Furled leader help

[terry13111]

I have been trying different leader/tippet systems while fishing my small streams lately. I really like the convenience of the loop at both ends of the furled leaders. The problem I am having is, when I pull my fly out of some brush, the leader snaps back into a tangled mess when the fly breaks loose. I then spend the next ten minutes untangling it.

The furled leaders I have been using are 100% mono, and 4 foot long. Do the uni-thread ones work better? Or, am I doing something wrong? Thanks

[Betty Hiner]

Terry,
The furled leaders I use are in the 3' to 5' range, made from uni-thread, and I've never had that happen to me. When I used the standard store bought leaders, it was a regular occurrence.

[solowookie]

is it the leader you are untangling, or the tipped that gets mixed up with the furled leader?

[solowookie]

p.s. - it is usually just easier to cut all your tippets off, and start from scratch.

[JohnScott]

Terry -

I don't furl leaders from Uni nor mono, but the ones I furl from Danville 210 Flymaster Plus fly tying thread do something similar, but not as dramatically as you are describing. Not sure exactly why they do that, but it seems that the stretching "unfurls" them and the quick release doesn't let them regain their furl in an orderly or neat way, but produces those tangles.

Typically, it is a matter of "unwinding" them, just letting the furl relax back to what it was before you applied a lot of tension to the leader and releasing that tension quickly. Work from the tip end and help the tippet and leader unwind.

You're not doing anything wrong, unless you consider sticking a fly in a bush once in a while wrong.

John

[Bamboozle]

That's the biggest reason I gave up on mono furled leaders and went with UNI thread versions.

I use 3 foot thread furled leaders with about 2 feet of tippet when I fish small streams and have NO problems with snags causing a tangled mess.

[terry13111]

You're not doing anything wrong, unless you consider sticking a fly in a bush once in a while wrong.

John

Not in the small streams I fish!

Thanks guys for the help. I have a 4' uni-thread leader on the way.

[pszy22]

If you take either end of a furled mono leader in each hand and give it a pull, you'll feel how elastic it is. It almost feels like a rubber band. When you put it under full tension, and suddenly release (like when you pull free from a snag), it's that slingshot effect that causes everything to end up in a mess. So if you tend to get snagged alot, that elasticity can be a problem.

I on the other hand fish big rivers, and on rare occasion, hook up with bigger fish. Since using furled mono leaders, I never snap off a fish due to an overly aggressive strike. That used to happen to me fairly regularly, but the elasticity of the furled leader helps soften that shock. So for my environment, I'd use nothing else. The elasticity is a feature, not a bug.

If you do have some mono furled leaders sitting around, something you can give a try. One guy I know submerges all his furled mono leaders in spar varnish, then hangs them up and lets them dry. He says it takes the stretch right out of them. I've never tried it, as I said, I like the stretch.

[WarrenP]

"If you take either end of a furled mono leader in each hand and give it a pull, you'll feel how elastic it is. It almost feels like a rubber band. When you put it under full tension, and suddenly release (like when you pull free from a snag), it's that slingshot effect that causes everything to end up in a mess. So if you tend to get snagged alot, that elasticity can be a problem."

What "pszy22" has stated is the reason and what I do when that happens is just cast the furled leader out on the moving water and let the moving water "drag" the tangles out. Seems to work everytime for me. I do not use any thread leaders because I do like the "stretch" that mono or flurorcarbon provides. Before giving up on mono or flurorcarbon furled leaders, give casting them into the current a try.

Just my 1/2 cent opinion...

[Steven McGarthwaite]

When you get your fly caught in a tree, you pull on the line, and the fly, tangling the furled line. That happens you are treating the furled lead as if it was an elastic band, which by construction it is.

Furled Leaders are constructed using loops of thread that have been torqued (twisted) in one direction, then combined with another torqued loop, then, un-torqued in the other direction. This is what causes the furled leader to do what it is designed to do.

The torquing causes tension to be built-up in the furled leader, this causes a elasticity to the furled leader when the it is stretched (more elasticity).
The amount of elasticity has much to do with the amount of spinning on the looped lines when building the furled leaders, and the material used.

I spin my furled leader runs 10% so if I want a 90 inch furled leader, I setup my furled leader board for a 99 inch run.

The elasticity is determined by the material of the thread, cotton and polyester thread do not streatch, nylon thread does stretch. This streatching add to the elasticity buildup in the constructed furled leader.

When I have finished the construction, I dip the furled leader in a can of varnish, then slowly pull the line out, then hang the furled leader to allow the excess varnish to drip off. Toward the end of the dripping process, I take a cloth rag (moistened with varnish) and lightly wipe the furled leader, removing any buildup of excess varnish. This give the furled leader a backbone for the casting, and removes most of this elasticity of the line stretching by the varnish binding the threads inside the furled leader.

This coating of the furled leader with varnish, is very similar to how they do silk fly line, but in the case of silk fly lines the fibers are braided not furled. The varnish bonds (holds togeather) all the separate threads, making them a stronger cord, sharing the load. This technology is thousands of years old, used in ancient weapon designs by the Roman Empire.