I was just reading the post about strike indicators and I noticed one talk about leader. I have always struggled to find the perfect leader combinations when making my own and am not sure about some of the store bought tapered leaders I have purchased. I consider myself to be a good caster but have had problems that I believe the leader is causing.
Mentioned in the post was the “George Harvey formula” for making leader. Anyone want to explain this one (I am going out on a limb here and probably this is something I should know and look stupid)or any other favorite methods of leader selection.
I’m not being smart axx here…I really want to know…is that the same as saying they don’t turn over the fly as well as some others…or are there other reasons?
This is an interesting post in that I received some great information that I printed out, but I kind of was a bit stumped on the “squiggle” talk. I get squiggles but I am trying to tie a leader that will take a lot of squiggles out and give me a smooth straight line and a good roll and drop of the fly.
Keep this up, I am learning from your conversations.
I understand what you mean now. I would assume that the length of the tippet would be more important in settling the fly on the water after a good roll made possible by the tappering of the leader.
Tippet and fly size also determine that landing, correct?
Okay
Drag is the enemy of a natural dry fly drift
A slackline cast will eliminate most drag, but drag you may not see, micro-drag, needs a little help.
Go to the link and scroll down to the leader formulas.
You will see that Geo.H goes from hard mono in the butt to soft mono two sections above the tippet.
This is to give the leader stiffness in the butt and extra suppleness (the squiggle part) toward the point for a more natural drift.
OK, I understand now. I guess I got all caught up in that straight “demo” cast that ones sees at the casting shows (ofwhich I also can cast like in a gymnasium without wind or water) and thought my cast were just average on the stream.
I am starting to sound dumber with every post. Anyway, maybe I am not as bad as I was thinking. Beginning to think fly fishing is like golf, a lot of average fisherman but very few great ones. Or should I say, no one has it perfected! We all have our good days and bad.
Coach,
In all likelihood, you guys are probably better casters/fishermen than I am. I’m just sharing my observations from doing a lot of searching and recent tests going from manufactured leaders to trying some of my own…just to “see”.
This last couple of years since I’ve been helped along very much in my casting presentations, I’m able to nicely lay out a cast w/o it tailing and to usually control things better. This enabled me to play with leaders w/o them tangling so poorly.
It’s fun. And it’s something that you can take as just so-so or (if you wish) you can dig into it. If you do that, the catch rate tells you you’re doing something right! It all adds to the enjoyment.