Warren's furled fluoro leaders ....

[JohnScott]

Last fall Warren sent me a 5'8" furled fluoro leader to try out for nymph fishing. I used it quite a bit on a couple of our larger rivers with my 7 wt fishing tandems of large, weighted stonefly nymphs and was well impressed with it.

A couple months ago, I inquired to Warren if he had done any shorter furled fluoro leaders which might be more suitable for a shorter rod and lighter line weights for smaller streams. Almost overnight, it seems, Warren came up with a couple 32" leaders, one furled from 2# test fluoro and one from 4# test fluoro.

I nymph fished the 2# test leader on my 4 wt line on the East Fork of the Bitterroot and Upper Rock Creek with a weighted stonefly or worm trailing a midge larva pattern a number of times with good results. A couple days ago, under windy conditions on Upper Rock Creek, I fished the 4# test leader with my 5 wt line and fished the same nymph combination with very good results. ( Both lines and nymph rigs were fished under an indicator using the same rod - a 7'9" for 4/5 Hexagraph. With both rigs, I used a 3X fluoro tippet to the stonefly and a 4X fluoro tippet to the midge larva. )

So does this set up get the flies down to where the fishies are ?? And do the fishies like it ?? It does, and they probably don't. Ask the twenty or so west slope cutthroat and ten or so mountain whitefish I took fishing this set up on Upper Rock Creek for just a few hours a couple days ago.

If you have been thinking about trying something like this, I would encourage you to go for it, with a tip of the hat to Warren. Following are some comments from Warren on how he built these leaders. If you have questions, feel free to ask. Warren will jump in and handle that part of any discussion.


"It is made using Kathy Scott's formula and board lay-out. Simple 3 step furled leader ( 10-8-6)

Board peg positions are:

From peg #1 to peg #2 is 8 inches

From peg #2 to peg #4 is 14 inches

From peg #4 to peg #3 is 14 inches

This gives you a leader length, before twisting, equal to 36 inches.

I have another peg that is 3 1/2 inches away from peg #'s 1 and 5 and I twist each leg, with an electric drill, to that peg which gives me the 10% for twisting.

This gives you a total leader of around 32.4 inches."

Thanks again, Warren.

John