Knots for Stranded/Coated Wire Leaders
I've been chasing some nice Chain Pickerel lately and have found a wire bite leader to be a necessity for me.
I have settled on an Albright for the mono to wire connection but a simple knot that draws up nicely to the hook eye is a pain. I've been using a Palomar because it doesn't involve a lot of wraps but the coating on the wire I use makes the knot bind at the last minute so I gotta figure there is a better option.
Any tricks or suggestions other than skipping the coated wire or wire altogether?
Thanks in advance!
Nylon wire connection to hook
I learned Larry Dahlberg's use of nylon coated wire as a bite tippet. He connects the leader to the wire with an Albright knot. Then tie on the fly by running a couple of inches of wire through the eye, twist it several times and then take a lighter or match and heat the nylon coated wire. This will cause the nylon to melt and and cross link itself, making an almost indistructable connection.
Practice it until you don't set the nylon on fire and I think you will find it holds very well.
To change flies just snip off the fly and use the same method to tie on the next one.
This works quite well and saves a lot of time and material.
iaflyfisher
Central Iowa Fly Fishers