106 replies to this topic

[rougetrout]

I have come back from my winter off hunting and other such activities and I thought I would ask everybody this question, I started tying my own leaders a couple of years ago and I enjoy it quite a bit and I have learned alot about leader structure and the importance of stiffness and "turn-over" along the way. My favorite recipie is anything tied with the 35% step down method. It is a little odd at first compared to the 60/20/20 but i find the leaders carry better and give a more natural presentation of smaller flies.

[steeldrifter]

Use to tie my own but now I'm thread furled all the way

[ArkieFlyGuy]

One of these days I'm going to attempt the thread furled leader. Until then... I have too many knotless leaders to use up....

[Shoe]

I've entertained the idea and almost bought one of those Frog Hair leader kits, but found that later on in the year many of our rivers get choked with weeds and the knots have a tendancy to get fouled.

[fishyfranky]

Its fun tying leaders and I make all my own. Some work better than others

I've had good success with simple furled butt sections made out of flourocarbon. Turns over heavy streamers well and sink nicely. I just bought 300yrds of 2lb mono to try a more complex furl.

[Blueman89]

I have made my own leaders for a year. I have a Tie-Fast Knot Tier that I use for it. I use 30#, 20#, 10#, tippet. This combonation might not be the perfect setup ,but for the amount of streamers that we use it's fine. For steelhead I use 12# vanish Flurocarbon. I have never broken off on a fish.

[Joe Hard]

I buy spools of ultragreen and camelion Maxima. have not tried the clear yet.

[edvan22]

What are some peoples favorite recipes and brands of material. I have been using Cortland Precision but I am having some problems with curling and such.

I also added a few more sizes into my mix but am having trouble tweaking it to something that turns over nicely.

[steeldrifter]

Far as brand's whenever I do buy a knotless tapered leader I like to get the two pack Orvis leaders.

[Kid Tier]

I like the furled leaders for my dries, but I tie my own for streamers. I hate to use them in weeds because they always get scum on them in nasty water.

[FL H2O]

Knotless.
But, sooner or later I'm gonna
try tyin' my own, so this is
interesting. Good poll

[rougetrout]

hey for everybody interested in tying leaders there is a great excel spread sheet that will do all the calculations of diameter,length, and stye. It is a great tool, I just found it yesterday so check it out. It uses macros and will allow you to print nice labels for your leaders. It is free and quite functional:

http://globalflyfish...ter/leadercalc/

As for materials I like maxima chamelion for the butt sections because it is very stiff but can be straightened. For the tapers I like cortland percision and for the tippits I use my favorite tippit material, orvis super strong.

The knots can tend to catch scum from the surface but I have never had a problem catching fish--but sometimes it is nice to fish knotless especially on really sunny days in really clear rivers. Then they hold the advantage. even if you don't tye your own flies check out the article at the global fly fisher it really explains the basis behind leader design and I feel it is really useful to know.

[Shoe]

For streamers I use the "spent" sections of old 3,4 and 5X leaders, trim them down to 18-22" and add a 18" of 6 or 8# tippet. It sure makes use of them and turns over even the heaviest of buggs

[steeldrifter]

pretty much what I do for streamers as well Ralf. I usually run about 18-24" of 12lb maxima, then 18" of 8lb maxima, turns over great and splats the streamers on the water ringin' the dinner bell

[Fly1]

I've always tied my own leaders though nothing fancy
2 ft of 24lb, 2ft of 14lb, 2 ft or 10lb, and 2 ft of 8 lb flouro, and 2 ft of 6 lb flouro using the Fast and Easy Leader knot This my basic salmon/steelhead leader and for trout I will drop the 24 lb and add 4lb flouro for the tippet.

Ken