Straighten Butt Section of Leaders?

[MD_Gene]

I have curls in the butt section of my brand new leader. I think I got it by trying to take the short cut when adjusting my Thingamabobber strike indicator. Is it possible to straighten it out? Is it worth it? Are there ways to avoid it in the future? As always, thanks in advance.

 

[pete41]

get a piece of rubber tubing,tire or whatever and pull the leader through.The heat from friction will straighten it out but also weaken it-latter moot point on the butt section.

 

[MKern]

Take the ends in your hands and pull against your knee until the curls are gone.

 

[wgmiller]

Buy a furled leader.

 

[KeithS]

Hold the butt in one hand, pull it through the other hand snugly, but let it slip through. The heat from letting it slip will warm the leader and allow it to stretch out straight. Use less pressure on the slip closer to the tippet end to avoid breakage.

 

[Millsertime]

Use your belt.

 

[skegfish]

If you have a loop at the thick end hook that to some stationary object. Then pull on the end for 30 seconds or so, gently stretching the entire system. Really stretch it and it will be super straight! I think the heat may weaken the mono and don't use the heat friction method any more. jk

 

[RCFetter]

 

[PennKev]

Just give it a good hard stretch a couple of feet at a time until the whole thing is straight. If you get a kink from an indicator, give that area a good hard stretch.

Geez, lets not make this harder than it needs to be. That video makes it seems soooooooo difficult.

Just stretch the damn thing with your hands. Done.

Kev

P.s. I've quit using extruded tapered leaders for nymphing. I just make simple leaders from common Stren and Trilene. When the leader butt gets too gnarly and stretching doesn't cure the problem, I just tie on a new one. No need to try and save a $4 leader. Just tie on a few cents worth of bulk mono. Always have fresh, strong leader material.

 

[STREAMWISE]

this is what i do. i used to have very curled leaders from leaving my gear in my car trunk. now every time i come home from fishing i clean and dress my line and leader. the way i do it is this i put a staple on one side of a room but not all the way in this will hold my hook that i've left attached then i pull the line across the room to the other side where i have a vertical nail partially into the top of a door i then wrap the line around the nail and bring it back to where i have the hook in the staple and just above that i have two nails horizontally driven into the wood about four inches apart one above the other these are longer nails and are only driven in half way i then wrap the fly line around these nails about twelve times, then i put the rod up high so the pets can't chew the fly line. i then clean the line with a line cleaner on a piece of soft cloth then i put floatant on i use cortland pads for very high floating but any floatant will work. if you do this you will never have a curled leader again and your fly line will float extremely high .the nails that i wrap the line around i bend the top one up slightly and the bottom one down a little so the line don't slide off. you want to put some tension on the line when you pull it across the before you wind it to really get it straight and you can leave it strung up like that for as long as you want i've left lines strung up like that for months and never had a problem.

 

[KeithS]

Quote: "If you have a loop at the thick end hook that to some stationary object. Then pull on the end for 30 seconds or so, gently stretching the entire system. Really stretch it and it will be super straight! I think the heat may weaken the mono and don't use the heat friction method any more. jk"

It's not enough heat to hurt anything. If it gets that hot, you're squeezing the leader butt way too tight.

 

[PennKev]

It's not enough heat to hurt anything. If it gets that hot, you're squeezing the leader butt way too tight.

When i first started fishing and was a stupid kid, somebody told me me i needed a rubber leader straightening pad. That thing did, in fact, ruin leaders. i don't know if it was due to heat and friction or just the texture of the rubber, but the leaders ended up with a rough and frayed surface.

Then I just started stretching them with my hands.