While surfing the Internet and reading up on fly fishing for bass, I noticed several articles about Airflo Poly Leaders and was wondering if anyone here has or is using them and can give a report on what they are for sure, how are they made and what they are made of? Most “searching” I have done only “links” me up with vendors selling them and they do not give much info on what they really are. At first I figured they were just a tapered mono leader, but, it does not sound like that is what they are and now I am interested in knowing more.
Would appreciate any info or “links” to info on these leaders…
I have one, although I’m not sure how much help I can be…its a light trout floating leader, 7 1/2’ long, I think. It’s almost like a miniature fly line, and tapers down. At the very bottom, a short piece of mono is attached…looks to be thermally fused to the end of the leader somehow, and a perfection loop is tied in the end. I havent used it in a while, with age (several months) it doesn’t float quite as nicely, and also having a preference for furled leaders, but it served its purpose well. Now that you mention them, I think I may buy another.
While there are floating versions, they are most useful as mini-sinktips. They are particularly useful in the faster sink weights for banging banks out of the drift boat, when long tips are overkill due to shallow water and you don’t plan to wait long for the fly to sink.
Thanks for the info. I make and use my own furled leaders for my trout fishing and am 100% satisfied with my furled leaders. I only use Berkley Transition Gold for my trout furled leaders because the furled leaders sink and take my flies deeper, but, they will not work for bass surface poppers. They do not pull the popper down while floating, but, when you go to lift the popper off the water to make another cast, the sunk furled leader will pull the popper down and this makes for difficult lift plus sometimes the popper will hang on submerged timber. If I use a straight piece of say 8 pound flurorcarbon, the popper will lift right off the water. I may just use the straight flurorcarbon like many do. I needed info because I like to experiment with other systems and see if there is something that works better. The Poly Leaders are not that expensive and I may order one to try, but, first I need to determine which one to order to be used only with smallie fishing. It would be nice to fine one that will work for the poppers as well as the sub-surface streamers and clousers. My furled leaders work great for sub-surface, but, I would have to remove it for surface poppers. I know that I could make a furled leader out of mono and it would probably work fine for the popper but would not take the streamers and clousers as deep. If anyone knows which Poly Leader would work both surface and sub-surface, I would appreciate suggestions. I am gathering info now and doing the research now because, as soon as the weather warms up a little more, I plan to spend more river time fishing for smallmouth and largemouth bass. My trout waters are getting a little crowded and a smallie on a fly rod is a blast!
It sounds like you want a leader that will both sink and float…and know which to do depending on what fly you’re using…
Clearly I’m confused.
i just use 2 leaders. One for surface, and one for subsurface. If I’m switching from one to another, it marks a definite turning point in my fishing strategy, and I don’t mind swapping out a looped-on leader to do it.
I have used Air Flo leaders for many years and like them very well. In fact I recommend them to beginners as they don’t have to worry about what leader to use. You just tie on a length of tippet and your ready to go. I also use the sinking models when fishing nymphs.
I understand your confusion…I guess what I am looking for would be one of the slower sinking Poly Leaders that would not cause major problems with lifting a bass popper off the water and still, given time, would take a streamer or clouser down deeper. On my rivers here, I want to be able to fish a popper along the river edges and then a streamer or clouser down the center and may want to do both in the same pool on the river and not have to change leaders to do both. It makes no sense to me to make a half dozen casts with a popper along the edges and under overhangs and then stop fishing, change out a leader and start fishing the same area with a streamer.
What I may have to do is just start out with a straight piece of 8 pound test fluorocarbon and do both and then make up a furled leader from mono and do the same with it and compare the results and use which ever one comes close to what I want.
I like ths sinking poly-leaders for trolling out of my toon, when I need to get down a couple more feet than normal. I tried the floating ones, but they were no better IMO than regular nylon tapered leaders. Cabelas sells them (floating and sinking), and they are not that expensive. Give them a try and see for yourself.
