Furled Leaders

[PhilllyFlyGuy]

Was on Allen fly fishing getting ready to place an order and came across the furled leaders. Just curious if anyone has had any experience with them. I mainly use mono/flouro leaders. How do they float, how are they casting, are they similar to braided leaders?

 

[PennKev]

There have been at least a couple other threads on this in which I and others have covered all the details about them and given various opinions. Search it up and read the huge amount of info already on the forum.

 

[PhilllyFlyGuy]

Found the thread, thanks

 

[Pittflyguy]

Very different than a braided leader. Furled are great for turning over larger flies... if you are looking for a delicate presentation for things like small dries I'd say it's the wrong tool for the job. I use them often. The once caution I would throw is that if you are fishing waters with lots of algae and such they tend to "collect" goop in the leader probably more so than a tapered mono leader would. IMHO.

 

[troutpoop]

I have found the opposite of pittflyguy. I really prefer the furled leaders for delicate presentations. I add a longer tippet that I could ever use on a hand tied leader and it will lay out very gently.
I could be mistaken but I think the furled leader history goes back to the chalk streams in scotland/england areas where most if not all there fishing was dry presentation.
The negatives for furled leaders are they don't transfer to nymphing well so if you switch back and forth it may not be the best option unless you want to switch leaders.

 

[PennKev]

troutpoop wrote:
I have found the opposite of pittflyguy. I really prefer the furled leaders for delicate presentations. I add a longer tippet that I could ever use on a hand tied leader and it will lay out very gently.
I could be mistaken but I think the furled leader history goes back to the chalk streams in scotland/england areas where most if not all there fishing was dry presentation.
The negatives for furled leaders are they don't transfer to nymphing well so if you switch back and forth it may not be the best option unless you want to switch leaders.

+1

However, there are some (overly) heavy mono furled leaders out there that can turnover just about anything you can attach to your tippet. It really depends on what you buy/make.

 

[KeithS]

I just tried them for the first time. Beautiful casting leaders. Float really well when greased with green mucillin. You gotta try them.

 

[JohnPowers]

i feel like i gave both a try. wanted to like them. found the ring a hinge that made the tippet and fly free agents liable to end up anywhere. up on the WB last week i just couldnt guess where the fly would end up. they require false casting to dry off which is ok but if you dont they land like telephone cable. thy them, thy're cheap.

 

[AugustWest]

Tried a furled leader some years back as an experiment and ended up putting them on all my 3, 4, 5 and 6 wt lines. IMO don't buy the ones with the ring, buy the ones that end with a loop. I wouldn't use anything else and I have converted several guys I fish with. I use Blue Sky only.

 

[ratgunner]

I got 2 Blue Sky leaders to try. AugustWest,do you just loop your tippet dierect or use a mono spacer ?

 

[greenlander]

PennKev wrote:

troutpoop wrote:
I have found the opposite of pittflyguy. I really prefer the furled leaders for delicate presentations.

+1

However, there are some (overly) heavy mono furled leaders out there that can turnover just about anything you can attach to your tippet. It really depends on what you buy/make.

+2

If you're talking about your typical trout furled leader that you aren't making yourself, I think they're great for delicate presentations, but lousy for turning over even bigger/weighted nymphs.

 

[TimMurphy]

greenlander wrote:

PennKev wrote:

troutpoop wrote:
I have found the opposite of pittflyguy. I really prefer the furled leaders for delicate presentations.

+1

However, there are some (overly) heavy mono furled leaders out there that can turnover just about anything you can attach to your tippet. It really depends on what you buy/make.

+2

If you're talking about your typical trout furled leader that you aren't making yourself, I think they're great for delicate presentations, but lousy for turning over even bigger/weighted nymphs.

+3
Dear Board,

I agree with these two posters and think that furled leaders are best left for strictly dry fly fishing. If you grease the leader to make it float properly it makes for a lousy nymphing leader.

If you don't grease a thread made furled leader because you want to nymph or fish streamers and wets it makes it difficult to switch over to dries should you find a hatch occurring.

That said I have mono 16# test furled leaders on my 7 and 8 weight rods. With a stout enough tippet you could turn over an aluminum pie pan with those. I doubt I'll ever use anything else for stream smallmouth or lake largemouth fishing, even if they do sometimes get gobbed up with algae.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[Pontus]

The problem with the versatility of the majority of commercially available furled leaders is their length. I swear by my current system of using the cutthroat brand "shorty" furled leader. It's 50 inches and can turn over another 5 feet of straight tippet material for a 9 foot dry fly leader that is ridiculously easy to set up and use. If you're nymphing smaller water you can just toss an indicator at the end of the furled leader and adjust along the tippet length. If I need a longer leader to nymph deeper water or more stealthily present dries, I put a section of mono anywhere from 16 to 8 pounds depending on the situation and then put the tippet off of that. The shorter furled section doesn't struggle to turn over weighted nymph rigs, and you can grease and float it all day without worrying about switching between dries and nymphs. I haven't used a standard tapered leader in over 30 days on the water now. You will burn through your tippet a little faster, but it's still cheaper than buying tapered leaders in my opinion.

http://www.cutthroatfurledleaders.com/

Obviously get the dry fly one because the nymphing ones sink. Just my two cents here, but I don't plan on going back to the old way anytime soon.

 

[afishinado]

I make my own mono furled leaders and step down with sections of mono or fluoro to the tippet.

Great for dries.

Great for nymphing.

 

[greenlander]

I enjoyed the convenience of furled leaders when I used them, but since I've switched over to hand tying my own leaders and introduced tippet rings, I have no use for them.

I get more versatility tying my own, they're cheap to make (very cheap) and last all season if I want them to.

 

[Phish_On]

I use a 6' furled leader. Ill add anywhere from 4-7 feet of tippet. Depending on fly selection or whatnot.

 

[ryguyfi]

I used a furled leader for the whole JAM and am now a believer. Turns over a dry fly very well, and no memory. Beats the pants off of a knotted or tapered leader for dries.

 

[sandfly]

been tying my own a few for shop for a couple years. I am working on a new board to furl up to 20 feet+.

 

[PennKev]

sandfly wrote:
been tying my own a few for shop for a couple years. I am working on a new board to furl up to 20 feet+.

Aside from trying to make something along the lines of a tenkara line, why would you want to use a 20 foot furled leader? (Or any 20 foot leader for that matter).

 

[dsmith1427]

I fished the last five days using a furled leader. I used a fluorocarbon leader for nymphs and a thread leader for Dry Flies. I treated the thread leader with floatant before dry fly fishing.

Don