Wild Water Braided vs Blue Sky Furled Leaders

[fadeaway263]

Guys: I ordered and received my braided Wild Water Red Furled leader. Here is a link to the website

https://www.wildwaterflyfishing.com/leaderslines.html

I tied it on and have been practicing in the back yard and am pleased.

To be safe and have a backup I ordered another leader from Blue Sky

http://www.blueskyfly.com/

The Wild Water leader is almost twice the diameter as the Blue Sky one and on the back of the package Blue Sky states: "Furled tapered leaders are superior to braided or monofilament leaders. Braided leaders have a hollow center that tends to pick up water which, in turn, makes the leader heavier affecting casting performance. Since our furled leader has no hollow core, it does not absorb water and causes no spray of released droplets."

Did I tie on the wrong leader? And since I bought the Wild Water leader off of Amazon I did not see the language that red leaders were for "fishing deep" and green was the choice for all other kinds of fishing. What do you think is meant by "fishing deep"? Are Blue Sky leaders better than braided? Since this is the first time in 30 years of FFing that I am using a furled leader your thought are most welcome.

 

[Crotalus]

Different places use different materials, Wild Water could be using a thicker material for their furling and that is why it is larger in diameter.

The red is tied with fluorocarbon which sinks quicker which is why they may be saying to use it for fishing deep.

The Wild Water looks to be a furled leader so no need to worry about the difference between braided and furled.

My personal preference is to find someone on a forum that is furling in their basement then buy from them. usually can get 2-3 for the price of one blue sky, you can also get special colors and lengths. I like the leaders made from uni-thread for all around fishing, i impregnate some with WaterShed so they float and others i leave untreated so they sink. I like fluorocarbon for streamers.

 

[troutpoop]

I've been fishing Blue Sky furled leaders for some time now and really like them. I have only tried a couple others, neither was Wild Water. I have enjoyed the Blue Sky leaders and will continue to use them unless I find something better.

 

[Crotalus]

Just curious - where are you seeing that the Wild Water are braided?

 

[blackandgold4ever05]

What are the advantages of a furled leader over a tapered leader? I construct my own leaders from Maxima. Can you use an indicator with a furled leader?

 

[troutpoop]

I have used indicators with my furled blue sky leaders, no sweat. I have recently been shown a new method using small dabs of strike putty spread about every 18 inches down the leader to a point about 3ft above the fly. I now prefer this method but strike indicators do work on the furled leaders.

 

[BigBronco]

I have used all types of indies with furled leaders including thingamabobbers. I personally prefer feathercraft leaders over blue sky. The biggest reason that I use furled over hand tied or tappered is that I can get a much better drift when I used furled.

 

[blackandgold4ever05]

I bought a Blue Sky furled leader today. Will keep you updated how I like it when I get to the stream again.

 

[blackandgold4ever05]

Used my new furled leader yesterday and only caught 1 but it was a nice native brown in the 14" range. I really liked the leader a lot. It turned over my flies with ease. It is the 5'8" blue sky leader. I added 6" of 3x tippet and then had about 4' of 5x. I wanna use it more before I say I won't use anything else but so far, so good. No complaints!

 

[NorthBranch]

blackandgold4ever05 wrote:
Used my new furled leader yesterday and only caught 1 but it was a nice native brown in the 14" range. I really liked the leader a lot. It turned over my flies with ease. It is the 5'8" blue sky leader. I added 6" of 3x tippet and then had about 4' of 5x. I wanna use it more before I say I won't use anything else but so far, so good. No complaints!

Excellent! Thinking of picking up one for my little rod.

Which size did you get? Light? Ultra light?

 

[blackandgold4ever05]

NorthBranch wrote:

blackandgold4ever05 wrote:
Used my new furled leader yesterday and only caught 1 but it was a nice native brown in the 14" range. I really liked the leader a lot. It turned over my flies with ease. It is the 5'8" blue sky leader. I added 6" of 3x tippet and then had about 4' of 5x. I wanna use it more before I say I won't use anything else but so far, so good. No complaints!

Excellent! Thinking of picking up one for my little rod.

Which size did you get? Light? Ultra light?

I think "light". I have a 4wt. I think the "light" is 3-5wt. Not 100% sure on that though.

 

[NorthBranch]

Thanks, I planned on trying the "light" on my 4wt.

 

[blackandgold4ever05]

NorthBranch wrote:
Thanks, I planned on trying the "light" on my 4wt.

Please keep us updated. I'm interested to hear your thoughts and opinion.

 

[NorthBranch]

Will do.

 

[bam]

Try to avoid thingamabobbers on them. They can kink your leader. The toothpick kind work well and stay in place. Putty works as a sighter if you're not looking to float nymphs

 

[djs12354]

Here's another source you can check out:

http://streamsideleaders.com/

Came across it in a thread on furled leaders. I ordered 3 from this site and received fairly quick delivery with no problems.

I like the way they feel, but I'm a newbie, so your mileage may vary.

Dave

 

[tomitrout]

I've been happy with the Streamside linked above. Like them better than the BlueSky I used, which was furled mono or nylon something or other. Prefer the presentation I get with the furled uni-thread Streamside.

Have also used silk leaders from Terenzio that came with the lines I have and probably like them the best, though they're a bit long for tight, barely any line out the tip brookie fishing where I think the furled leaders really shine. Reminds me that I have two new ones I need to get broken in for the new season.

With all of them I'll add a short 12"ish section of 3x or 4x then tie on the tippet from there to meet conditions. They're all great leaders for dries, but if I'm expecting to do some nymphing with a two fly rig during the day I'll usually just use a regular tapered leader and adjust tippets as needed.

 

[Crotalus]

bam wrote:
Try to avoid thingamabobbers on them. They can kink your leader. The toothpick kind work well and stay in place. Putty works as a sighter if you're not looking to float nymphs

I have never had any problems with thingamabobbers kinking my furled leaders. I use both UNI thread leaders and fluoro leaders.

 

[jayL]

bam wrote:
Try to avoid thingamabobbers on them. They can kink your leader. The toothpick kind work well and stay in place. Putty works as a sighter if you're not looking to float nymphs

Mucilin worked into the furl + putty will float nymphs if they aren't too heavy. It's the way to go for shallower or slower water imo.

 

[NorthBranch]

Little update on the Blue Sky Furled leaders...

I picked up a couple (a light, and a medium) and gave them a try.

Both casted extremely well, and they do turn over nicely.

Couple notes...

The directions say to grasp the leader by both ends and give it a good tug to remove the memory. This works fine on the light model, but not so good on the medium model. There is still a lot of "curl" in the medium leader even after a few stretches. I'm sure it will eventually come out after a little more usage, or after a few good smallies give it a workout. :-D

Also, the tiny loop to attach the extender and tippet looked a little flimsy to me. I just cut it off, attached the extender, applied some pliobond... and I feel much better about the connection.

Obviously, the leaders need to get a good workout to see how they perform under all conditions and they hold up long term... we'll see.