Thinking of building a few leaders...

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mgh-pa

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In preparation for getting on the water hopefully in the next month, I'm planning on trying my hand at building a few leaders following the tutorial on Youtube that was posted on here a while back. Do most of you that build leaders still purchase tippet to attach to it, or can you factor that into the build somehow?

I'm thinking as long as I have some 4x, 5x, and 6x, I should be good to go, right?
 
mgh-pa wrote:
In preparation for getting on the water hopefully in the next month, I'm planning on trying my hand at building a few leaders following the tutorial on Youtube that was posted on here a while back. Do most of you that build leaders still purchase tippet to attach to it, or can you factor that into the build somehow?

I'm thinking as long as I have some 4x, 5x, and 6x, I should be good to go, right?

You attach a tippet on the end of the leader loop and change the tippet as needed. The leader itself lasts for a long time.
 
4x, 5x, and 6x

For tippets, yeah, those 3 are fine. For leaders you want some stuff much bigger!

For instance, I use maxima chameleon for much of my leader material. My butt section is 0.024" in diameter. For comparison, 0x tippet is 0.011, 1x is 0.010, 2x is 0.009, etc.
 
For the next month or so I plan on doing alot of short line nymphing with the higher more stained water you can get much closer to the drifts than later in the season.

So my question to you is what are your leader designs like for the 7 to 8 foot leaders like?

Yes, heavy but sections- perhaps 1 or 2 sections of stiff maxima or amnesia then a long piece of say 2x, 3x, or 4x.

What knots you using to connect to the maxima or anmesia- triple surgeons? The diameters of the connections can be so far off from each other.

 
If the leader is to be used solely for nymphing, yeah, it's the butt and then straight to a very long flat leader, usually 2x, then to 4x or 5x right at the business end. Casts like heck, but with some weight and an open cast, it does nicely with drag.

For most of my leaders (streamer, brookie, dry fly, etc.) there's a more traditional taper.

I pretty much use blood knots all around, even when the diameters are different. But yeah, in this extreme of a case of different diameters, the triple surgeon's is probably a better way to go.
 
pc- 10-4.

That's pretty much what I do.

Continue to experiment-might try a loop to loop to see how I like that. Guess, I figure I will be pretty connected to the drifts shortlining and maybe the loops would'nt be a big deal. Season moves on I will go with more of a taper.

Hopefully this year I can kinda settle my reel setups into a nymph setups and dry setups. It is a pain because I was brought up on the nail knotted leaders and switching from streamer to nymph to dry can cause alot of leader reworks.

Fun to talk about but not as fun when your buddy is doing well and your sitting on a rock for 15 minutes reworking your leader- ha.
 
I only do a nail knot once or twice a year per outfit. The butt section stays and is common to all of my leaders, other various leaders are just blood knotted on that. Yeah, the butt slowly shortens, and maybe by midseason I gotta redo it, then again over the winter. But I do those at home or in camp, I don't think I've ever done a nail knot streamside.
 
Yea, agreed. I was just getting at the fact that I don't use the loop to loops to switch up leaders.


Random thought: It's nice to be able to use a short leader and not have to get it caught up in the guides.
 
Kid,

The furled mono leaders butts I make are 4' +/- long for a 9' rod. For nymphing, I attach my tippet (3x-5x) to the furled leader loop depending on the depth of the water, speed, etc, I use 4-7' of tippet with 5' being the average. This creates a hinge effect which is a good thing in this case to get down quickly and eliminate drag. I grease up the leader butt and use it as my sighter. You can high-stick or Euro with the rig and don't need an indy that constantly needs adjustment for the water depth. I can control the depth and drift with casting, mending and positioning.

For dries I use the same leader butt and just taper down to the tippet like a conventional knotted leader. Instead of retying, I just keep the tapered dry section in my vest and change it over from the nymph rig in less than a minute since it loop-to-loop.

I works well for me.




 
Thanks, guys. What type of material would be best suited for a beginner wanting to try making a few? The video tutorial uses 8lb test mono, but only for demonstration purposes. Is there a general guideline as to what to use? I'm fishing with a 8.5' 5wt at the moment.

The video also demonstrates the steps using a loop to loop for both the fly line and tippet attachment points. Any disadvantage to this?

Finally, last season (my first), I was having difficulty turning over some flies, and while I was matching the tippet to fly the best I could, I have to wonder if some of it was due to leader/tippet length. Is there a good starting point to begin with as far as what size to make the leader assuming I'm attaching tippet to the end?
 
Here are the details on the furled leaders I make:

 

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I like Maxima Chameleon for the stiff sections of the leader, and it's probably especially good for a beginner as the stiff sections really help you turn it over when casting.

My butts are 0.024, which equates to 40 lb test. Then 3 or 4 intermediate sizes before changing over to softer materials for the last section or two + tippet.

Look up the tapers you want and then buy the materials. Can probably get yourself all the sizes necessary for $30 ish, and that'll last years.
 
Ok. This thread is teetering back and forth between what maybe furled leaders versus tapered hand tied leader.

OP asks question about adding tippet which is obvious with furled leader thus I assume he his talking about a hand tied tapered leader. Then again, there is discussion about doing it with 8lb mono, thus the furled thing comes to mind.
 
jdaddy correct, I was taking it to be about hand-tied leaders with furled leaders mentioned as an alternative option. Taking a second look I may be off base. If so, I apologize.

To the original poster, are we talking hand-tied tapered leaders, or furled leaders?
 
Most of my leaders - for big streams anyway- are 11 feet in legnth. This includes a final section consisting of 30 inches of 5X tippet. And I will tie my fly right onto that.

To do this, you will need to get 5-6 spools of leader materiel - likely spending around $30 or so. So, you'll be in it for the long haul.
I still think it's very worthwhile though

 
I have tied a few of my own leaders. I can never seem to get the measurements on the money, each section is an inch longer or shorter than the formula calls for. Does this make a difference?
 
Again, VERY new to all of this (flyfishing included). Here is a link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbcVaEe3RIs

He's essentially doubling up the bottom 1/3rd, and quadrupling the top third (which is why he is starting with "low" lb test I suppose).
 
I add 4" to each section length when cutting them- 2" on each side - to allow for making the blood knot.
And usually wind up within an inch or so of the prescribed length. I don't think it's anything to worry about
 
boychick, nope, doesn't matter. But I do cut them an inch or so longer than the measurement to account for the knots I'm gonna tie.

mgh, those are furled leaders, disregard everything I said and listen to afish. The ones I was explaining was just for hand tied, not furled. Sorry.
 
afishinado wrote:
Here are the details on the furled leaders I make:

I'm going to say I weigh in on a different technique than he does.

My current config is a butt section of 6#, 8 strands then 4 strands. To that I'll connect a middle portion, 8 strands then 4 strands of 4#. From there, a final portion of 4#, 4 strands to 2 strands then usually 4x, 5x, and what have you as neccessary.

The extra loop-to-loops don't seem to matter because after a few casts they snug down to almost disappear, and the furled loops make energy transfer almost seamless. The benefit of this is when you inevitably snap the 2 strand loop you have to make a much shorter piece, and can be done much quicker.

Two ways of reaching the same goal.

 
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