Improved Take Detection: Coiled Leaders

June 20, 2008 By: Marshall Cutchin

On FishandFly.com, Jeremy Lucas describes the steps he uses to make a coiled leader, part of the system developed by the Spanish to detect the very subtle takes of trout feeding on tiny nymphs. “They can eject it in a flash, particularly fish like roach, dace or grayling. We need every chance possible in order to register when a fish has mouthed the fly. The greased, coiled indicator is far more sensitive than the proprietary available strike indicators, though will not support as much weight as these, but then it does not need to do so. We are employing mostly lightly-ballasted, single (occasionally double) nymphs in size 20, 18 and 16, at depths commonly less than a metre.”