I was in need of a new nymph leader for my 7 wt rod. I generally only use it to fish large, heavily weighted stonefly nymphs like JARS, mostly one at a time, but on occasion two at a time, and always under a large thingamabobber.

My old leader was furled out of 2# Berkeley Vanish in a 10-8-6 configuration with proportions of 40% butt section, 30% mid section, and 30 % tip section. A tip ring was incorporated, and 2X tippet was the standard for fishing the big nymphs under an indicator.

Believing that a slimmer profile would work better, i.e. not have so much resistance to letting the fly sink, I opted for an 8-6 configuration of the 2# BV with proportions of 40% butt and 60% mid / tip, with a tip ring incorporated. The finished length of the leader is about 5'8".

I had the chance to fish the new leader for several hours yesterday and was quite satisfied with it. I fished both a single JARS, and a tandem of them with the second fly trailing the first one by about 2', under the thingamabobber. Total distance from the thingamabobber, which was placed quite close to the butt of the leader, to the trailing nymph was the best part of 12'.

It's impossible to say that there was a marked improvement of the new leader over the old one. But it is quicker to set up, uses less material, and furls in about the same amount of time. And with satisfactory performance for it's intended use, that is progress, to my way of thinking.

John

P.S. No tight loops with the 2 fly rig - big open loops and watch your right ear.