Hand tied furled leaders

[murphlax34]

Are there any ways to do a furled leader with Uni-thread without using a board? I saw one guy who did them by hand, but made them out of mono. I am thinking the board will be easy once I have done a few, but always looking to simplify it...and what colors do you think are the most stealthy?? thanks in advance.

[Fly Goddess]

WOW, I would love to see that. I have seen Bimini's made by hand, but how the heck would you do a tapered furled leader with out some kind of staggard pegs? If I tried without a board, It could be a mess.
Plus, what did he use for a center point? You do have to have a center point and two ends, right? I mean the two individual twisted the same direction, then both twisting the opposite together.


You are talking TAPERED aren't you? I read where there was something about making these in sections and then combining them.

Ah, heck, I hinged my board and made it very mobile, I will stick with it, or the big Tinker Toys

[murphlax34]

He did do it in sections,, which I think would work fine for monofilament, but not so much for Uni-thread...I have my directions I'll be working on a good old peg board this weekend,, seems like the best way to make them...what about the stealthy colors any reccomendations?? thanks.

[Fly Goddess]

I get my rings and thread from J. Stockard. I like to combine olive/brown UNI 6 for a camo effect. But you can use coats and clarks .005 Nylon for the mono look. I also use Lt Cahill, and dunns.

[kengore]

I saw a picture of a 'travel' jig that used velcro strips and wood pegs. The set up was designed for use on a carpeted floor, the velcro was suck into the carpet at the appropriate locations.

My jig is an 8' length of 1X6 pine with 3/4" dowels. I drilled several hole patterns for various lengths. I then took different colored magic markers and marked the correct holes and recipe for each leader right on the board.

I can set the jig on my kitchen table and not have to bend over. Using a large diameter dowel makes it easier to pass a whole thread spool through the loops.

I use meduim dun color for my leaders, trying to match the color of an overcast sky.

[ducksterman]

I saw somewhere someone putting his pegs on his deck railing.....talk about length

[Normand]

there is a leader that is twisted and not furled called a "Singapore leader, but its made of mono. maybe it could be made of thread?? i believe this one has been written about in one of the fly fishing rags. maybe in "american angler"???

http://www.ukswff.co.uk/Tips_Singapore.shtml

[CM_Stewart]

I suspect most furlers would not want to do it the way I do, but it works well for travel and will produce a furled leader of any length desired. My "jig" is a roughly 3' piece of 1x2 and a few pushpins. I furl in sections, knot each end before taking it off the jig to keep it from unfurling, and then knot the sections together. I've used several different materials, but usually use 6/0 Unithread, and find that a single surgeons knot holds well in Unithread and is not so large as to cause any problems. I do it this way because I don't have room for a full-sized jig, but I really don't see any downside to this method. It does take quite a bit longer, but I'm really not in any hurry.

[murphlax34]

I got the jig board made,, and out of 10 attempts I have two decent leaders,, I am making two seperate ones and then furling them together, my main issue is the loops on the small end! I am having a hard time finishing the leader in a nice clean manner?? Any pointers would be great...I like doing two seperate ones then furling them together, you can use two different colors and it really allows you to see how the twists are!!

[kengore]

I gave up trying to make pretty loops on the ends. Now I just place a drop of super glue on the tip and butt ends while in the jig. This prevents them from unraveling when cut off the jig.

For use I use a double surgeons knot at the tip and a modified barrel knot at the butt (I use only 3 turns in the furled butt, 5 turns in my 12" mono butt section) I add a few inched of extra length in my leader design to account for the knot.

I find that the knot work very well for me, less hinge in my cast than a handshake loop or small metal ring, plus I can easily re-knot in the field if needed.

Note: I broke a lot of leaders during construction in the beginning, I was having difficulty mantaining correct tension while twisting.

This was resolved by adding some rubber bands... I take 4-6 fine dia. rubber bands and loop them end to end, I add a bent paper clip to each end. This gets added to the tip end of a leader strand before twisting. The rubber bands apply the required tension during twisting and have enough give to prevent breaking or 'pig tails'. I rarely break any more during construction.