Poly-Leaders

[RCream]

Anybody have experience with poly leaders. I've heard of using a floating one in combination with regular tapered mono leaders and am interested in the idea. If anyone has done this or anything else related I'd be interested to hear about your opinions on the subject and how you use polyleaders. Thanks.

-Rob

[Donat]

I've used poly with furled leaders on my 5wt floating line and like that combo.

[Bamboozle]

RCream:

If I understand what you mean by "poly leaders"; I used poly leaders exclusively for dry fly fishing back when Orvis marketed them as their Lay Straight Leaders. I never did anything fancy with them, just added additional leader sections as required usually starting at 2X or 3X.

The Orvis jobs were not very long, probably no more than 4 feet with a loop on both ends. I would lop off the tippet end loop and pinching the outer poly coating between my fingernails; I would strip off some additional coating, enough so I could tie a blood knot with my 2X to the inner mono core. Depending on what length leader I was after I would add sections accordingly. That is exactly the same thing you do with a braided butt or even a furled leader although many folks just add tippet to a furled leader and you could do the same thing with a poly leader. As a matter of fact the Orvis Lay Straights came with Bimini tippet sections which I never used.

I personally thought they were great and turned over fantastic with NO spray what so ever. I did have one break once, right smack dab in the middle of the poly section which was wierd but things happen to mono with age and this leader was a few years old.

They were priced at about $7-$9 at a time when most folks were fussing with leaders at half the price. So like all good things in the fly fishing world, eventually Orvis stopped selling them in favor of the next latest & greatest thing. From there I went to braided butt and eventually furled leaders so even with the new brands out there and despite the few Orvis Lay Straights I still have laying around; I never went back to using them.

Try one, you will probably be pleased with the performance.

[Steven]

Anybody have experience with poly leaders. I've heard of using a floating one in combination with regular tapered mono leaders and am interested in the idea. If anyone has done this or anything else related I'd be interested to hear about your opinions on the subject and how you use polyleaders. Thanks.

-Rob

I use a floating poly leader a lot, mostly for panfishing near shore. Add about 2' of 3x and 2' of 4x and I'm good to go using dries and small nymphs that don't have to get down more than a foot or so.

The floating leaders are actually quite nice for dry fly fishing for trout, but you need to change them out to get deep. I finally figured it to be too much of a hassle (same issue I have with furled leaders).

[okflyfisher]

I have used sinking poly leaders for bass fishing and they did help to get the fly down.
The pond I fished however had lots of timber and the the fish dragged the poly leader into and through a lot stumps and limbs. Halfway through the trip the coating was mostly rubbed off. They are not cost effective in that situation,but then again that is pretty extreme use.

[Jeremy]

Rob,

I've used them for trout some time ago and as you've been told, they work nicely.

I gave them up when I began tying my own leaders which I found I liked more. Then came furled leaders and found they work extremely well for my small spring creeks of western Wis. All prefs.... I do a lot of dry fly fishing w/bamboo.

I believe I still have a couple of used left-overs in my back pouch, a floater and a sinker. Not certain of the condition, it's been awhile but if they're okay I'll put them in an envelope to you if you'd like. I have no use for them.

PM me an address if you wish.

Jeremy.

[krauseb]

Air Flo sell Poly Leaders in different lengths and weights. Trout & light Trout.
They work great on windy days.

[RCream]

One thing I'm having trouble finding info on is the butt/tip diameters and breaking strengths. Also how are they for tying knots (do you always have to strip the coating like bambozzle said??) Thanks.

[Jeremy]

Rob,

Nope.

Simply loop (of your choice) your tippet to the end of the leader. I just used a perfection loop on a length of 5X or 6X when I used them.

Jeremy.

[Slate_Drake_9]

I started to use the sinking ones for salmon and steelhead and eventually started to use them for streamers and wets for trout. They are great. I don't like to use split shot to sink flies due to the hang ups they cause on the bottom, but with a sinking polyleader I can get my flies down where I want them and not deal with the hang ups. They cast great too.