Leaders, Sub-Surface

W

wsender

Active member
Joined
Aug 9, 2010
Messages
1,678
What do you use and why?
 
Straight mono with a furled or amnesia butt.
 
Furled. Because it was easy to make, resists wind knots, and lasts and lasts.

Same one, more-or-less, as the dry fly leader. I've got like 4-5' of furled, then I'll just attach the tippet in the length I figure seems right, usually there's a 1'-2' of 2x, 3x, and 4x just sort of on it. Add what I gotta add.

I don't generally short line nymph fish, so that works for castin' and what not. On the times when I try to go all straight line and what not, usually its straight flouro to a 8" hunk of amnesia.
 
Hand-tied...why, because I was bored one day and made it up and have used it ever since.
 
Hand tied cause its always been that way for me..
 
I have hand tied all my leaders since I started flyfishing. I have never purchased a leader from a store. A good friend who got me into flyfishing showed me how to tie them and have been tying knotted leaders ever since!
 
I, being a new fly-fisherman, have never hand tied a leader except a few for Salmon. I've always used the extruded tapered mono until I started using furled leaders the last couple weeks of 'the season'. Is there a general formula/recipe for hand tying leaders?
 
Yes there are many formulas. I use the Original "Harvey" Formulas. You can find them in Joe Humphrey's book "Trout Tactics" There are formulas for dry, wet and nymphing leaders.
 
knotless, because I'm just lazy.
 
Pretty much straight fluro.

Sender check out LeaderCalc. It is the bomb.

http://globalflyfisher.com/fishbetter/leadercalc/download.php

Get the PDF on the same page above as well. Explains advantages etc. Basically customization is the up shot, that and repair ability. Down side is knots in the guides having a hard time getting through guides.
 
For dedicated nymphing, I use a generally flat, mono leader. I keep the butt section on all my leaders and change from there. But if I'm planning on nymphing all day, I'll have 6-8 ft of 2x or 3x, followed by a foot or two of the tippet.

I've found negating the taper and going all thin material greatly helps the fly to sink quicker and experience less drag issues in the relatively heavy currents where I do most of my nymphing.

That said, if I'm switching between nymphs and dries, instead of constantly changing leaders I'll use 1 standard tapered leader and just put on a little extra tippet for the nymphs. I'm lazy.
 
gfen wrote:
I don't generally short line nymph fish, so that works for castin' and what not. On the times when I try to go all straight line and what not, usually its straight flouro to a 8" hunk of amnesia.

Forgot to mention I've also got a furled leader of the same flouro I use for tippet. Acts like a wee little mini wet tip, really.
 
Back
Top