my leader is sneaking back up my rod

[Fishing Jill]

I bought a new fly rod combo - Okuma with backing, line and leader on the reel. The rod is fantastic. The reel is smooth. My only problem: I'm on the stream and at some point I've reeled in my line a bit too far and the leader goes sailing up through the guides and my fly is just sitting at the end of my rod. Now my rod is 9 feet long and to get the leader back out I have to put down the rod.
With my other rods I tend to work with a shorter leader - so that it becomes a bit heavier on the rod and this problem doesn't occur.
Any suggestions on how to deal with this outside of changing leaders? Am I doing something wrong?

[Silver Creek]

This will only happen if you are reeling in the line too far with the rod tip elevated and/or you are allowing the weight of the hanging line to pull in the leader.

Solution - reel the line in with the rod tip tilted down or with the rod parallel to the ground and not elevated. When you are reeling or pulling in the line with your non rod hand, keep the line under the index finger of your rod hand and pull the line from behind. This will prevent the hanging line from pulling your leader in.

[Gemrod]

Where you tie the leader to the fly line.......leave a tag end sticking out a bit. It will hang up on the rod tip most of the time and not slide all the way down.

[hungNtree]

When I started out I had a problem knowing when I could start my backcast, because I wasn't sure how much line I had out on the water and how much I could comfortabley pick up on my backcast. Jack showed me a great solution, I take a sharpie and mark a spot on my fly line, now when I get it to the tip I know I'm at my comfortable spot for a pick up and false cast. You might could do the same thing to help with your problem, though I think following Silvercreek's advice will help you better in the long run.

good luck,
hNt

[hairwing]

If you don't already know it I would suggest the "catch the fly-line cast". I use it for almost all my fly line retrieves during fishing. The fly line is essentially left out of the rod tip and you can do whatever is necessary to the leader end, be it fly inspection, fly change, wind knots or whatever.
The cast goes something like this: Make a lazy back cast over your left shoulder with at least 10 to twenty ft. of fly line and catch the fly line in your hand. Next, flip the rod forward and stop the line as you feel the leader in your hand. Your in business! To rig the rod to move to the next hole I put the fly in the stripping guide and wrap the leader around the butt of the rod then finger the remaining line to the rod grip and reel up.
If the fly line is at the tip guide it is a sure sign to me that I'm headed home.

Also, when reeling in if the fly line fouls at the rod tip, the tip is bouncing. To avoid this, hold the tip against something. Like against a bush, the grass,a fishing partner, in the water, whatever is convenient. Hope this helps you.

[rickie]

You're not doing anything wrong. Your leader is fine. You just have to learn a couple of techniques. I have one 9' 5wt rod that will do it easier than my other rods.

One trick is to learn how much line to leave out the end of your rod when reeling in. I usually attempt to grab my leader where it joins the flyline and then put a little pressure on the leader while reeling in and before hooking my fly to the fly keeper. I rarely reel the flyline all the way in when landing fish. Maybe it's something I learned to prevent the same problem that you are having. I mean it was a common occurrence my first couple of seasons.