Board set up for 8 ft. leader

[Orthoman]

I want to make 8 ft. furled leaders probably out of 4 pound test line - What would be the correct set up of the pegs beginning with the top two butt pegs? Thank you for your help.

[Jack Hise]

I'm sure you will get several different configurations that will make an 8' leader.
I use the set up for "Simple Furled Leaders" that Kathy Scott shows in her DVD.
Add 10% to the overall length. 96" x 10% = 105.6"
I'd make the butt section 40% of that, 42.24" and the intermediate and tippet sections 30% each, 31.68".
I'd round off the numbers to 42", 32" & 32"
You could add another step to the butt section by making your start and end loops 20 - 21" long for a 12/10/8/6 taper.

[Orthoman]

Thank you. What I am confused by, is where do you place the pegs on the board. I assume I would measure down the right side 42 inches from the butt peg to the first peg, and then 32 inches from peg one to peg 2, and then 32 inches to the end peg (tip of the leader) -- and then use the same dimensions on the left side. Or am I all wrong on this. Seems like in the past, there was some asymmetry on the right and left sides.

[WarrenP]

I use the same set-up as Jack and, hopefully, I can explain this so you will not be confused. First, I assume your furling board has 5 pegs. On the right hand side is peg #1 and peg #2. The tippet peg would be #3 and coming up from the tippet peg on the left would be peg #4 and back to the starting point is peg #5. Using Jack's figures you would have 42 inches from peg #1 to peg #2. On the left hand side you would have 74 inches from peg #5 to peg #4 and 32 inches from peg #4 to peg #3 which is the tippet peg. Does this help?

This will give you 42" + 32" + 32" which is 106 inches total length. If you then twist each leg and shrink them by 10.6 inches you would have a total length of 95.4 which when divided by 12" equals 7.95 feet for the total finished length of the furled leader. I hope this helps.

[Orthoman]

Thank you Warren - that is exactly what I wanted to know. I have seen some formulas but don't / didn't understand what the numbers were all about. Thank you.

[Kaboom1]

This may help....



Brad

[Orthoman]

Thank you once again.

[Cliff955]

Thanks Jack, Kaboom1 and Warren - the light just came on for the first time! I've followed directions without really understanding what I was doing before - I think I've got it now....

And thanks Orthoman for asking the one key question about furling.

Cliff

[Jack Hise]

Cliff;
Warren, Kaboom1 and I have made several hundred leaders using the above formulas. Kaboom1 and I also do a few of the fly fishing shows in the winter and sell hundreds on our leaders. It's exciting to have someone come up to our both and say "I bought one last year and Love it!!" then buy 3 -5 more!! Or, someone will drag a friend over and tell him "You've got to buy some of these!!" One customer asked if we could put a bit more oomph in to the thread leaders to handle bigger fly's. After laying up the thread leader we added a "V" of 2# mono and he was very pleased with the result. Lay up one of mono and add a "V" (peg 1 to peg 3 and back to peg 5) of Coats & Clarke "Glo in the Dark thread for night fishing!
I'm surprised that no one has responded to this post with one of their "Spread Sheets" that will let you make leaders for small trout, medium trout and large trout!! All I know is that ours work in most situations.

[Cliff955]

Jack,
I've seen some tables and furled a few leaders a couple years ago, but I never took the time to understand the numbers before - seemed a like gobbledegook until the light came on when I read this thread. Now I'm going to set up my furling board again and have another go at it. Thanks for the tips on adding strength and glow-in-the-dark threads!
Cliff