Furled, or not?

[OttoDita]

I'm curious as to how many of you use furled leaders and prefer them....
Before I start buying bunches of mono and everything else and make leaders, I'd like to determine which types of leaders I want to stick with. I never heared about furled until recently, and never thought about it until right now, well...30 seconds ago.

What are the pros and cons? Everyone has been very helpful with all my other noob questions, and since I'm just about set on leaders, I need to know about furled. One last question though, do furled follow the same pattern of the other? Such as 60% of 20lb, 20% of 10lb etc etc?

Thanks a ton,
Shane

[ducksterman]

Oh, Shane...you are movin fast.....

[Normand]

try doing a search on this site for lots of information on furled leaders

[Jim Sentell]

OttoDita; might be a good idea to buy one and try it before you invest in all the materials. I bought three different sizes from Feather-Craft and used the 7' on French Creek (PA) this past weekend. It turned over my roll-cast perfectly and laid out the fly well when I could get a short cast in.

But, you might not like them.


Jim

[Bamboozle]

Shane:

Like all things fly fishing there are LOTS of opinions on furled leaders. Take Normand's advice and do a search on this site. After you digest all of that; you really have to try a few to make up your own mind whether or not you will like them for your particular type of fishing.

I will say that I don't think that a furled leader is the answer to all fly fishing problems nor do I think it is the only leader worth using; but I will say that I use them and LOVE them! But it is the THREAD furled leaders I am crazy about, not the mono versions but I use them only for trout fishing so your mileage may vary if you are pursuing other species.

I recommend you invest a few bucks and buy a mono furled leader from anyone who sells the Blue Sky leaders or try one of the Feather Craft mono leaders. After that, ask someone who furls to make you a THREAD furled leader to try as well. The best advice I can offer you is DON'T make up your mind until you try a THREAD leader. I don't furl so I can't help you there but there are plenty who do that may offer their creations for sale to experiment with before you take the plunge into making them yourself.

BTW - I am interested too. .

[MikieFinn]

Made my own furled leader at the beginning of last year. Thanks FAOL!!!!!!!
That is all I use ever since. Mono, thread and PowerPro superbraid are the materials I've tried so far. Thread is awsome for anything below 5wt. Power pro for bigger rigs if you want floating leader. mono for sinking.

[dudley]

I've been using my own hand tied mono leaders for over 20 years.
I use probably a dozen different lengths ,diameters and tapers, maybe more.
For me the hand tied leaders are a lot more practical and I have little reason to switch to the "latest thing"

Then again, I used a fiberglass rod until well into the 90's before I got one of those new fangled graphite poles.

[JohnScott]

Otto -

Bam hit the nail on the head.

I fish only for trout, and for everything other than big nymphs, I use thread furled leaders. When fishing big weighted nymphs I will go to mono, usually a home made knotted tapered leader. A heavy duty thread furled leader will handle a size 6 weighted stone fly nymph, for example, but it is a bit more work to get it where you want it, and if the wind is blowing it can be a real hassle.

There are several fairly recent threads on the Bulletin Board that probably will give you more information and insight into the process of making and using furled leaders than any other resource you will find. I think you will be amazed at the answer to your question.

There are also several of us who would be happy to send you a variety of leaders, if you ask. But I would encourage you to go through the previous threads on the subject before asking.

As to the economics, there is a modest start up cost, but after that furled leaders are probably less expensive than hand made mono. The thread leaders I make cost about $.35 each, and last for many, many days of fishing.

Good luck.

John

[Jack Hise]

Shane
PM me your mailing address and I'll send you a 7' thread furled leader to try.
There is about 20 yards of Uni 6/0 in one so a 200 yard spool should make 10 leaders!
A Thread leader can be treated with flotant and will turn over longer tippets.

[PAangler]

OttoDita; might be a good idea to buy one and try it before you invest in all the materials. I bought three different sizes from Feather-Craft and used the 7' on French Creek (PA) this past weekend. It turned over my roll-cast perfectly and laid out the fly well when I could get a short cast in.

But, you might not like them.


Jim

I'll apologize up front for hijacking this thread....Jim, I was on the French this last Saturday using a 5 ft furled leader. Got there about 11:00 or so, when were you there? How'd you do?