I have just recently discovered the virtues of the furled leader. I followed the instructions, put only 2-3 feet of tippet on the end and greased it with a paste floatant. It floated all day and turned the dry flies over great. But if you want to fish a nymph deeper than the tippet length (I bought a couple and haven’t greased the other one), can you apply a yarn indicator to it or do you need to use another kind of indicator that isn’t tied to it? I assume knotting the yarn to the furled leader isn’t recommended. Also, will it not perform well if you run a dry/dropper combo that has the tippet totaling longer than 3 feet?
Thanks
Joe
I don’t do this except in a few pools where the water is both clear and very slow. In that case, I nymph with the furled leader but no indicator. The visibility of the furled leader makes the use of an indicator unnecessary.
I occasionally apply a little action to the nymph, and that often induces strikes.
Being a three year furled leader convert, I am absolutely in love with them for dries and emergers. I do not use them for deep nymphing with an indicator, as the indicator pretty much throws all the furled leader benifits out the window (roll over, buoancy). When I need to get deep with a nymph, I switch back to a tapered mono leader. The one indicator that I have tried was the yarn type with the little rubber o-ring on it. The problem was that the furled leader wanted to float, and thus required a split shot a size or two bigger to counter the furled leader wanting to float. My leaders are tied on with a loop system, so switching between the two is not very difficult or time consuming.
The kind of nymphing that I have found to be very effective with a furled leader is shallow nymphing with a weigthed or unweighted nymph and no indicator. The leader gives a good indication on where the bug is, and when a strike takes place. The leader will keep the nymph within a few inches of the surface, and is easy to mend to get a good drift.
There are many ways you can use a furled leader, but IMHO, they are best suited for dries and shallow nymphs/emergers.
Have fun, Jeff
Tis my time on the water, in the mountains, and in my driftboat where I can see things as they really are.
Take a piece of small diameter shrink tubing, and slide it over the tippet to the leader connector. The diameter has to be small enough to wedge on the connection. I use yellow, but whatever color is best for you. I?m color blind, and lose the furled leader on the water, and use the indicator on both dry and wet flys [especially size 20 and smaller]. It floats and is flexible enough to not effect your cast.
If I want to get deep with a furled leader I just use a longer tippet. I may or may not put an indicator (usually small) at the end of the furled part of the leader and use a tippet around 9 or 10 feet long. Of course, you have to have a furled leader that is well suited to casting a long tippet, but usually don’t have any problems getting deep with one. Now if I’m lobbing heavy nymphs in particularly fast water, I would consider using a mono leader but usually don’t bother since I’d have to switch back and forth.
No need for an indicator - I make them out of orange thread for nymphing. Since presentation isn’t a real factor for nymphing, the length of the tippet isn’t critical. Make it long if you need to go deep.
Pete
“unfurl” the leader, insert floating yarn, release.
bubba_orvis
just tossing out ideas here, but a leader furled with some brilliant neon-ish thread and regularly marked up with black stripes would be its own indicator.
RRhyne56
[url=http://www.robinscustomleadersandflies.com:e1c51]http://www.robinscustomleadersandflies.com[/url:e1c51]
IM = robinrhyne@hotmail.com
I also just recently discovered the joys of fishing with furled leaders, and have started making my own. I’ve been experimenting with a hybrid leader with a high-visibility monofilament butt section (Stren high viz gold) tapered down to a fluorocarbon tip. I have also fished furled monofilament leaders (tied with 0.004 inch monofilament thread) with a sliding indicator - it didn’t seem to damage the leader at all. As some of the previous posters have said, though, using the indicator does decrease some of the benefits of the furled leader.
Great website, by the way - I’ve been visiting it for some time, but just joined today.
Cheers,
Dennis