Does anyone tie there own leaders?

[Jimbot]

After reading Dynamic Nymphing by George Daniel. I purchased some gold stren and some cortland indicator mono, and briefly tied my own nymphing leaders. It didnt last long.

But I did enjoy making them, and the price point was pretty good.

Recently i dug up some dry fly leader recipes, went to Dicks and purchased a bunch of mono. (by one get one 1/2 off all lines) . I tied up a bunch of leaders...they seem clunky but i followed the recipes to the T. I am excited to try them tomorrow morning.

I first turned to the Forum for recipes, but could only find some brief statements concerning Furled leaders.

So I figured Id post it up. Anyone prefer their own custom leaders?

I often will frankenstein my knotless leaders till they basically are custom. But this is my first attempt at it purposefully.

Anybody?

-bot

 

[Letort]

I have, from time to time. I don't find them better, or worse, than tapered leaders ( which I also Frankenstein).

I use a drop of glue which I cure with a UV light to smooth out the knots. I also use a desktop nail knot contraption, which speeds up the process.

 

[Jimbot]

I like both of those tips.

Ive had that bloodknot helper tool in my basket a few times....just never clicked purchase.


Heres my recipe I went with

7'-4x

14" of 25 lb

14" of 20 lb

14" of 15 lb

12" of 10 lb

12" of 6 lb

18" of 4x nylon

add 5x as needed

 

[Dave_W]

I build my own leaders and can't remember the last time I used a store made tapered leader. I was also using bright colored Stren built into sections for visibility going back to the early 1980s (and so were some other members of this forum). Bright leader sections aren't new.

My preference is to use cheapo spin fishing monofilament for butt and belly sections. I only use fly fishing leader material for tippets. Blood knots work for me. For a typical trout fishing leader, I'll usually use about four sections including the tippet. Saltwater leaders are simpler still and usually involve only two or three sections.

 

[RCFetter]

Here's a thread on the subject:

Building a Leader

 

[acesedgley]

I have tied my own since starting ff (lost track of how long ago)
Usually fished only dry back then and used George Harvey's slack line dry fly leader formula. Used stiff Maxima for butt section(s),Cortland or Rio for mid and tippet.
Marked the formula on the tippet spools

 

[Jimbot]

I probably should have posted this in the beginner thread.

Apparently this has been beaten to death.

 

[Solitariolupo]

This has been asked before so I'm sure more comments on this in the other threads so give them a look also. But a lot of anglers make their own leaders. Same with me. To start, thicker line to thinner should work well for a tapered leader.

 

[franklin]

I've tied my own nymphing leaders and had good success with them. Not so much with dry fly leaders. At this point I'll invest my time fishing and continue with manufactured leaders for drys.

 

[OldLefty]

Yes, I tie my own. See Keystone Fly Fishing Guide for one of my formulas. This leader is designed to turn over well for fishing dry flies, too.

 

[barbless]

Leader sections tied with green and red mono help me to keep track of my fly on the water, whether floating or subsurface. They typically make up most of my core leader up to the last 12"-18", which is clear mono, 1X or 2x, with a tippet ring at the end.
I use Amnesia for my hand-tied leaders- green, red, and clear. Most of the leader is green. Red is higher visibility and works well as both a strike indicator and depth indicator, when tied in alternating sections with green- but red Amnesia is a lot stiffer than either green or clear Amnesia, so it doesn't cinch up well, even with leader material that's the same brand and the same diameter.
It's really, really important to make sure those knot connections are secure, so I soak all my hand-tied nylon leader knot connections in water and re-tighten them before I trim them. Then I check them later on, to see if they're holding up. If I have time, I use cement on the knots. I prefer Pliobond as knot cement, but it typically requires at least a day to cure, although heat-curing by putting it close to a light bulb speeds up the process.

 

[Jimbot]

Yo Barbless

This is the kind of info i was looking for when i posted this.
So thanks.

I kind of have some of the same methods with my nymphing leaders.

Ive never put any glue or anything like that on the knots though. Thats all new to me.

Do apply all these methods to your dry fly leader as well? Obviously you prob use the glue on the knots. But what about the colored mono?

Do you make a leader that has colored mono mid way that you can switch back and forth from nymphs to drys? Serving two purposes?


-bot

 

[Bruno]

Modified Harvey Slack leader Formula for Dry Flies
Diameter # Test X Rating
Type of Mono
Length
.017 20 LB. Maxima Chameleon 10"
.015 15 LB. Maxima Chameleon 18"
.013 12 LB. Amnesia Green 18"
.010 8 LB. 1x Maxima Chameleon 18"
.009 6 LB. 2x Maxima Chameleon 18"
.008 5 LB. 3x Maxima Ultragreen 12"
.007 4 LB. 4x Maxima Ultragreen 18"
.006 3 LB. 5x Maxima Ultragreen 24-30"


Modified Harvey Slack leader Formula for Nymphing
Diameter # Test X Rating
Type of Mono
Length
.017 20 LB. Maxima Chameleon 10"
.015 15 LB. Maxima Chameleon 18"
.013 12 LB. Amnesia Green 18"
.010 8 LB. 1x Maxima Chameleon 18"
.009 6 LB. 2x Maxima Chameleon 12"
.008 5 LB. 3x Maxima Ultragreen 18"
.007 4 LB. 4x Maxima Ultragreen 18-24"

 

[Dave_W]

Jimbot wrote:

Do you make a leader that has colored mono mid way that you can switch back and forth from nymphs to drys? Serving two purposes?
-bot

Sure.
My standard trout fishing leaders have a bright green section just below the butt that is usuful for nymphing but doesn't hurt dry fly fishing at all. I just consider this bright colored section to part of the basic taper of the leader. For bass fishing, however, I usually do not have this bright colored section.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

My Leader/Tippet are a mono 10lb test @ 5' to a mono 6lb or 4lb test @ 5' to a Floro 2 lb @ 5'.

 

[moon1284]

I probably use too many different size lines, but I use all maxima, start with 20#, then 15#, 12#, 10#, 8#, 6#, 4#, 2# maxima tippet. I blood knot all connections. My leaders are usually around 13' including 3' of tippet. You could probably cut out the 15# and 8# and just go 20, 12, 10, 6, 4, 2 and be fine.

Use nail knot to fly line and blood knots the rest of the way. Tippet rings are for the blind, elderly, and those too lazy to learn how to tie a blood knot! -joke

 

[Jimbot]

Thanks to,

Dave, Pennypack, Bruno, Moon.

I love all of this. I will put it into practice when I get back from MONTANA. Leaving in the morning for a week. And will play with all this info. Wish me luck. No cell or wifi in Craig where im staying.

-bot

 

[bigslackwater]

I build my own leaders. I dont think I could ever go back to tapered leaders because I make adjustments on the water too much. I started using formulas but now I mostly "eyeball" it and work from experience. My butt section is about 1' of 15lb maxima to 1' 12lb maxima, then I start using tippet from 1x down to whatever my smallest is. typically I use about 18" of each tippet with the last section being about 3'. If I'm nymphing and decide to go to streamers I'll just cut the rig back to the 3x and tie a streamer on. When I decide to go back to nymphing I tie the rig back on. Same with dry flies. The great thing about making your own leaders is the casting. If you find you are not getting the cast you like or drift, you can make adjustments (lengthen or shorten) to any section of the leader. Everything I learned about tying leaders I learned here on PAFLYFISH!!!

 

[poopdeck]

Blood knots in the smaller diameters give me fits but I recently came across a method of tying them where the two ends are tied together and then the knot is tied in the same fashion as tying a dropper loop. With this method both tag ends come out the same side of the knot where in a traditional blood knot each tag end comes out opposite sides. It's far easier and quicker to tie but I wonder about the strength. I've yet to catch anything that would test the strength of this method.

Does anybody else tie their blood knots in this manner and is it just as reliable as a traditional blood knot?