So, why doesn't everyone just use furled leaders??

[artimus001 0]

making a jig is definitely on my winter 'todo' list.

[Crackaig 0]

Dave, No not at all. the reason the furled leaders work so well is the comparatively steep taper from butt to tip. As your cast extends energy is used up in turning the forward loop over. That is why fly lines taper, in order to give the constantly diminishing energy less work to do. when the remaining energy reaches the end of the furled leader it encounters the limp 8x tippet. By that point it just isn't enough to turn over the tippet. It takes less energy to turn over a stiffer tippet than a limp one. If you taper the tippet (and perhaps use a stiffer mono for the larger section) it should solve that issue.

 

Also keep a close eye on the ring. You have two soft materials (Tip of furled leader and but of tippet) joined by a hard one. It is a potential wear point. (I fitted a tippet ring to the tip of one of my sinking lines and it wore through in hours).

 

Artimus001 check out my previous post! Make stanchions, and furling motors, rather than a jig. Much more versatile.

 

Cheers,

C.

[Fletchfishes 0]

Thanks Crackaig. I'll try tapering it next time I'm on the water.

[okbow68 0]

Great thread, I make twisted mono leaders and like them for most situations. I am interested in how to make thread furled leaders.

[Nate 0]

Its just easier for me to tie mono leaders streamside. Indicator butt section bloodknotted to middle section, bloodknotted to tippet section and done. Get those nymphs in the water and start railing fish.

[rrogden 0]

Furled leaders allow me to catch more fish. It is simple mathmatics. I make 5-8% more casts in a day because I am not changing my leader or tippet as much. Everything else is subjective. They do seem to make my casting better, they do not seem stretch or break as much, and they last a very long time. The more you are in the water the more fish you will catch.

[mikechell 0]

Really???
You've actually counted casts ... to know you make 5 to 8 more casts per 100 ??? Does that include false casts, or just the actual final cast to the fish?

[JSzymczyk 0]

Really???

You've actually counted casts ... to know you make 5 to 8 more casts per 100 ??? Does that include false casts, or just the actual final cast to the fish?

 

wow... If I ended a day knowing exactly how many casts I made, I think I would puke.

 

By the way Mikechell, I don't know if I've ever told you, but I think you have a nice bass.

[mikechell 0]

LOL Thanks ... I think!!

[artimus001 0]

i got my leaders from Joe in the mail today.

 

top drawer all the way. i can't wait for the river to drop back and give these a cast.

 

for any and all that are considering giving furled leaders a try, or are looking to stock up for soft water season; Joe is the man.

[vjc 0]

Not all furled leaders are equal. The first one I tried did spray a lot, the one I have now, on a 5 wt, does not spray. Both were very smooth to cast. I put 4 or 5 feet of tippet at the end of the furled leader. Are they worth the bother? I suppose they save a bit in tippet material but the initial cost could buy a lot of tippet. I like the smooth delivery.

[switch10 0]

Not all furled leaders are equal. The first one I tried did spray a lot, the one I have now, on a 5 wt, does not spray. Both were very smooth to cast. I put 4 or 5 feet of tippet at the end of the furled leader. Are they worth the bother? I suppose they save a bit in tippet material but the initial cost could buy a lot of tippet. I like the smooth delivery.

I've found the tighter they are furled, the less spray I get. My early attempts at furled leaders were relatively loose compared to what I tie now. I get very little to no noticeable spray with my new ones.

[vjc 0]

 

Not all furled leaders are equal. The first one I tried did spray a lot, the one I have now, on a 5 wt, does not spray. Both were very smooth to cast. I put 4 or 5 feet of tippet at the end of the furled leader. Are they worth the bother? I suppose they save a bit in tippet material but the initial cost could buy a lot of tippet. I like the smooth delivery.

I've found the tighter they are furled, the less spray I get. My early attempts at furled leaders were relatively loose compared to what I tie now. I get very little to no noticeable spray with my new ones.

 

I haven't made any myself, just purchased from two different sources. I've read that there are braided leaders which are different from furled leaders and are sometimes confused with furled leaders. Braided leaders are reported to spray much more than furled ones. The one that works well for me was purchased here:

http://www.twistedleaders.com

[ThreeJsDad 0]

I figured I would bring this back to the top since I am about to introduce a product I have been developing. I have been building furled leaders for a VERY long time. I believe I made my first one about 20 years ago. I have used nothing but furled leaders since then. During this time i have built a number of furling machines and my latest version is easy enough to use that I am going to produce them for the public to purchase.

 

I Have read this "thread" in great detail and there are some excellent posts and some that are way off base. First and foremost Furled Leaders are not the best choice for every kind of fishing. They will indeed perform as well as a mono leader in every instance but for fishing wet flies of any kind they can become water logged and the weight will then change. Where Furled Leaders truly excel is when sight fishing to rising fish. Furled leaders allow for a more delicate presentation, have less glare and are more accurate. The accuracy part is assuming the casting stroke can handle the leader.

 

I have some fishing buddies who can cast a mono furled leader but struggle with a thread leader. The mono furled leader is a bit stiffer and therefore the casting loop is a bit more open. The point here is that to immediately dismiss furled leaders as not worth the effort is rubbish. The reason for the accuracy however is due to the tighter loop and less wind drift so that whole argument is somewhat muted when we go to a mono furled leader.

 

When I speak of mono furled leader I am referring to using mono sewing thread. I buy it in bulk from commercial thread houses because they carry a variety of sizes. The very thin stuff is similar to 7X tippet material so I can still furl a multi-strand leader for a line as light as a 1wt. This is where furled leaders really shine !! They are ideal for fishing small flies on 4wt and lighter rods. A furled leader will allow the fisher to turn over a 4-5' tippet with accuracy and stiff have slack in the cast. The really nice part is we can now drop our fly a mere 2' above the fish and not disturb them because we have a long tippet and a leader with no glare.

 

Once again I will like to point out I am not here to convince anyone they have to fish Furled Leaders. Like so many other Fly Fishers I grew up with hand tied mono leaders but once I discovered furled leaders I never looked back. The key for me was trying all kinds of materials and tapers. If you like fishing small flies to difficult fish you owe it to yourself to get with a good Furled Leader Builder and have a leader made. This is where things start to get interesting.

 

Unlike mono leaders, Furled Leaders should be made specifically for the Fly Fisher who will be using it. I often compare Furled Leaders to flies. if off the shelf works for you then a mono leader will probably be just fine. If however, you tie your own flies because you just cannot get exactly what you need then furled leaders are for you. When I build a furled leader for someone I put fly sizes, fly line, rod length and type of water all into the formula when I lay out the leader and an individual can do the same thing for their own leaders.

 

For example, I built a couple out of Fluorocarbon for a Tarpon guy because they put his fly at just the right level while still putting the fly right on target. I like how very fine mono furled leaders float but I like how thread leaders cast. My son and brother throw very tight loops naturally so they prefer the fine mono furled leaders to keep their loops a little more open. The more open loops gives them less drag on the drift.

 

If you read all of this I thank you for attention and I hope you learned something about furled leaders. Furled Leaders are wonderful when built correctly but when they don't fit the application they can be equally horrible to fish with.

[SilverCreek 0]

Furled leaders stretch and that hinders strike detection when straight line nymphing AND it delays the strike. You can't feel what the fly is doing with a furled leader as you can with a mono leader. Furled leaders also delay the reaction time a bit when strike indicator nymphing.

Also with a mono leader, I can put the sighters in any position in the leader. Not so with a furled leader. Any colored section is built into the leader when furled and cannot be changed.

That is why competitive fly fishers do not use furled leaders.

With a mono leader I can switch from nymphing to dries and use the same leader. I can use floatant on a mono leader and I can easily remove the floatant if I need to which is not easy to do with a multi-stranded furled leader.

If leaders we were perfect and leaders never got tangled, mono and furled leaders would be equal in this regard. Mono stretches and a mono furled leader can tangle on a bounce back from a snag or broken tippet. Thread furled leaders should not bounce back. Untangling a furled leader is a nightmare.

Furled leader catch and holds onto algae and grit more than mono when fishing in discolored streams. I don't even like knotted mono leaders in these waters because the knots hold onto stuff.

Furled leaders do have an advantage in shock absorption to protect weaker tippets.

I know that furled leaders last an entire season, but truthfully, I have used a mono leader for several seasons as well. All you need is the ability to either rebuild a leader or use a tippet ring. So if you can't or do not want to rebuild a leader, a base furled leader will last longer than a standard leader. But if you use a tippet ring on the end of the base section of a standard leader, regular leaders will also last an entire season since you are tying the new tippet onto the ring instead of repeatedly shortening the base leader as you tie on new tippets.

I think standard vs furled is one of those decisions in which the individual must decide whether the castability and tippet protection over rides the other issues. I have asked Gary Borger about whether he has tried furled leaders and he told me that he can do anything a furled leader can do and more with a regular leader. But few can cast on Gary's level. So try it and see if it is for you.

I personally don't use furled leaders but that is my preference. If they work for you, that is great, but they are not the panacea for all types of fly fishing.