Fly line setup

djmyers

djmyers

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Joined
May 16, 2007
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288
I am not necessarily looking for brands but what stock of tippets and leaders do you carry with you? From your fly line to your hook what do you have? Just getting started and want to know what I should try to have with me. Someone suggested getting braided line welded to my fly line. What does everyone else do?
 
I buy the cheapest 9ft leaders I can find...usually in a 5x and adapt them from there...Orvis was recently selling leaders for .29 online I got 10.
 
I'm with tom.

Either put a welded loop in the end of your fly line, buy a pre-looped line, or get some sort of loop connectors. From there, 9' 5x is pretty versatile. Just cut em down or extend them with various tippet sizes. Get a wheel or two of everything from 3x to 7 or 8x
 
jayL has the right idea. That's how I started. It's inexpensive and highly versatile. Of course part of fishing is trying the next gadget that promises to revolutionize the sport.

I've tried braided (Orvis), furled (Feather Craft & Blue Sky) & poly leaders (Cabelas). They're more expensive but they last a long time.

So far I like the poly floating leaders the best for all around use. The loop connection to the tippet makes it easy to change tippets as I move from one section of stream to another. You can easily throw 7 to 10' of leader with this system. These leaders also come in sinking versions. I'm still experimenting with these for nymphing.

I used a braided leader system prior to Poly but even the new braids spray too much water on pickup.

I like the FC furled leaders for sub-surface fishing but they don't perform well with #18 or smaller dry flies on 7x tippet. It turns over well but tends to sink the fly. The FC leaders don't spray as much as braided but still more than poly.

Admittedly, my solutions may comprise perfection for ease of use.

I carry a selection of 4x to 8x tippet material (rarely use 8x). I still can't tell whether or not flourocarbon helps but I try it when things get tough.

BTW - Cabelas has the Lt. Trout (2-5wt.) Poly leaders on sale for 3.99. Don't buy the kit it's not on sale so the leaders are less expensive if bought individually.
 
In general; I started out the same setup.

Well- pretty tought to beat .29 leaders, so I would go with that.
Used'em till the leader would'nt fit through the eye of the hook.

If you can tie nail knots and blood knots you soon can tie your own leaders. If you get to that point- you can buy a leader building kit from Maxima- stiff butt material and add tippet material from there 3x,4x etc.

I am terrible with knots but have managed to learn a few and it will help you almost everytime you go out.

With the cold weather here work on those if you can. If you use the search feature here you can view many posts with knots and leader info.
 
to build on what acristickid said

for help with knots take a look at http://youtube.com/results?search_query=fly+fishing+knots

There a lot of other videos for all sorts of casting, fly tying, ...
 
Who needs leaders and tippets? Just tie up your own. Start with some thick mono such as 17 or 20 pound test and off of that tie in some 8 pound mono then go down as small as you want in chunks I usually use florocarbon (Berkley Vanish) in 6, 4, and 2 if water conditions are very clear or trout are spooky. I use a nail knot to connect it to the fly line and everything else is tied with blood knots. Anything called tippet or leader is normally overpriced if you ask me.
 
I use a loop (perfection or pretied). I normally buy a tapered as short as I can get down to 3X, then I add 4x and 5x. On the stream I carry 3-4-5x.
If I tie my own, I start with something large and give about 18" section getting smaller down to 5X.
 
I nail knot a short section of red amnesia (20 lb) to the end of my flyline and tie a perfection loop in the amnesia.
It works very well as a permanent butt/indicator.
 
Question to those of you who tie your own leaders; don't you have problems with the knots collecting debris? I tied a few up but between the leaves in fall and the water plants on spring creeks I gave up.

For terminating my fly lines I used to use the add on welded loops but they are hard to get the end of the fly line sealed. Floating lines then take on water. I've changed over to nail knotting a short piece of old leader with a perfection knot. Over the nail knot and end of fly line I used Loon UV knotsense to seal it up and provide a smooth surface over the knot. Thoughts?
 
Someone suggested getting braided line welded to my fly line. What does everyone else do?

I use braided leaders on all my rigs and I never change leaders, so it occured to me that a braided loop serves no purpose for me. I decided to try connecting the braided leader right to my flyline without a loop and it works great for me. I just cut off the heavy end of the leader and attach it exactly like a braided loop. I did this to my two and three weight lines a few years ago and I really like it and have no intention of ever going back to loops.

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