JC's leader article

[Jim Hatch]

Hi Folks,

JC's article got me to thinking about
leaders again. I know, bad idea.*G* But
I was wondering, what is a typical leader
set up for the warmwater fly fisherman?
Do the tannic stained waters make a
difference. Due to the shorter distances
I find myself casting in the cover, I often
find about 7' is as much leader as I care
to use. I admit that it's not uncommon for
me to just nip off about 7 feet of 6 or 8
pound trilene and tie it to my line with a
nailess knot and I'm good to go. I've
tried several furled leaders and experienced
problems with fine grass getting caught up
in it. I've also tried knotted leaders and
still experience the grass problems on the
knots. I do sometimes use a straight taper
in early spring when the water is fairly
clear, but still only about 7' of length.
Just wondering whats working for other
warm water fishers. Warm regards, Jim

[drolfson]

I usually start with a 7 1/2 foot tapered leader (sometimes 9' depends on what I got) and then after I use the first 12 - 18 inches I start adding tippet until I get too many wind knots, then the process starts over.

The last leader I used started as a 7 1/2 foot 3x leader and I have been adding 2x tippet all year. Before that I had a 4x that I 'used' more of (so it got fairly heavy) before I started adding the 2x tippet.

Once in a while I will also add some 4x or 5x to the end if I need to use a smaller fly or get deeper.

Don

Good question Jim, I look forward to other's answers.

[Bluegill Budd]

When I got back into flyfishing I almost gagged when I saw what leaders cost. (I still have some leader packages with a $.59 price tag on them.) I started then to tie my own leaders. I use about 4 feet of 17 lb. test Big Game mono and 3 feet of 10 lb. test clear Stren and to that I tie my tippet which is real tippet material for top water or 4 lb flouro for nymphs. All knots are surgeons knots. I realize that Bluegills and Bass are less picky about these things and this has worked for me.

I also realize that this spring when I try to lose my Bluegill moniker and try to catch my first trout on a flyrod I will have to bite the bullet and buy some tapered leaders.

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Clint

I feel closer to HIM when I'm fishing.




[This message has been edited by Bluegill Budd (edited 13 December 2005).]

[dixieangler]

Hey Jim,

I agree. Weeds and trash in the water down here in freshwater is no fun with knotted or looped leaders (I use looped leaders for the brine though). I have used about 9 feet of straight 8lb. test mono that does work for me in a pinch. But I usually use a 5 foot 12lb. butt section down to a 4 foot 8lb. tippet section to give me a 9 foot knotted mono tapered leader. I use the smallest knots I can get away with and it works pretty good (not much if any weeds or trash). The Nailless Nail Knot from butt to fly line and an Albright Special from butt to tippet. Duncan Loop from tippet to fly. I get better fly turnover with this leader and it hasn't failed me yet unless it was old mono or if I didn't tie the knots right. I like to use Berkley mono because it has less stretch. I have had good luck with this leader in dark or stained water so it doesn't seem to bother the fish.

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Robert B. McCorquodale
Sebring, FL

"Flip a fly"

[This message has been edited by dixieangler (edited 13 December 2005).]

[beadleech]

my "usual" leader - 4X, 7 1/2' SA tapered leader. When I replace old leader I cut tippet off back 18" from the end and retie. As I loose tippet by changing flies I add a new section. When the overall leader length gets down to 7' from adding tippets I mike it and tie in a transition section 1X smaller of about 6-9", tippet of 4X 18" long and start all over again. Repeat as needed altho it's usually the end of the season B4 this happens. New season, new leader. By cutting and retying tippet at the start I always have a "marker" of when to replace tippet. If I need 6X for some reason I tie on a 12-14" section to the 4X. If I want to fish deeper with floating line I extend the 4X tippet a coupla of feet or add a coupla of feet of 6X. This gives me a 9 1/2' leader.

My fishing is mostly warmwater.

Donald

[RexW]

I do most of my fishing on lakes from a boat. My leaders are pretty basic. For Texoma it is usually about 3 or 4 feet of 20 lb mono with another 3 or 4 ft of 12 lb mono tied to it. If I'm targeting bluegill I may drop down to 10 lb mono instead of the 12 lb.

On the lakes such as Fork that are heavily timbered and have a lot of vegetation, I just use about 6 ft or so of either 20 lb or maybe 12 lb straight mono.

Maybe I'm just being lazy, but these simple leaders have been working for me for bass and Stripers. However, if I go trout fishing, I use a lot smaller leaders.

Rex

Just started playing with furled leaders and like them very much, so far. I use 5' for my shorter rods, closer work, and 7' for distance. All have 2-3' of tippet added.

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[url=http://www.native-waters.com:13d4d]http://www.native-waters.com[/url:13d4d]

[featherchucker]

3 feet of either 4.5 pound tippet or 7 pound depending on targeted fish and fly weights......tied onto 3 feet of 14 pound Vanish flouro- the photochromic line.....attached to flyline. Since my fish aren't spooky I just cast for accuracy and don't worry about feathersoft presentation and don't really worry with extra sections or more knots to tie. And then just retie new tippet when the existing one gets too short.

In Alaska- I do use SA tapered leaders of the strongest kind- usually 10 -12 pound test with the weighted fly attached directly to it.

Steve



[This message has been edited by featherchucker (edited 14 December 2005).]

[Micropteris]

For my bass bug 8wt my leaders are about 8-9' with 40lb butt to 30 to 15 to 10 to turn over those wind resistant deer hair bugs. For my 6 wt streamer rod I have a full sinking line on it and use a 5-6' 2 piece leader of 30 to 10 or 6 depending on what I am fishing for. For my 3 wt nymphing rod I use an 8' leader with 30 to 15 to 6. All connections are made using blood knots and when the diameter differences are really extreme I double up the thinner diameter line for the knot.

I am really not to picky about my leader length just as long as it can get my fly out past my flyline. As for knots picking up debris usually if my knots pick up crap my fly also does so I end up having to clean my fly off any way. I don't like the tapered leaders just because I am always changing flies or shortening or lengthening my leader and tapered leaders are expensive to buy one or two for every trip.

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Who has time for stress when there are fish to catch.
Nick

[okflyfisher]

I have tied up my leaders since I got started fly fishing as a kid. I used to tie up 6 or 7 section leaders because that was what my limited selection of books suggested.
Now for warm water fishing I generally tie
a simple 3 section leader with the butt comprising about 60% of the total lenght. For trout I generally buy a knotless leader on my first trip of the year. By the end of the year I will still be using the same leader with whatever section or tippet I have had to add.
Even if you don't tie your own leaders you need to be able to tie the appropriate knots so you can handle whatever situation comes up on the water.