Unfurled Leaders

[Philly 0]

I really like thread furled leaders.  I didn't make any of the ones I have.  They're all getting a bit long in the tooth.  The trout leaders are in good shape.  I've hardly used any of them since I pretty much only fish warm water these days.  The two warm water ones have gotten a lot of use and they're getting pretty ragged.  To be honest I don't have the skill to make a furling board.  It takes me an hour just to change a light bulb.  When rummaging through one of my storage spaces, I came across two spools of Gubrode Dacron line.  One spool of 50 lb line, another of 20 lb line.  We used on our 20 and 50 pound Penn Internationals for inshore and offshore trolling.  I've used the line for backing on my fly reels.  It comes with a tool that allows you to make loops in the line.   Maybe I could figure out how to make a Dacron leader with it.  The loop tool wouldn't do the trick, but since the Dacron is hollow I was able to use a blunt nose needle to "thread" the line through the hollow line to form a loop at one end, then made a loop at the other end, and continued to "thread" the line through the hollow line.  This is what I ended up with.

A leader about 5 feet long.  The 50 lb line(bass) tapers from 100 lb to 50 lb since I normally use a 20 or 25 pound fluorocarbon tippet.  It was a good fit.  The 20 lb line(panfish, maybe trout) tapers from 40 lb to 20 lb and I'll probably fish a 10 lb tippet with it.  I made one back in May with the 50 lb line and took it to the Poconos with me.  To my surprise it actually worked.  It turned over all my bass and panfish bugs.  So I made up three more to take to Ontario with me.

I compared it to one of the furled bass leaders and it was actually thinner than the furled one.  I didn't like the white color, so I used permanent markers to darken them.  I also water proofed them.  I'll see if they continue to turn over my flies.  At least I won't have to worry about replacing my old furled leaders.

 

 

[flytire 0]

twisted leader

https://youtu.be/pbcVaEe3RIs

[Philly 0]

I have made a couple of them, flytire.    I just couldn't get the twist tight enough.  Both my hands are arthritic, so its a pain to twist the line.  They worked but I always preferred the thread furled leaders over the mono or fluorocarbon ones.  I use a 5 or 6 foot tippet with the Dacron leaders, so I end up with an overall leader length of 9 and 11 feet.  It uses up some material that was just sitting around.  

[niveker 0]

Good thinking.