Nymphing Leaders?

[jayL]

Stren gold really stands out too.

 

[trowpa]

...still lost on what resemblence i have to wetnet or anything remotely close to a competition-oriented fisherman...

But in reality - i've never had much use for the amnesia at the butt end - that close to the fly line - i can just use the end of my fly line What i need is visibility further down the line. I like the coils, sighters, small moveable indies, etc for that purpose.

 

[jdaddy]

1. Snag on rock
2. Tippet breaks or fly dislodges - leader flies back into brush or at best causing a tangle
3. Retie
4. repeat.
5. Yaaaaa

 

[gfen]

jayL wrote:
Stren gold really stands out too.

thought the formula had been changed?

i saw suffix yellow and orange in a discount store recently, but they were heavier test.

is new stren gold or some other 4-6# test quality "sighter?" if so, i'd buy a spool to twist into leaders.

 

[jayL]

I twist leaders from 6# gold.

Perhaps they changed formula. I don't know, as I don't rely on the high vis properties too much. It's just another variable in the long list.

The best sighter for me is strike putty worked into a furl. Not necessarily sexy, and certainly not marketable, but it works well - and it's afish certified, which is all I need to know.

It sure is nice to have a strike detection aid that actually assists in casting, rather than hindering it.

 

[gfen]

you know, hell, i stopped using the putty when i realized it didn't float and thus was useless to me, but smearing the two-by strand and then slathering it wiht floatant might be pretty good.

 

[jayL]

I slather the whole thing with mucilin, then work putty into all of the knots on the furl. Run a ball of the stuff over the knot two or three times in both directions, and it catches a good bit. Work another small piece into that, and it floats pretty well.

I can't get the stuff out of some of my older leaders at this point.

I use it mostly for upstream presentations on spring creeky streams. It's best in slow or shallow pools. I don't fish your neighborhood much, but from what I know about those streams, that's the way to go. I did well on the LL and the smaller one that I don't like to talk about with it.

When I'm dredging with anything heavier than two small beadheads and a small piece of sink putty, I usually switch to a thingamabobber.

 

[gfen]

next time i'm tempted, i'll try it. i think simple poly yarn leaders saturated with floatant work pretty well, and i think they collapse a bit in the cast, too.

 

[Nymph-O-Maniac]

mcwillja wrote:
I also like to use another nymph leader that incorporates a bi-color sighter for the butt section.

1 foot of 20 pound red amnesia blood knotted to 1 foot of 15 pound green amnesia > tippet ring > 3 to 4 feet of 4x or 5X tippet > double surgeons knot to 20" of 5x or 6x tippet. I use the tag end of the surgeons knot as a dropper.

I just bought a Cortland rod and reel combo from a dude who needs $$ really bad and it had that combo on it. I've been nymphing for a long time and have never used the red sighter and was wondering how this works. Looks like I'll be testing this out now.

 

[afishinado]

RowJimmy wrote:
I tie my flies with a ton of lead and tungsten bead. When at all possible I try to aviod using shot. On PA's bunch of limestone streams and most freestone stream if your casting far enough upstream you shouldnt need much if any shot. The beads will do the work for ya.

I'm gonna get blasted for saying this. Watch the responses to follow.

" I cut my flies of and change shot placement everytime I switch runs."

RowJ,

George D is Da Man! (and Loren W too!) BUT...they teach competitive fly fishing methods/rigs. No need to follow the rules if you don't fish competitively....the fish are the only judge!

I Euro nymph with the rig Jay posted: furled mono leader butt (3-6'), that I make myself, gooked up with Musciln and adding some strike putty which worked into the leader for a sighter, finished off with a 4-7' tippet with droppers. The caveat is I often use split shot and or tung putty along with weighted flies on the rig.

I add an extra dropper and put the weight on one of the droppers or point to use as my anchor. I fish 2 and sometimes 3 flies on the rig.

The weight makes the rig infinitely and easily adjustable for the run I'm fishing. I need not carry a whole bunch of different weighted flies, thus my fly choice is not dictated by the weight I need, and many of the more conventional flies (vs Euro type flies) come into play. I can fish very small flies deeper and large flies shallower by adjusting the weight.

Also the rig rarely get snagged on the bottom, and often I tick the bottom with the shot. If it does get snagged I usually only lose my shot and not my fly.

I can adjust the weight with every couple of steps up or down a run to get a perfect drift. Also, using tung putty allows very small adjustments to the weight.

The rig fish the same as a conventional Euro rig and strike detection is unaffected since the SS / putty replaces a heavy anchor fly.

Give it a try.

 

[mcwillja]

gfen wrote:

Thank God, content so I can stay on topic!

How well does the green actually show up? The red's pretty good, but does the green conduct light like crazy fiberoptic action red? In the smaller diameters?

The green doesn't show as well as the red...but together with the blood knot connecting the two it makes a nice contrast. Like Jay said I also use 10# gold stren or I have 12# suffix seige Tangerine that works well.

 

[mcwillja]

Nymph-O-Maniac wrote:

mcwillja wrote:
I also like to use another nymph leader that incorporates a bi-color sighter for the butt section.

1 foot of 20 pound red amnesia blood knotted to 1 foot of 15 pound green amnesia > tippet ring > 3 to 4 feet of 4x or 5X tippet > double surgeons knot to 20" of 5x or 6x tippet. I use the tag end of the surgeons knot as a dropper.

I just bought a Cortland rod and reel combo from a dude who needs $$ really bad and it had that combo on it. I've been nymphing for a long time and have never used the red sighter and was wondering how this works. Looks like I'll be testing this out now.

No complaints here. I tinker all the time with the placement of the sighter though. I never seem to be perfectly happy where I place it. Sometimes at the top of the butt section or sometimes down lower just above my tippet. I like the high sighter for heavy pocket water and the lower sighter for shallow riffles and runs.

 

[jayL]

I can vouch for afish's drop shot rig. I fished one all day and didn't lose a single fly.