Leaders
Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2022 3:01 pm
Which type of leader do you prefer? I gave up on tapered nylon leaders a few years back and only use tapered threaded furled leaders now. I never knew if them until I watched videos from Jonathan Barnes ( whatever happened to him? ) and he used nylon furled leaders. So shopping one day I found some nylon furled leaders and tried them out. I liked them except for one thing and that was they will soak up water after awhile and then the become difficult to fish dries with. Also I had the loop connection at the end give out on me.
I then was introduced to threaded furled leaders and never regretted it. Very versatile and dependable. Yes, they soak up water too, but just squeeze the water out using a kitchen roll and a few false casts and you are back to fishing. You can even coat it with floatant to make it last even longer. The kind I buy are already guaranteed to float because the maker, Jamie, grand person to know, applies his own floatant into the leaders. He has leaders for dries, wet flies, pike, and nymphing. But he will tell you for trout fishing dry or wet, he just used his floating leader for dries.
I have a question. In the UK, do they still make these leaders out of horse hair? And I have heard of cat gut being used, is that really what I am thinking it is?
In the waters I fish, creeks and rivers, I find a leader less than seven feet six inches best. With the tippet it comes to about nine feet long and I find that works well for dry flies. Anything longer because of the current and twisting seams drag comes into play. But with a furled leader drag is less of an issue. When I'm fishing a duo dry fly I use shorter tippet to prevent the second fly from drag. But I don't know why I even use a duo system because our waters move fast and the fish 99% of the time take the first fly because they won't let a meal pass by.
On the rare occasions I fish lakes, I don't see the need to go longer because I have found that these furled leaders don't spook the fish. It sure saves on degreasing too because I only have to degrease the tippet.
Nylon tapered leaders work, no doubt, but I have found advantages with tapered threaded furled leaders.
Which style do you prefer?
I then was introduced to threaded furled leaders and never regretted it. Very versatile and dependable. Yes, they soak up water too, but just squeeze the water out using a kitchen roll and a few false casts and you are back to fishing. You can even coat it with floatant to make it last even longer. The kind I buy are already guaranteed to float because the maker, Jamie, grand person to know, applies his own floatant into the leaders. He has leaders for dries, wet flies, pike, and nymphing. But he will tell you for trout fishing dry or wet, he just used his floating leader for dries.
I have a question. In the UK, do they still make these leaders out of horse hair? And I have heard of cat gut being used, is that really what I am thinking it is?
In the waters I fish, creeks and rivers, I find a leader less than seven feet six inches best. With the tippet it comes to about nine feet long and I find that works well for dry flies. Anything longer because of the current and twisting seams drag comes into play. But with a furled leader drag is less of an issue. When I'm fishing a duo dry fly I use shorter tippet to prevent the second fly from drag. But I don't know why I even use a duo system because our waters move fast and the fish 99% of the time take the first fly because they won't let a meal pass by.
On the rare occasions I fish lakes, I don't see the need to go longer because I have found that these furled leaders don't spook the fish. It sure saves on degreasing too because I only have to degrease the tippet.
Nylon tapered leaders work, no doubt, but I have found advantages with tapered threaded furled leaders.
Which style do you prefer?