Furled leaders

[eastern fly 0]

Does anyone use furled leaders for steelhead? If so what set up are you doing. Like peg spacing, loop numbers ect.

 

Kevin

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Worried to give my honest opinion as i am sure a few people will strongly disagree. But i shall... here goes, don't hold it against me!

 

I find furled leaders the most useless thing to ever come from flyfishing, it is absolutely pointless and does absolutely nothing. If you can't turn over a fly exactly how you like ranging from straight leader/ tuck casts, reach mends, wiggle stacking, pile etc etc you really need to spend some money on lessons or practice casting more.

 

A furled leader will do nothing for you, especially for steelhead, now you are going to have say your 'sink tip or poly leader' going to a furled leader, going to a leader, going to a tippet. This is absolutely UN-nessecary and is going to be really bad to swing and present any fly.

 

Cut all that crap off and subscribe to the KISS principle of fishing and you can thank me later. Attach 9 - 15ft of straight fluorocarbon to your line and save many dollars.

 

I have used furled leaders for the swing and they are really noisy in the water, you will spook everything as they 'hiss'. I don't even use poly leaders anymore. If u need it to get down, mend harder, present better.

 

My honest opinion is that this 'flyfishing' thing is full of absolute bollocks about what you 'need'. When in all reality it can be simplistic and enjoyable.

 

/me runs!!!!

[Goduster 0]

Me gets the opinion someone doesn't like furled leaders. To that, all I can say is to each his own. Every rod I have, from 1wt to 10 wt has a furled leader on it, and they work well for me.

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Hahaha i do dislike them! Tried some, did they float, did they sink. Well it depended on the mood of the leader. So with a sink tip had a massive hinge, with a floating line the same thing. Never quite understood it as the flyline is designed to turn over your leader. Now when people talk to me about 'furled leaders' these images immediately spring to mind.

 

 

 

 

Now the butter stick is okay as you don't dirty a knife.

 

Perhaps someone can explain to me one day why these furled leaders exist.

[Piker20 0]

I have used a furled leader which had a bite tippet attached to the end when I first started pike fishing on the fly. It worked well and I found I could turn over my big pike flies without really trying. Here is where I agree with flyfishinJam. Once I cracked the whole casting thing, the big flies I had been casting on a #9 with furled leader could cast on a #7 with a straight mono leader.

So I agree that for many incidences learning/practicing to cast will be all you need.

 

Now with sinking lines...... I find that for me a whole sinking line is a pain in the butt to lift and cast all day. So I very quickly tried the sinking polyleaders. Now I have tried cheap brands and 2 premium brands, including for my salmon fishing. I have found they all hinge to some degree and I now have a floating/10ft sink tip line ready made by snowbee for one of my lines (love it).

But this is where a furled leader can work great. I don't find they hinge if they are made for the correct fly line taper and when they sink you don't need to worry about the spray putting fish down. But now I have the fly line with the sinking tip built in, for me furled leaders are indeed a part of that 'necessary' tackle that is just salesmans patter.

 

And I note you asked about steelhead Kevin, well for my sea trout fishing I find depth is a negative factor so always use a floater or at most slow int. But salmon depth is more crucial and I find the Shooting head with different density tips great. They do hinge but with the double handed rod I don't find it that big a deal.

Edited November 23, 2012 by Piker20

[Crackaig 0]

Furled leaders do have their uses. The fishing situation you describe, as I understand it isn't one I would use one in. There use, to me, is for the presentation of flies for trout fishing, mostly dry fly and emerger, but also nymphs in the top few inches of water. Most of the ones I use are made of thread, when they hit the water they go limp. This is a huge advantage over mono that remains stiff, for drag free presentation of dry flies etc. This has no bearing on the fishing you describe.

 

Turnover is better with a furled leader. For the same reason that most of us tapered fly lines. If someone couldn't get good turnover with a level line, would you advocate lessons in casting? Probably not, I suspect you'd recommend a tapered fly line. If you are fishing in a situation requiring very fine drag free presentation then a furled leader would come into its own. Its all about choosing the right tackle for the situation.

 

Cheers,

C.

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

I love furled leaders for dry fly fishing and nymphing for trout but when it comes to chrome get the flouro out and have at them big boys

[eastern fly 0]

Riff what set up do you use for them. Do you tye knotted or use straight. I'm not sure what to use for this type. I will also be using a switch rod.

 

Kevin

[Piker20 0]

Are you fishing a trout WF Line on the switch or a salmon length double taper or spry? I doubt very very much you'll need the furled leader with the latter. If you are struggling with turnover using a trout line I would guess its because the head length is too short for the longer rod. Try a DT trout line or up a line rating.

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Poly leaders as much as a pain they are useful for getting down and probably more useful than a...ugh i can't even say it 'furled leader' lol. So probably carry a range of tips from intermediate to super sink.

 

I am with Piker20 and these days use integrated lines instead, the DC sink tip range from Rio has a big back taper on the floating section so it casts more like a flyline than a sink tip. Also great which i have used is the Kelly Galloup lines from SA, which come in a range of grain weights, the only issue i encountered with the SA brand was a bit more 'coily' in cold conditions (below 12C). The Teeney range of integrated sink tips are great too.

 

For Great Lakes steelhead my tackle is somewhat different as our rivers run pretty low and clear for the most part so i use a coldwater intermediate tip line from rio for all applications except dries. And run the 9- 15ft of fluoro off that. It is a rather stealthy set up and if i am not getting down enough i add a little tungsten putty just up from the fly. Sometimes i use a SA steelhead taper floating line.

 

For nymphing i use the same rig, no indicator. I learned not to use indictors while nymphing as in some parts of Western Canada they are deemed bait fishing and actually banned. Interesting my Vancouver Island set-up is different again, go steelheading there about once a year. But it is an Airflo clear tip floating line, then the long fluoro leader and huge intruder. Ugly to cast but works very nicely.

 

All this info is related to single handers.

 

I find steelheading isn't pretty, for the tackle, techniques and weather.