Are furled leaders for real or are they just a fad that will pass?
All the writeups and video clips site their advantages yet supplier's catalogs still show only a few. :confused:
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Are furled leaders for real or are they just a fad that will pass?
All the writeups and video clips site their advantages yet supplier's catalogs still show only a few. :confused:
I find that I like shorter furled leaders. I got some that are 5 ft 9 inches long.
Work great for me.
Rick
My furled leaders are 5' long and I love them. I think the reason you don't see too many advertised is that they are so inexpensive to make. I love the way they lay out a fly and that they don't have any memory at all when using tying thread. The fact that they are less than 10? each is a BIG plus. I use light colored tying thread for dry flies, and dark thread for wet flies. Actually, I gave two away the day before yesterday, and replaced them with two more today.
Ray;
Furled leaders have been around for hundreds of years. Walton's Complete Angler talks about Furled Leaders. Back then they were made from horse hair. We had a Booth at Trout Fest in Townsend, TN this past weekend demonstrating and selling furled leader. The flyfishers were very knowledgeable about Furled Leaders and liked what we had to offer. Old world material meeting the material of the new world! Excelent Marriage!!
I spent 2 days answering your questions while kaboom1 showed how they were made. We had many visitors that only use furled leaders and liked ours.
We even had one visitor that still makes them from Horse Hair and fish's them from a bamboo pole!!
It was an awsome weekend!!
I've been using furled leaders for 5 years now and absolutely love them. They aren't a commercial hit because it takes just minutes to make one and are incredibly inexpensive to make - so you can experiment to find just what you want. I have some that are now 4 years old and are fishing just fine. I just add tippet as needed and keep fishing them - and I fish 100+ days a year. I've never broken one but did have to replace one after I got it caught up in a bush and it frayed out on me (operator error).
There are lots of folks here that can help you to build a furling board to make your own, just ask! Also - just make them out of 6/0 uni thread and you're good to go.
I've settled on 5' length for everything from 3 - 5 wt. In 6 - 8wt I do like them about 6.5 feet long - but that's just my preference. There are no hard and fast rules for furled leaders.
Fad? No. Great idea that's been rediscovered - absolutely!
FAD? Only time will tell.
So if I am using a 6'6" 3wt, the furled leader is 5' how long is the tippet and what size? Just asking because I have a couple and want to make sure they will work with that rod
NewTyer1
Not knowing what the leaders are made of I say start with at least 5' of tippet, you can always cut it back. A furled leader will turn over a lot more tippet than the momo slinky"s
Thanks. I have one in mono and one in thread
This is for Ray also
Last weekend I was using a 6' 6" mono leader made from 4# test line and 6' of fluorocarbon 5X tippet. startedwith a Adams parachute size 14, no problem casting but the creek chubs loved it!! I simply switched to a BHPT and a strike indicator without changing anything else and went on to catch ever bigger Creek Chubs!!;-)
Without attempting to sound "snippy" - that's the nice thing about furled leaders - you can try just about anything.
For example - I fish a 5' furled leader on a 3wt and tie on 2 feet of 4x and fish a streamer. I can then cut that off and tie on 5' of 6x or 7x and fish a midge....or I can then cut that off and tie on 2' of 5x to a hopper and then tie on 2' of 7x to the hopper and fish a midge dropper - all with the same furled leader. I don't step down unless I fish a dry/dropper. I usually just loop-to-loop the tippet size I want straight to the furled leader and fish it. Works great for me and no one has ever tapped me on the shoulder and said "Son you're doin' it wrong"....
Okay, here is one for you. I like to stillwater deep nymph. Up to 30'. Now I casn do this with a Type VII line but I like the floating and the indicator (I use the slip indicators) Using the slip indicator, knots are not a good thing, so drill the peg hole out larger. Pretty much impossible to cast a 20' to 30' leader made out of straight mono or fluoro so, I found that a nice 7 furled leader, and the drilled out indicator, add 13' to 18' of tippet or in my cast P-Line fluoro, I can now actually cast this. Not pretty but doable. 30' is still a tuff one. Got me thinking about the new long leaders. So a friend is trying a 7'er that he is tapering a tippet to make an 18' leader. He liked the first try.
Ray;
Here in lays the rub!! Frank flyfishes for Bass, Joni fishes lakes, John Scott fishes mountian streams with Dry Flys (Mostly) and I fish Tail Waters with weighted wet flys sans indicator (mostly). So,, when we each extoll the virtues of our leaders you must consider how and what we fish for. Each of us has the perfect furled leader and will argue that to the death! :evil: But!! It is for our style of fishing on our home waters! The amazing thing is that we can all design a furled leader that will fit our needs.
How exactly do you make furled leaders and is there a how to video. Everytime I look, All I find is the guy that just twist the line together with out a jig. I am pretty sure that is not the correct proceedure. Any good plans out there to make a jig and maybe some pictures. I am curious about these and would like to give it a try. One other question, when using thread to furl a leader, doesn't the thread leader get soaked through and sink rather than float?
NewTyer 1,
Try this: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/prorevw/kathyscott.php
That is how I got started. She has a great DVD!
Newtyer1
I have a video on making furled leaders. I also have the plans for a board in photo bucket as well as a photo tutorial on making shorb loops. I'll get a pm off to you tomorrow.
Thread leaders can be treated with any floatant to keep them from sinking, so can mono leaders!!
P.S. You have a good thing going with your Fish-In. I'll be headed up to the Michigan Fish-In that day or I would be there!
warren beat me by 2 minutes!!:-D
Kathy Scotts video got me going. Awesome and simple. Oh and I guide on rivers and all my clients use a furled leader,they are that good. Not meaning mine are that good (but they are ;-) ) But any furled leader because you can cast just the leader, cannot do that with a taper mono or fluoro. Just makes it that much nicer. I also am one tha fishes 28's through 32's in the winter and the furled leader can lay it on water as soft as floss.
John has provided an excellent answer, to which I would add that when new they can be saturated with materials that help water proof them if the little bit of sink is a problem. If so treated, they will need to be periodically 'dressed'; not unlike a silk fly line. I use Guetermann polyester thread for my leaders. Like John said, they tend to sink slightly ("ride just below the surface"). I do not find this to be a problem.
Cheers!
MUCILIN RED....http://www.riverbum.com/Mucilin-Fly-Dressing/
Easy to carry, easy to apply.
MUCILIN GREEN should work just as well. The concerns about the silicon in the Green 'tin' is unfounded; especially if you use glass or graphite rods. The concern is VALID if you are talking about bamboo BEFORE the varnish is applied! Silicon on any surface to be painted or varnished can cause "fish eyes" in the coating material; as the auto makers found out some years ago. It should NOT harm the dried finish on a bamboo rod. Thus, the recommendation of Red Label is apparently based on a partial truth.
I venture that Mink Oil will work just as well! I have used Barbour's THORNPROOF DRESSING with good results. Any fly line dressing will also work.
Cheers!
True Sage on the Mucilin, but there is a choice and don't have to worry bought the red. Great stuff.
and there is always Albolene