knotted or knotless?

[Guy]

I tie my own leaders for 90% of my fishing. I consider leaders expendable and regularily change them out when they get start getting kinky and tying your own does save a few sheckles. I can also fine tune the leaders to match the fishing conditions. And it's pretty cold right here in Alberta now, when I get tired of tying flies, I put togther a few leaders for anticipated fishing trips so I have a pretty good stockpile to start the season with.

All that said, I still occasionally find myself reaching for a knotless leader when the knots are catching excessive amounts of "gunk".

Guy

[Fly Goddess]

Jeff, how does you leaders lay out? I have the Frog Hair Leader kit and for a basic 7 1/2' light leader in a 4X for example, it goes like this:
6" - 52.9 lbs test
12" - 42. lbs
15" - 35 lbs
15" - 26 lbs
6" - 20 lbs
6" - 15 lbs
6" - 11.1 lbs
24" - 6.2 lbs and this will be a little different lbs cause I use flourocarbon.

A lot more sections. It works killer and I have some formulas for special leaders that work cool also.

But if you have one with half the sizes that works just as well, I am all ears or should I say eyes LOL

[JeffHamm]

Hi FG,

Hontestly, I just strip lengths off and tie them together. The flies get out there, but it's often not pretty. I would hardly say I've worked out a system with the mono I have. I suspect yours work much better as the much heavier line for the but section would transfer the loop down the leader much more readily I suspect.

- Jeff

[Fly Goddess]

Bummer, I was looking for an easy way out LOL
Thanks for the reply.

[Flyandtie1]

Fg, I like to use just a simple 3 section leader. I tie a 20lb butt section of about 3 feet and a 3ft middle section of about 12lb. then about 24" of my tippet of choice. It works fine for streamers. and nymphs and dries I just use a 12lb butt section witha 6lb middle and then a lighter 5-6x tippet. I can lay the flies out pretty nicely with this set-up.

Just my lazy approach...

[Fly Goddess]

Cool, I will give that a shot.

[Andrew]

I use knotted leaders 90% of the time. I tie my own. I do use the loop-to-loop connector on the fly line, before that I used a nail knot connection. Mostly I keep the same butt and middle section and change the tippet sections as situations change.

I do occasionally use knotless leaders - mostly when I am in a hurry and did something stupid and made a bird's nest of my leader and I'm in the middle of a stream with trout rising all around me and I have caught nothing. Then I leave that leader on and as situations change I start changing the tippet sections and I end up with a knotted leader anyway.

Now that I think about it, that's mostly what I do on the stream. Change flies and change leader tippets. Sometimes I get wet.

[dudley]

Fg, I like to use just a simple 3 section leader. I tie a 20lb butt section of about 3 feet and a 3ft middle section of about 12lb. then about 24" of my tippet of choice. It works fine for streamers. and nymphs and dries I just use a 12lb butt section witha 6lb middle and then a lighter 5-6x tippet. I can lay the flies out pretty nicely with this set-up.

Just my lazy approach...

Your average trout leader with turn over well with a 50% butt, a 25% mid, and a 25% tippet
For a 3 or 4wt line and a longer leader of 12'. 40/20/40
Heavy and air resistant flies, like hair bugs, need a big butt. 70/10/20

[BobC]

I'm in the knotless leader camp. Work well, tippet easy to add, and a leader lasts a long time.

[Baithog]

I suppose that one could ask the same question about tying flies or building rods. There is cost effective hardware available that will do a passable job. I've used knotless and they work. I prefer to tie my own, as I prefer to tie my own flies. Fifty years ago it was all about being poor, now it has more to do with being obsessed with fishing. When the season is closed or the rivers are blown out of shape, what else are you going to do? Watch reruns of Law and Order? I made a nice 4-weight this winter, built a couple of wallets full of leaders and (after devoting a decade to a pipe dream of becoming a proficient international pistol shooter) I'm polishing up my rusty tying skills.

Larry