The 60-20-20 formula works fairly well.
I use just the three sections for a bass or saltwater leader. For trout leaders I find this formula butt heavy.
Some trout formulas work out closer to 50-25-25 or even 40-20-40 for light weight rods. I find that for trout leaders the butt section should be stepped down once and the mid-section should be stepped down 5 or 6 times. Otherwise I get tailling loops. That might be just me and my bad casting.
Lefty recomends a formula where you make each successive section half the lenght of the one before it.
ie 60"-30"-15"- then a 18-24" tippet. But not for trout leaders. He buys his.
I don't remember where to find it but George Harvey's slack leader formula was excellent for a drag free drift.
I was given a Dennison blood knot vise (never use it) that came with leader formulas.But I've never really tried them.
I use some of my own formulas, but mostly rely on the orvis.
Ray K, If you are interested in a particular lenght and tippet size I would be glad to write it out. As you know in the orvis pamphlet there are 22 formulas for trout leaders alone.
The first section of your leader butt should be approximatly the same stiffness as the tip end of your line. After that I can't help you. I don't believe that the three section leader is the right way to go for trout.
[This message has been edited by dudley (edited 13 December 2005).]
The simpler the outfit, the more skill it takes to manage it, and the more pleasure one gets in his achievements.
--- Horace Kephart