May 7, 2011 I was fishing the Bitterroot, the last day it was fishable before runoff really kicked in, but it was still running clear. The last fish of the day was a wild and native cutthroat.



For some reason, I ended up tying on the fly with only about 12" of tippet added to a very light color furled line / leader. You can see how far it is between the end of the leader and the fly ...



This was no particular surprise to me. I've been fishing furled leaders for going on eight years now with my conventional fly rods and more recently with Tenkara rods. I usually fish a light tan thread furled leader, but occasionally go to a dark olive or bright orange, similar to what you show in your post.

My normal tippet length for both conventional rods and Tenkara rods is about 3' to 4', but if it ends up shorter than that it doesn't bother me at all. Numerous times I've fished with 2' or less and not missed a beat on hooking and landing fish. Virtually all the fishing I do is on clear moving water for wild trout.

I sometimes chuckle when I hear folks talking about the need for long leaders when fishing gin clear waters over spooky trout. I'm sure there are times when such gear is needed - but I suspect that sometimes the need is more between the ears of the angler than in the eyes of the fishies. Then again, maybe I'm just spoiled and ignorant.

John