I’ve been experimenting with many types of leaders for a number of years now.
For the longest time I’ve tied up my own knotted tapered leaders, but I’m not all that happy with the formula’s I have. I’ve tried a few different furled leaders and Singapore twist leaders as well and I’m still not all that happy with those either. Do any of you have some knotted leader formulas that turn over really well that you use for panfishing?
J.
I’ve tied my own leaders for years
I’m not sure what kinda flies your talking about but a leader with a heavy butt and a short midsection will turn over best
For large saltwater flies and bulky, air resistant bass bugs I like a leader that’s 70% butt, 10% mid, and 20% tippet
Smaller flies don’t need anything that extreme. Something more like 60, 20, 20 is fine
Your typical trout leader is more like 50%, 25%, 25%.
I probably should add that you should never step-down more than .003" at a time. .002" is best.
So the lighter the tippet, the more graduations you need. 
Then there’s the line power transference :rolleyes:
A 6wt line will need more graduations than a 3wt line, because the power of the thicker line needs to step down more sizes than the thinner line,
? Does that make sense?
So
A 9’ leader for an 8wt or better line, that ends in a tippet of 16#- 20# test would only need three sections.
A 9’ leader for a 6wt line that ends in a tippet of 5x is going to need 8 or 9 graduations
A 9’ leader for a 3wt line that ends in a tippet of 5x is going to need 7-8 graduations
Okay
Now ya got 3-4 fairly long graduations in the butt. Each one slightly shorter that the one before it
Then another 4 or 5 short graduations for the mid.
Then your 20" tippet
Let’s put together the 60%,20%,20%, 9’, 5x for a mid weight rod (5,6,7)
30" -.021
18" -.019
12" -.017
5" - .015
5" - .013
5" - .011
5" - .009
20" -.006
That’s ideal
Probably more trouble than I would go through for pan fish.
You can skip a graduation or two (or three) along the line, as long as you don’t step down more than. .003" at a time
Then again… sometimes I just use straight mono :rolleyes:
I am guilty of using a little of whatever I have around, but a friend gave me an old “leader making kit” from Stren. There were small spools of line from 30# to 2# in it, all fit in a nice plastic tube. I don’t think it was your typical spinning line Stren however, it had a little more stiffness to it. Makes good leaders too. I have alway saved line that was not really good for spinning rods or even casting rods to make leader. But I am a long ways from being expert in this area.
UJ…I’m curious…what were the qualities that made the line not really good?
i’m using 45/35/30 leader formula for my lighter flies such as dries and nymphs with some really soft and supple mono that i sometimes use on my spinning reels. we dont have panfish here but its what i use most of the time. otherwise, i use a twisted butt section of 8 or 10lbs mono and attach a tippet of about 6lbs or 8lbs and that comes up to a total length of about 8 feet.
For bluegill, I find it hard to beat 6’ of 6 lb. test, for bass the same length of 8 or 10 lb. test seems to work well for me.
I have found some good leader calculators online. a couple of them are downloadable. here is a site that you could check out http://www.jdunns.com/personal/java_leader_calc.html
Yep, that’s all I use for Bluegill, about 4 feet of 6 pound test mono.
Try globalflyfisher.com. There is an excellent leader program there (Leadercalc) created with Excel that will keep you in leader experiments for hours! It is a great program.
Ducksterman “UJ…I’m curious…what were the qualities that made the line not really good?”
Soft or limp line is good for spinning and casting; stiffer (wiry line) better for fly leaders. Maybe I’m showing my age; I remember when Trilene advertised their “soft” line.
I’ve used several different formulas, but I think making the butt and quick taper out of a stiff mono helps, I use Maxima, then softer for 5X on down works for me. I like Umpqua tippet material.
I use the Harry Murray forumla from Leadercalc on globalflyfisher.com. I find that led works great for all my warm water fishing on my 6-8 wt rods. Panfish, bass etc etc.
-wayne
While not a complete book on making leaders, I have saved this link because it was to the point with some nice formulas: http://www.flyfishusa.com/tackle-tips/leaders/about-leaders.html
Rick
for steel i use 25lb,20,15,10,mono then I go 8 or 6 flouro on very small barrel swivel . if they break off u lose tippet only. I use this for steelies because you are either nymphing or using streamers and flouro sinks and is invisible to fish… I use 25 for the butt so the line sinks faster in the high flows of the great lakes. for regular bassing I just use 30,20,10, then 6 or 4lb no swivel. if you follow leader recipes to a tee they will turn over with ease. mine work well enough for my river and I can cast just fine with them and they have never lost me a fish. i have straightened the hook out before breakin the line. I blood knot every piece together and use improved clinch for leader to fly and leaders to barrel swivels. I use a nail knot for fly line to leader. you can adjust that recipe for a better turn over ratio if you want. have fun and good luck!
JKurtz
When you mentioned that you were not happy with them, exactly what points were displeasing? Were they not turning over fully, too much power, etc.?
I have found that smaller rods with lighter lines can’t turn over as much leader as heavier lines and rods. I am down to a little three foot furled leader made with 6/0 Uni on my ought weight. This set up works well for me. Anything more than that and it simply could not turn it over nicely.