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

[switch10 0]

I started furling my own leaders out of mono a while back, and I don't see any reason why I would ever go back to using knotless, or knotted leaders ever again.

 

I tie mine with with 4lb mono (so I have a 16lb butt section, and an 8lb mid section), and a tippet ring. I then tie 4x-7x off the tippet ring, depending on the situation. I have used these leaders for super small dry's, dead drifting nymphs, and stripping small streamers with great success. I make mine about 5-6 feet long , and usually I tie on 24-32 inches of tippet off of that.

 

They cast much smoother, and turn over with less effort.

They have little to no memory.

They are by far the cheapest leader option. I paid around $4 for 110 yards of mono, which would make more leaders than I could use or give away.

They are super durable.

With a tippet ring tied in, switching from a 7x tippet for your #26 dry fly to a 4x tippet for your #6 streamer is a clinch knot away.

 

So my question is, why aren't furled leaders more (the most) popular? What don't you like about them?

 

 

 

 

 

[Piker20 0]

Personally I haven't found them to be lots better than a plain mono leader for the fishing I do. So for me that 110yard spool of mono goes even further, is one less thing to complicate the process.

Saying that I have used them and after reading several posts on here have considered trying them again. Hopefully I will pick one up from Crackaig later to try again.

[flytire 0]

i have used them and just dont like them.

 

too much water spray when casting them

 

they also sink

 

i too will continue to use tapered leaders as they:

 

cast just fine for me

 

a couple of stretches on the leader and its straight

 

costs a little more but thats ok

 

can be durable if you stay out of trees with bad casting

 

add a tippet ring and mono tippet or add tippet with a surgeons knot and you are good to go

[JSzymczyk 0]

Tapered mono leaders work just fine for me. When I got the furled leader urge a few years back I lived in a place where most of my fishing was in ponds with dingy water and lots of algae. Furled leaders picked up and held a lot of dirt and algae. I didn't like that. Unless I ruin a leader somehow, I can get a LOT of life from a tapered mono leader. As Flytire says, tippet ring or loop-to-loop new tippet whenever I need it.

[eastern fly 0]

I like furled leaders and recommend them to people all the time. I make mine out of different materials. I really dont get bothered about any spey, and love the cost savings. For my thread dry fly leaders. I coat them after I make them so they float well.

 

Kevin

[Crotalus 0]

They wear out too fast, I just had to replace one on my 6wt and it was only 4 years old

 

Just being a smartass, I really like the furled leaders, have a few made from UNI thread and a couple fluoro. Thinking about seeing if I can have someone make me one out of PowerPro braid.

[switch10 0]

Tapered mono leaders work just fine for me. When I got the furled leader urge a few years back I lived in a place where most of my fishing was in ponds with dingy water and lots of algae. Furled leaders picked up and held a lot of dirt and algae. I didn't like that. Unless I ruin a leader somehow, I can get a LOT of life from a tapered mono leader. As Flytire says, tippet ring or loop-to-loop new tippet whenever I need it.

 

Ok, that makes sense. I could see how they would pick up dirt, and algae pretty easily. I haven't run into this problem with furled leaders yet, but the blood knots on my knotted leaders pick up their fair share of dirt and algae as well.

 

 

 

i have used them and just dont like them.

 

too much water spray when casting them

 

they also sink

 

i too will continue to use tapered leaders as they:

 

cast just fine for me

 

a couple of stretches on the leader and its straight

 

costs a little more but thats ok

 

can be durable if you stay out of trees with bad casting

 

add a tippet ring and mono tippet or add tippet with a surgeons knot and you are good to go

 

I haven't had any issues with spray at all, and I fish some extremely small spring creeks with VERY spooky fish.

They do apparently tend to sink quicker than a single strand leader, but it's not enough to notice. It's not sinking my dry fly or anything like that.

 

I'd like to see a butt and mid section of a knotted or knot less leader last 4 years. That's what I mean by durable. I'm pretty sure you will ding up any leader if you were constantly throwing it into trees. Knotted and knot less leaders get kinks and abrasions from rubbing on the side of the boat, or rubbing against rocks on the bottom of the river. Mine usually only last a month before I get sick of looking at the ugly things.

 

 

They wear out too fast, I just had to replace one on my 6wt and it was only 4 years old

 

Just being a smartass, I really like the furled leaders, have a few made from UNI thread and a couple fluoro. Thinking about seeing if I can have someone make me one out of PowerPro braid.

 

Nice! I really want to build a jig to start making the UNI thread ones for dry fly fishing!

[flytire 0]

well then come on over and i'll show you some that are that old and maybe even older and in perfect working order

 

i just voiced my opinion on why i didnt like and liked one over the other.

 

look, every fly fisherman has his or her preferences and reasons why they use certain items and that should be respected.

 

people try to sell me on something i have tried and have concluded that i dont like it.

 

you are more than welcome to use whatever you like to terminate the end of you fly line. i trust that i'm allowed the same liberty

 

i would need to build a board for furling and my current mobile home situation doesnt have a lot of storage room to hide the board when not in use. its not like i have a basement for storage

 

what float your boat doesnt necessarily float my boat.

 

i'm not the only one who prefers a tapered leader.

 

i congratulate you in having the enormous succes you are having with furled leaders

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

I really think furled leaders are just gimmicky, i fish a lot of intermediate tip so you can already see how useless thats gonna be lol, never had an issue with turnover. The only time i will really use a tapered leader is for trout, or more complex shock systems in salt otherwise 9-10ft of straight tippet, voila. Keep it simple!

[switch10 0]

well then come on over and i'll show you some that are that old and maybe even older and in perfect working order

 

i just voiced my opinion on why i didnt like and liked one over the other.

 

look, every fly fisherman has his or her preferences and reasons why they use certain items and that should be respected.

 

people try to sell me on something i have tried and have concluded that i dont like it.

 

you are more than welcome to use whatever you like to terminate the end of you fly line. i trust that i'm allowed the same liberty

 

i would need to build a board for furling and my current mobile home situation doesnt have a lot of storage room to hide the board when not in use. its not like i have a basement for storage

 

what float your boat doesnt necessarily float my boat.

 

i'm not the only one who prefers a tapered leader.

 

i congratulate you in having the enormous succes you are having with furled leaders

I'm not trying to sell you on anything. I don't care what you prefer to use. I just want to hear some legitimate reasons why people don't like furled leaders. Thank you for your input.

[hairwing 0]

I'm not for or against, but when I took a look at the concept I thought the idea was redundant when combined with a tapered fly line. I could be dead wrong, but isn't the idea of the fly line front taper to decelerate the speed of the forward cast for a delicate presentation of the fly? To me the furled leader adds more weight back to the equation and speeds up the turnover or doesn't slow it down as is intended with the design of the tapered fly line.

Anyways...I would definitely be inclined to use one if the end of my fly line was level without a taper, a level line. A level fly line now having a front taper with a furled transition.

I've never tried it but, The user claim of fishing a 5-6 foot tippet with the furled leader just didn't compute. A dry fly on 6x tippet that long I see all over the place. I'd have to see the claims in action to be convinced.

As far as sinking leaders....not for me, I want them to float. I need that design to make my casting easier, specifically the pick-up. I also use the leader as my tell when nymphing (no Indicator). I don't watch the end of my fly line , I watch the point the leader enters the water. If I just watched the end of the fly line I'm afraid I would only catch the fish that hooked itself. I actually grease the butts of my leaders when fishing.

[ditz2 0]

Oh boy, I get to voice another opinion. First, I would like to say that everyone most surely has the right to use anything they desire. They can use 1" rope as far as I am concerned as long as they are not scaring my fish. .....I make and use furled leaders on my light rods. 4# mono is what I use and yes I have leaders that are at least 2 seasons old and they do work fine for me. I do not use the steel rings. I just use the loops that are generated by the furling process. I have also tried them on my heavier outfits made from the 4# and heavier mono and I did not care for them. I either use a straight leader or a butt of 30 or 40# and then a tippet of whatever I deem needed. I have made one furled leader out of thread but I did no care for it and have no intention of making another. I just make a 5' mono leader and then add a 3' tippet of usually 6#. I don't fish trout so I don't get fancy or real thin. I have also found that I get far fewer wind knots and if I do get one in the furled section it is easy to remove. I do recommend that anyone that has not used a furled leader should give them a try. They will last a long time so the cost is not prohibitive even if you need to buy them. I don't fish everyday but I think the line will get rotten on my homemade leaders before I actually wear them out. Another good thing about them is they do not seem to take a set and stay straight. Yes one can stretch a mono leader but I have found that 40# mono requires some heavy pulling to make them straight after being on a spool for a even a few days. If anybody knows of a furled leader that works well on 7wts and up please post the info or jig dimensions. I would like to use them on my heavier rigs too.

[switch10 0]

I'm not for or against, but when I took a look at the concept I thought the idea was redundant when combined with a tapered fly line. I could be dead wrong, but isn't the idea of the fly line front taper to decelerate the speed of the forward cast for a delicate presentation of the fly? To me the furled leader adds more weight back to the equation and speeds up the turnover or doesn't slow it down as is intended with the design of the tapered fly line.

Anyways...I would definitely be inclined to use one if the end of my fly line was level without a taper, a level line. A level fly line now having a front taper with a furled transition.

I've never tried it but, The user claim of fishing a 5-6 foot tippet with the furled leader just didn't compute. A dry fly on 6x tippet that long I see all over the place. I'd have to see the claims in action to be convinced.

As far as sinking leaders....not for me, I want them to float. I need that design to make my casting easier, specifically the pick-up. I also use the leader as my tell when nymphing (no Indicator). I don't watch the end of my fly line , I watch the point the leader enters the water. If I just watched the end of the fly line I'm afraid I would only catch the fish that hooked itself. I actually grease the butts of my leaders when fishing.

I said I make the leaders (butt and mid section) 5-6 feet long. I use 24 or so inches of tippet.

 

You can read more about the advantages and disadvantages here: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/readerscast/rc185.php

[switch10 0]

Oh boy, I get to voice another opinion. First, I would like to say that everyone most surely has the right to use anything they desire. They can use 1" rope as far as I am concerned as long as they are not scaring my fish. .....I make and use furled leaders on my light rods. 4# mono is what I use and yes I have leaders that are at least 2 seasons old and they do work fine for me. I do not use the steel rings. I just use the loops that are generated by the furling process. I have also tried them on my heavier outfits made from the 4# and heavier mono and I did not care for them. I either use a straight leader or a butt of 30 or 40# and then a tippet of whatever I deem needed. I have made one furled leader out of thread but I did no care for it and have no intention of making another. I just make a 5' mono leader and then add a 3' tippet of usually 6#. I don't fish trout so I don't get fancy or real thin. I have also found that I get far fewer wind knots and if I do get one in the furled section it is easy to remove. I do recommend that anyone that has not used a furled leader should give them a try. They will last a long time so the cost is not prohibitive even if you need to buy them. I don't fish everyday but I think the line will get rotten on my homemade leaders before I actually wear them out. Another good thing about them is they do not seem to take a set and stay straight. Yes one can stretch a mono leader but I have found that 40# mono requires some heavy pulling to make them straight after being on a spool for a even a few days. If anybody knows of a furled leader that works well on 7wts and up please post the info or jig dimensions. I would like to use them on my heavier rigs too.

 

Good to know. I've only used furled leaders on my 4 weights... I will have to try them on my #6/7...

[hairwing 0]

I'm not for or against, but when I took a look at the concept I thought the idea was redundant when combined with a tapered fly line. I could be dead wrong, but isn't the idea of the fly line front taper to decelerate the speed of the forward cast for a delicate presentation of the fly? To me the furled leader adds more weight back to the equation and speeds up the turnover or doesn't slow it down as is intended with the design of the tapered fly line.

Anyways...I would definitely be inclined to use one if the end of my fly line was level without a taper, a level line. A level fly line now having a front taper with a furled transition.

I've never tried it but, The user claim of fishing a 5-6 foot tippet with the furled leader just didn't compute. A dry fly on 6x tippet that long I see all over the place. I'd have to see the claims in action to be convinced.

As far as sinking leaders....not for me, I want them to float. I need that design to make my casting easier, specifically the pick-up. I also use the leader as my tell when nymphing (no Indicator). I don't watch the end of my fly line , I watch the point the leader enters the water. If I just watched the end of the fly line I'm afraid I would only catch the fish that hooked itself. I actually grease the butts of my leaders when fishing.

I said I make the leaders (butt and mid section) 5-6 feet long. I use 24 or so inches of tippet.

 

You can read more about the advantages and disadvantages here: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/readerscast/rc185.php

Sorry Switch...I communicated badly about the 5-6 ft tippets. It was not directed at you but it's something I read on all the forums. By "user" I meant the guys who use the leader.