Do leaders age?

[herefishy]

I was just contemplating buying some more leaders because mine are getting kind of old, even tho they have never been opened. But that's kind of silly, they shouldn't be bad except on the 5x end even if they had gotten old, should they? Oh, and by the way, what brand of leaders do you folks use - do I really have to pay 4.25 each just because they might be a little limper, or stiffer, or something?

[DG]

Yes, they can. Nylon can lose 20% of its breaking strength in 100 hours of UV exposure. Fluorocarbon is not UV-susceptible, so I read. That being said, I have yet to find any polymer that does not degrade over time to some extent. I know a lot of people who store their fishing gear in their garages, too, where the exhaust fumes (hydrocarbons) from their cars and trucks can work wonders on all sorts of plastics. Heat can also degrade plastics.

I buy 4-pack leaders from Cabelas. Roughly $2 per leader. Other manufacturers also sell multi-packs. In the grand scheme of things, tho, a $4 leader that can be used for 12 days before it might wear out from UV is a minimal expense. One gallon of gas, two flies, one-fifteenth of a fly-line...

[Kaboom1]

Dennis, don't forget to add the ozone emitted by electric motors. I know a lot of people keep their gear in the basement near the furnace.
Another reason to use thread furled leaders.

Brad

By the way, I keep my tippet spools in the freezer in the off season.

[chewydog]

Your mono leaders will deteriorate with age. However the thicker part of the leader should be fine. I use tapered mono leaders and cut the tippet off right away. Then I add flouro tippet material as needed throughout the year. A good leader will last me that long unless I cut or damage it on something. I use Rio because I like the way it lays out while dry fishing.

[tailingloop]

Mono stored at room temperature or lower and in the dark should last a long time. UV exposure and heat cause mono to deteriorate. Minimize or eliminate exposure and mono will last a long long time. Some brands of leaders are packaged in opaque envelopes, which helps with preservation. Last year I used some Climax 7x leaders that I bought in 1998 and they were still just fine with no loss of strength that I could notice. Last year I used a number of Orvis tippets and leaders from 2x down to 6x that had "use by" dates of 2001 on them. Caught some pretty nice fish with them. They were all fine too.

A customer came into a local shop one day while I was there. The customer complained that all of the leader brands they had tried, which included S.A., Orvis, Climax, Rio, and Cortland, were brittle after a few weeks. After some discussion we determined that that customer always kept their stuff ready to go in the trunk of the car. Their fly lines didn't hold up long either.

[markgraumlich]

Yeh, I've not had problems with leaders when I store them in a cool dark place.

common sense isn't too common.

[branhap]

Sunlight and heat are the enemy leaders! I once had a 3x leader that was so badly damaged, that it would break before 6x tippet.

[johnstoeckel]

Your mono leaders will deteriorate with age. However the thicker part of the leader should be fine. I use tapered mono leaders and cut the tippet off right away. Then I add flouro tippet material as needed throughout the year. A good leader will last me that long unless I cut or damage it on something. I use Rio because I like the way it lays out while dry fishing.

I'm with Chewydog on this. I keep and use leaders for months or even years just replacing the tippet section and maybe a bit of taper as needed.

[Silver Creek]

Me too. I'm cheap and there is no reason for me to replace an entire leader when I can just replace the tippet or rebuild the last few section of a leader. The only time I put on a fresh leader is if the potential size of a possible fish demands it.

[Gandolf]

Hi All,

Some nylon does deteriorate over time even if stored at room temperature out of the sun. We have some nylon tubing stored in the storeroom of our lab. Some of it went bad, losing almost all strength, in less than 10 years. We also have some that is fine in the same amout of time.

That said, I keep my leaders in my fly vest in the closet in the house, they have stood up well, and I have not seen deterioration, except for one leader. I had one that had lost almost all of its strength. I pitched it, and now try leaders for strength before using them.

Regards,

Gandolf