Best leader and tippet set up

[McManus]

I use the same for all of my fishing-furled leader and flourocarbon tippet. I fish drys; lots of soft hackles; and nymph and streamers.

1. Do you type of change leader and type of tippet as you change type of fly?

2. Does your furled leader sink a bit?

3. Is flourocarbon the best for surface and subsurface fishing?

Thank you.

[Buddy Sanders]

I use different leaders and tippet set ups for different applications.

Flourocarbon tippet is denser than mono and sinks, so I never use it for surface fishing. It will 'float' due to surface tension with thin diameter tippet and small dries, especially if you treat it, but eventually it will try to sink on you. No reason to deal with that since mono works fine for dry fly presentations. Being on the surface negates flourocarbon's visibility benefit in any case.

I use straight flourocarbon for the leader on sinking lines, usually three to four feet of it.

Furled leaders are great for surface fishing. Don't use them for any subsurface stuff, as I don't like how they behave under the surface. I've made some with flourocarbon, and they sink fine, but have too much drag in the water compared to regular tapered leaders.

I'm aware that I'm a bit anal about these issues. Others see things differently. YMMV.

Good Luck!

Buddy

[McManus]

--and Soft Hackles in the surface---like dry fly fishing?

[narcodog]

I use furled leaders all of the time and have for about seven years. I always use mono, never flouro. I also just stick with Frogs Hair. On my Tenkara rod I use both furled and straight lines. I am not anal.. I do catch fish and that's what counts for me. I fish cane 98% of the time and silk lines on them.

[Silverexpress]

I tie my own leaders. I use various lengths and diameters. I mostly go with fly size in determining the tippet size. The bigger the fly the larger the diameter i will use. Leader length is dictated by the clearness and size of the river . Leader diameter and stiffness can be dictated by size of fly, fly wind resistance, wind and or water turbulence. For example, on a calm day fishing a riffle I'll fish a real supple thin leader. The goals are

Dry flies: drag free
Nymphs: turnover, flipping power, lobbing, less water resistance
Streamers: turnover
Night: big flies and tangle free
Etc etc..

My way of fishing also dictates my entire setup. I often study a section of a river like it's a puzzle - fishing the area for a few weeks straight/years - until I've uncovered the food base, feeding/prime/shelter lies, and water types (riffles/pools/runs/undercuts). If its good/consistent -it gets added to my list of goto places. With my "black" book of heavenly places to fish, it makes me look like I know what I'm doing today. Lol.

Do a search for leadercalc 2007, and download the pdf.

Note: Like johnstoeckel below, I use perfection loops and tippet rings for real quick changeovers. Over the years, I've settled upon a half a dozen leader formulas that I fish.

[johnstoeckel]

I tie my own nymph leaders using bright Amnesia for the butt section and fluorocarbon for the tippet. The bright Amnesia butt section serves as a strike indicator.

For dry fly fishing, I use a factory poly leader with fluorocarbon tippet. For me, poly leaders turn over as well as furled leaders and they have less problems (stretch, tangles, picking up dirt).

I whip loops in the end of my fly line and tie perfection loops on my leaders for easy leader changes on stream.

In my opinion, fluorcarbon is the best choice for both surface and subsurface.

[flyfisher7]

Question. Sixty years ago when I first started fly fishing, I read everything I could on the subject. At that time, it was a very big deal to get your tippet to sink while dry fly fishing to avoid shadows over the fish. Advice then was to rub the tippet with mud, or to purchase a compound which would help it sink. Now, it seems many fishermen avoid flourocarbon tippets for dry fly fishing because they sink?????????? It would seem to me that would be an ideal situation. If anyone is worried that the tippet would sink the dry fly, I would advise that would be highly unlikely.

[johnstoeckel]

Question. Sixty years ago when I first started fly fishing, I read everything I could on the subject. At that time, it was a very big deal to get your tippet to sink while dry fly fishing to avoid shadows over the fish. Advice then was to rub the tippet with mud, or to purchase a compound which would help it sink. Now, it seems many fishermen avoid flourocarbon tippets for dry fly fishing because they sink?????????? It would seem to me that would be an ideal situation. If anyone is worried that the tippet would sink the dry fly, I would advise that would be highly unlikely.

I agree with you. I don't recall the specifics, but the density of fluorocarbon isn't that much greater than mono and, in fact, mono will absorb water over time which can make it sink a little more than fluorocarbon. In any case, the difference in sinkability isn't enough to make a real difference. The advantages of fluorocarbon are the lower visbility, lack of degradation, and strength for given diameter. At least that's what I've concluded.

[Steven]

I rarely, if ever, fish streamers, so it's dries and nymphs for me with some wet fly swinging in the early season.

For all three, I can get by with the same leader chassis:

3' of .022 Maxima Brown
2' of .019 Maxima Brown
1' of .017 Maxima Brown
6" of 0.13 Orvis SuperStrong
6" of 0x '' ''
6" of 2x " "

To this basic chassis, I'll tie a loop and then add:
6" of 3x or 4x Orvis SuperStrong
2' of 4x-6x Orvis Super Strong for the tippet

I'll cut the tippet back to about 8" if nymphing.