Ok I built this board yesterday using Hatches Magazine for the board design and Mike Miguires layout for measurments of peg placement. Kind of a hybred design. I’m not sure if this was a good thing but I should be able to adapt it to do several styles of leader designs. After playing with it last night I produce two usable leaders, but I’m not quite there yet as far as getting the set up I want. My question is after looking at the Illustration of Kathy’s layout I was wondering what distance does she use for a 4wt and 6wt rod or what do you guys use for peg lay out. What do you all like the best be it from Kathy’s, Mikes, or your personal favorite.
I’m gonna play with this till I get something I like.
I feel your pain. I started making them a few months ago & found you can use a wide variety of materials with a lot of different taper formulas. I got a lot of info from this site: http://furledleaders.proboards.com/index.cgi
It’s not a very active site but most of the questions I had were asked before & they were answered.
I think the basic formula is 60%-20%-20%, at least that’s about what I try.
I guy on the furling site posted a pretty good formula he uses. http://www.furledleaders.co.uk/picts/excel/Furled_Leader_Formulas.xls
The problem with self furled leaders is the time it takes away from fly tying.
I find it addicting, trying different materials & peg spacings.
I use a very different kind of jig for furling leaders, but for the purpose of spacing only ( using Danville 210 denier Flymaster Plus thread exclusively ) I like proportions of 40% butt, 30% mid, and 30% tippet.
Well I’ve gone and done it. Went out last night bought 3 spools of P line flourocarbon 2#,4#, and 6# and Stren High Vis Mono in the same weights. Spun up my first good leader with the 2#P-line.0 Its 18 loops tapering to 6 with two two more taper sections for a total of 4 section step downs. Next time I build one I’ll pay better attention to how many loops in each section. Wait a minute I’ll think I’ll make that next one Now!
You’ve just got to love a furled leader. I’ve not found any leader that turns over flies better. My first one I bought , my second one I made with a jig just about like the one you have there. I use a taper of about 50/30/10. I usually only fish a 6wt. or a 4wt. The material I most often use is 6/0 uni thread which in a two hundred yard spool will build about five leaders that I use on both. Just a few less turns in each leg on the 4wt leader. I build about a 5ft. leader and add about three to four feet of tippet , which is still amazing , and it turns over flies like magic. My best test when trying new formulas is to use the same rod , same length tippet and a fairly wind resistant fly. Some may work little better than others but none are bad.
To me the toughest part to master is getting the furl just tight enough and closing the ends. I only use a shorb loop at both ends for easy loop to loop connections , no knots and a streamlined action on the water. Theres a lot of good info out there and Kathy Scotts is one of the best.
