Furled Leaders
I am fairly new to fly fishing and have been experimenting with different leaders.
I have went from the out of the packet mono leaders to poly leaders and have liked these.
My question is what is the advantage or purpose of the furled leader? Is this just for salt water?
Stupid Newbie question. Thanks in advance for your answers.
T-a-G
I'm a Newbie too, Take, so don't feel that you're in that stream alone! I found an article on furled leaders including the instructions for making your own. I'm going to try my hand at it and just see how I like them. I hope to see you in the chat room here; lots of 'olde tymers' there and they're very nice to all us newbies and our 'silly questions'. Give me a holler if you'd like that article.
MIKE_24701
BLUEFIELD, WV
do a search on 'furled leaders' and you will get more inormation!
Furled leaders are built using a weaving technique -- typically from a single strand of mono. It's an old method originally developed using horsehair or something like that centuries ago.
They are different than "braided" leaders -- braided leaders are tied via a different method and have a hollow core. Furled leaders do not have a hollow core.
Some people swear by them, believing that they turn over the fly better than a mono leader.
They are expensive -- about 3-4 times a commercial tapered mono leader. However, they are also said to last longer, even as long as several seasons. In my opinion, the chief reason for their longer life is the fact that you use a loop-to-loop connection to attach tippet.
Use a loop-to-loop connection for your regular leader/tippet and your leader will last just as long or longer.
Advocates claim that they improve the presentation of novices and experts alike.
I think it might be something worth trying.
A reduction in "wind-knots" also tends to make them last longer.
You can do a search on this BB and find dozens of threads with lots of info and links to web sites that both sell them and explain how to make them. They are bit spendy, but when you consider their life expectancy, they really not too bad. I am think of trying a couple this season. Good luck
I make them out of 6/0 UNI-thread and I think they turn over quite well, so well in fact, that you can cast them with a nice loop by hand. I have used tippets over 10 feet on them with no problems at all.
I have been doing some study on these and will order the DVD that is out on them but....
What is the best length, I have seen them from 5 feet up. Is it a true statement, based on the above comment, that the leader length may not be too important because the length of the tippet can be variable? Up to 10 feet? So would one be safe if you had a 5 foot leader and then run from a 2 to 5 foot tippet giving you a 7 to 10 foot total leader length?
Dan
Ozark,
I think a tippet somewhere between 50% and 100% of the furled leader length is what is most often used. So your formula works.
I have some furled leaders from Kathy Scott and she has a post somewhere in here about "Furled Leaders".
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Cactus
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