Tag: leaders

Question: Can you help me understand the different fly lines and leaders? Answer: Fly lines and leaders can be puzzling for the novice fly fisher. There are three types of fly lines: floating lines, sinking lines, and sink-tip lines. The floating line is the one that almost everyone buys first, and it is also the line that you will probably find yourself...

I owned and operated a fly shop for roughly 15 years. As is the case with most fly shops, leaders were an important product category, and in my case second only to flies in regard to total sales. Leaders outsold tippet, the third highest selling product category, at a ratio of ten-to-one. The four best-selling leaders in my shop were, in order, 9-foot 5x...

A good leader can make the difference between a good cast or a bad cast. In this article, Dan Zazworsky offers great tips for how to extend the life of your leader. “While leaders don’t necessarily break the bank, they can get expensive if you are having to replace them multiple times during your fishing trip, so we’re here to show you a few ways we...

From hand-tied to pre-drawn, Kevin Howell writes a detailed article on fly fishing leaders in this post via Gink & Gasoline. “Today there are countless options for anglers to choose from — not only do anglers have to choose a length and a taper design, but leaders are available utilizing Monofilament, Fluorocarbon, Braided and Furled technology.”

Justin Housman calls Yvon Chouinard’s introduction to the second edition of Simple Fly Fishing, “as good an explanation for why anglers spend time in nature casting about with artificial flies as anything else I’ve ever read.” Read an excerpt via Adventure Journal. Long leaders are difficult to cast, but can make a big difference in success when...

A Tangled Subject GENERALITIES ABOUT KNOTS are generally wrong or, at best, true only part of the time. But we can rely on one general statement: There is no single best knot for attaching every hook to every type of line. Be wary of claims about the efficiency of knots. When you read that the Reversed Triple Fubar has 97 percent breaking strength — that...

Have a question you want answered? Email it to us at [email protected]. Question: In hopes of catching more mature trout this season, I propose to tie my own custom leaders using George Harvey's leader design formula(e). My issue, however, is locating and identifying soft and hard monofilament sources, and do some manufacturers identify their products as...

Tim Flagler provides a detailed video guide to contructing a 10-foot 4X leader. As Flagler says: "Today there are more choices than ever when it comes to tapered leaders and I think most people are content to use the manufactured, knot-less variety. But, as with fly tying, there’s a good bit of satisfaction and knowledge to be gained by building your own...

Tom Rosenbauer lists the five most common mistakes anglers make with leaders and tippets. Excerpt: "Number one, not testing knots. I make this mistake all the time. I don't know how many times I've tied on a fly quickly, I've made a cast, a fish has struck, and I come back with a pigtail on the end of my line because I didn't pass the end of the clinch not...

Have you noticed? While the snow is slowly disappearing, the number of people fly fishing is at its annual low.  Even those of us  lucky enough to live near an unfrozen body of water aren't fishing through the winter with the same frequency or zeal that we did during the warmer months. But mass restlessness stirs beneath the surface.  It won't be long...