Furled leaders made easy

[perchjerker 0]

poksal:

 

I do not know that it has ever been written, or stated that "furled leaders meed to be stiff". It has, however, been pointed out that a tighter furl does produce a better leader. It also goes without saying that a tighter furl does result in a stiffer leader.

 

If you stop and think about it, a mono leader, either tapered or hand tied, is relatively stiff in the butt and gradually gets 'softer' as you go down the leader ending with a very' soft tippet,relative to the butt section. The question then becomes, why should a furled leader not have these same properties? It is widely accepted that the very butt of any leader should be of the same 'stiffness' as the end of the fly line; i.e, resist bending to the same degree. In other words, when the butt is attached to the line, and the area of the junction is bent into a circle, the line and leader should both have the same curvature.

 

At the Furled Leader Forum, under "SETUP AND TECHNIQUES", in the thread "All My Info In One File", Karel Gol has developed a spreadsheet, based on Steven McGarthwaite's "Big Furled Leader Formula" (BFLF), that has tables in it that will enable you to make a furled leader that has the same mass in it's butt section that a standard mono leader has, for any given line weight.

 

There are many things one can do to their boards to simplify the process. You can even get it set up where you both twist AND furl at the same time. You no longer have to hang the thing and let it 'relax', or stretch it, as you have done. (This is how I now do mine.)

 

I highly recommend that all 'beginners' check out both the literature and the YouTube videos on Rope Making, Rope Walks, and Furling. After all, all we are doing is making a simple two-strand rope, and, therefore, the basic principles of rope making apply. Nothing more; nothing less.

 

If you have any specific questions you would like to ask, please feel free to PM me.

 

Incidentally, I am only guessing; but, I suspect that when you stretched your leaders, you enabled the thread twisting to occur, which then allowed it to furl properly.

 

Can you post photos of your board?

 

Regards,

perchjerker

 

PS: You have a PM.

[ditz2 0]

I do agree with you PJ, about the leaders need more twist. I am a rank beginner but my leaders appear to have about the same amount of twist that your white one exhibits. They are not as tight as the red one appears. I will also say that the ones that I have done using mono are stiffer than the one that I have done using uni tying thread. I have not fished the one that I made with the uni thread yet. I do like the ones I have fished that are made from mono. I need to dig out the uni leader and give it a session on the creek. I have just been lazy since I like the mono leaders just fine. A bright orange leader would be easier to follow however.

[perchjerker 0]

Let me first say that I have never made a leader of either mono or fluorocarbon, so I have no personal knowledge of them. I do have one of mono that was made by another individual that is definitely stiffer than those I make from thread; but, I do not know if this is typical or not. However, given the nature of mono, I would definitely expect a furled leader made of mono to be stiffer.

 

The ones in my photos were furled at a 10% reduction. Those furled at 20% reduction have an even tighter twist. I have made one with a 27% reduction, but felt that it was way too stiff, so did not make any more with this reduction. There are three of us who have been 'playing around' with reductions greater than 10%, and our general consensus is that a more or less 20% reduction is about right. There are some who suggest a 32% reduction, which is the maximum possible for a 2-strand 'rope', which is what our furled leader are, in reality.

 

With respect to your desire for a bright orange leader, for a different application, I have dyed mono in years past using RIT dye. You might be able to dye your monofilament by using only moderate heat and letting is stay in the dye bath for longer than you would if dying feathers, etc. Too much heat would be expected to have an adverse effect on the tensile strength of the mono.

 

As an alternative to dying mono, and if you are interested in making a thread leader from the equivalent to UNI 3/0, JoAnn's Fabrics and Crafts carries Gütermann "Sew All" thread, which comes in more colors than the law allows! As 95% of my fishing is for large mouth bass (which are not leader shy),I use this, and an equivalent to UNI 6/0, almost exclusively. (I have to order the 6/0 equivalent.) You might check JoAnn's out, if you have one nearby, to get an idea of the colors available.

 

Hope this give you some ideas for more new leaders.

 

perchjerker

[eastern fly 0]

Would someone have a good setup for a, (7wt rod) leader for weighted flies. I have been trying a few and dont like them. I need the peg spacing and loop count please.

 

Kevin

[ditz2 0]

Yes. one can dye mono but it will affect some of the qualities but I am not sure how much or which ones. The orange leader that I did make was made from some thread I got at Jo Ann's but I was just too insecure to admit it. I have also used it to tie with in a couple of colors. Fly shops are a 3 hour round trip so I sometimes need thread and other things a little closer to home like Jo-Anns and Hobby Lobby. The few furrels that I have done are about 10%. The instructions that I followed indicated that 10% was about as far as it should be twisted. I do believe that they were mostly talking about leaders of mono. It has been so hot and dry here that I have not been fishing for several weeks and I am about to go stir crazy. I several fly patterns that I have been wanting to test out on my waters.

 

Thanks for the good info on the leaders. I will try one with more twist when the weather breaks.

[poksal 0]

CLICK, I finally get it.

 

Due largly to some PM from Perchjerker I have now vastly improved my casting while using my furrled leaders. Let me qualify that by saying my experience level is near zero. However, yesterday evening I discovered I was trying too hard and was thrilled to see those magical uniform loops of line form and lay the line, leader, and tippit out on the water. I was doing "OK" and was enjoying the activity, but when a relaxed casting method resulted in a graceful rear and forward set of loops with that little self tied foam dry fly straight out beyond the leader by heart leaped. The light bulb finally came on. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!! I was about to toss my self made furrled leaders which I improved per posts read on this forum. I am so glad I did not, for last night I witnessed it follow the line in a perfectly uniform pattern with nothing but a color change.

 

Not to mention any names, but it was a video on line that had me snaping and poping my rod way too hard. But, NO, it is all about timming. It is a joy to work the rod in a short arc over my head and let it do the work. I wouldn't be supprised if I'm now working the rod less than half as hard and fast. I can't imagine it being the same without a furrled leader. I can imagine my casts becoming graceful in my near future. To truly describe the motion one is tempted to use terms not considered manly enough for the macho sport of fishing.

 

Thank you Perchjerker and all the others who have cooperated and put up with my beginner posts !!!!! Please all except my warm hand shake. This forum is abolutley adding quality to my retirement.

 

I'm sure I will continue to make some seriously dumb post in the future, but you are stuck with me. Perhaps I will have a few useful fresh ideas from time to time to make it worth your endurance.

 

I am SOOO hooked on fly fishing and fly tying !!!! .....so .... hummm.... there is a JoAnn's not too far from here.....

[perchjerker 0]

Hey fellas:

 

Please swallow your pride and start being a habitue' of the fabric shops! (As well as the hobby and craft stores.)You might be surprised at what you can find there for fly tying, and for much less than in the fly shops. (The scenery can be outstanding at times too---even for an old goat!)

 

perchjerker

[perchjerker 0]

Kevin:

 

Let me take advantage of this opportunity to shed a little more light on the making of furled leaders. There is more to it than just twisting some thread/mono together for a leader.

 

In addition to the % reduction, there is also the 'slope' to take into account. This very simply relates the mass of a 'step-down' to the mass of the previous section; not unlike George Harvey's stepped down hand knotted mono leaders. For dry flies, a slope of 52% is typical, and 55% for nymphs and streamers, with 60% being for heavier, and bulkier flies, such as bass and saltwater flies.

 

There is also the number of 'step-downs' to be considered. Once again, a 'step-down' is equivalent to a segment in a George Harvey leader. Most furlers make either a 3-step or a 4-step leader. I personally use 3-step leaders, as they are faster to layout, and seem to work as well as a 4-step leader.

 

With all of that having been said, if you will PM me the desired leader length, the type of flies you plan to fish, and the number of step-downs you want, I will send you some formulas, based on a 10% reduction. The formula will consist of the peg placement locations for a "V" layout board. In other words, a board where the legs are twisted around a tippet end peg, as opposed to being laid out in a straight line.

 

perchjerker

[perchjerker 0]

poksal:

 

Thanks for the very kind words.

 

perchjerker

[primitivepete 0]

what to waterproof with? I know of a couple of things you can buy that work, but looking to beat the system and use something I may already have. I've heard that Water Shed doesn't work, but then some people swear by it. What do you recommend?

 

Thanks for the pics and descriptions. it was a lot of fun furling some leaders!

[perchjerker 0]

Most of us use a fly floatant of some sort, with Mucillin being frequently mentioned. Albolene, a face cleansing product, is also highly recommended. It is found in Walgreen and CVS pharmacies. The down side is that it comes in a cry large jar, and costs about $12.00. Being frugal, I made up an OLD dry fly floatant that was highly recommend by Ray Berg and George W. Herter. I made a saturated solution of paraffin canning wax and naphtha and soak all of my leaders (thread) in it for 30 minutes to get them completely saturated. I frequently 'dress' them with a silk line dressing to keep them floating.

 

To make the paraffin concoction, I grated a partial bar of the canning wax and put it in a small jar and covered it with the naphtha, and placed the whole thing in my oven (electric) and set the oven on "Warm". As the wax dissolved, I kept adding a little bit more wax until no more would dissolve. It has to be 'warmed up' on the "warm" setting for use.

[eastern fly 0]

Where do you get the rings I see on some of the furled leaders? Thanks for the help.

 

Kevin

[perchjerker 0]

Kevin:

 

I don't use them. I make a simple 'loop-to-loop' connection by tying a perfection loop in the end of my tippet. However, a direct answer is that Feathercraft has them. I have no idea who else might carry them.