Harvey. He immediately came to mind while reading Neil's article. You beat me to the punch. I once read that George Harvey never felt it was necessary to use any tippet smaller than 4x for nymphing. I'm not sure about his thoughts on dry flies. Even though I know that, I can't make myself stick to 4x in skinny water. I always go to 5x for nymphing during the summer months thinking it won't spook as many fish in the clearer water, but I think 4x would be just fine. How about you, do you nymph with 4x in skinny water?
Bruce
Neil,
Good article. My standard leader for the Clark Fork is a 3X Rio tapered mono leader with 3X fluorocarbon tippet for the first fly and 4X for the dropper or second fly. If I run out of 3X, a 2X will work just as well. On smaller dry flies I do go down to a 4X, seldom 5X. But then the Clark Fork produces some rather large trout, as does the Missouri, and I like to get the fish in fairly fast so I don't want to use real thin leaders.
Larry ---sagefisher---
I believe a lot of fly guys go overboard on this leader/tippet thing. I think that most of your angling can be done by tying your fly directly to the leader. Most of my fishing is done this way. I belong to the KISS (keep it simple stupid) club and usually use either 4 or 6 lb Stren. It has worked for me for over 50 years.
Here is a link to some words of widsom on this subject: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/arti.../cst080403.php
Tim
I am with Tim on this. Use furled leaders with a couple of feet of 5lb mono on it.
But Kiss for me is Keep it Simple for Stupid.
Rick
The Kiss Club. Rick explained it better than I. I did not mean to imply that anybody other than myself is a member.
Tim
:pGentlemen, Gentlemen....it means Keep It Simple Sir.....be a little respectful:p:p....Oh wrong icon....
Tim, are you saying you don't use a tapered leader to nymph you just tie a piece of mono to your butt end and fish? I was actually just experimenting with something like that on Saturday. I broke off my tapered dry fly leader, which I tie with pieces of Stren, and decided to go back to nymphing. Instead of changing spools to my nymph line I just put one long piece of 5x tippet on and began to nymph. I started to wonder if just using one piece of untapered leader got my nymph down quicker and with less shot. I also felt there was more feel from through my leader to my nymph. What do you think?Quote:
Originally Posted by Panman
Bruce
Do you think leader turnover is important in highstick nymphing? Why not just use about 7 to 9 feet of an untapered 4lb. mono leader like Stren such as Tim does? You really don't do classic casting when highsticking nymphs. What do you guys think?
Bruce
Bruce,
When nymphing, high sticking or not, you want a leader that has enough backbone to turn over, meaning to control the nymph and not have the nymph control the leader. So, you would not use a really thin leader on a nymph and yes, you can get away with just using an untapered leader. I simply use tapered leaders on all my flies except streamers, but it is not necessary when nymphing.
Larry ---sagefisher---
Bruce:
I have played with tapered leaders off and on through the years and for the type of fishing I do I find it about impossible to tell the difference. Most of my stream fishing is with wet flies or nymphs.
Tim
I think the whole "Use 8X tippet so you don't spook these fish in the clear skinny water" is only there to scare the noobs off of going to that location. I have never felt the need to use anything smaller than 6X..and even that, rarely.
Wanna try an experiment? Put a piece of 7X Flouro into a glass of water. Can you see it? So can the fish, they live there, and make their living off of their vision. If a trout is more "educated" he is more likely to look for stuff like leaders...of any size. And we still keep catching, even the educated ones.
My point? Don't over think this. Trouts may not live in ugly places...but they still ain't very bright, either. How do I know? I can catch them, therefore they must be kinda stoopid.
In The Dry Fly Code, St. Vincent Marinaro recounts his delight at getting some 5X gut strands delicately slipped to him by a friend. It did not get any finer. 5X gut broke at 1/2 pound or so in those days.
Kwitchyabellyachin!