leaders

[foambug65]

i have been making some hand tied leaders ..out of mono .. just was wondering who else does anwhat type of line do they use ? i started with trilene ...and was thinking about maybe some others ...i live down here in south west missiouri ...near anderson ....and well not to many warmwater flyfishermen or women down here ....such as it is .....but i do have e-mail an will re. all if i dont git overwelmed ...wait for the spawn ...and trout opening day @roaring river ....t/c michael

[Buddy Sanders]

Foambug,

First, welcome.

You can tie effective leaders out of any regular monofilament. The stuff they make specifically for leaders, though, seems to work a bit better. It's stiff where it should be stiff, more limp where that's needed, etc..

I've seen 'leader kits' at places like Cabelas that give you all the sizes so that you can build them to suit. I've actually used the Maxima kit, and it works well.

If you need information on the 'formulas' for leaders, you can find a lot of that information here. Just do a seach.

Good Luck!

Buddy

[dudley]

I use the Maxima Chameleon for my my fresh water leaders
Climax for the salty ones, although I've used Trilene XT in the past

Years ago when I first began tying my own, I started with a 'kit' of Orvis Super Strong

[raw69]

I use Maxima Clear for my regular leaders and Orvis Mirage for my fluoro leaders. Both are very stiff which is desirable.

[BobC]

Buying knotless leaders isn't a bad way to go either. Get some tippet spools of varying "X's" for replenishment and you would be amazed at how long a leader will last. You can usually find some good prices in the winter and stock up for the season. A really good place to get solid info on tying various leaders is over at globalflyfisher.com. Look for the "Leadercalc" program. You need Excel to use it, and it is downloadable. Hours of good stuff in there. Good luck with it.

[CoachBob]

For most saltwater and bass applications I use a length of mono or berkley Vanish is as large a size as I think the fish will ignore. No tippet required.
Bass usually rate 8-12 pound test. Saltwater up to 20.

For most of the others I wait until sierratradingpost.com has a sale on Dai-Riki tapered leaders (which can get as low as 79 cents each) and buy a bunch. Then I cut off the end two feet and add appropriate tippet. For bluegill that will be 4-6 pound Vanish, for trout I may use that weight Vanish then add smaller fluro tippet if fishing tiny flies.

[pszy22]

If you haven't already read thru it, take a look at

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...ad.php?t=25719

It has some interesting discussion and techniques

Have fun,

[jmw]

Faombug,
I have been using Lefty Kreh inspired "supple butt" leaders for most of my angling for years. Maxima Chameleon can be a bit too stiff for butt sections in my opinion. That loop needs to roll, it makes sense to me that it be made of material that wiil allow that. I use quality mono such as Trilene or Ande. Whatever brand you choose, keep it the same throughout the butt and midsection for consistant energy transfer.
John

[bazakwardz]

I've been using Berkley Big Game until recently. My only complaint is that it is difficult to straighten out. It takes several passes with a rubber pad. Rio will straighten with just the friction from your fingers.

[Clay]

I thought that I was going to tie my own leaders last year and kept this very nice, short and to the point link: http://www.flyfishusa.com/tackle-tip...t-leaders.html

I considered buying multiple spools of Maxima and then a bloodknot tying tool. Instead I ran across some Dai-Riki leaders from Sierra trading post for penny's. This year I just received 24 tapered, knotless Rio leaders from Ebay for 62 cents each and that is with the shipping costs. I couldn't even buy the materials for that much less do the work. I still think making and experimenting with leaders would be a fun, learning experience; economically, if one shops during the off season, it just wasn't worth it to me.

Rick