Leaders

[Wizard]

Anyone tie their own leaders? Got a favorite formula? How about brand of leader material ?

[Soft-hackle]

I tie my own. I like Maxima Chameleon. Good stuff. I vary the tippet material depending on how I will be fishing.

Mike Connor filled me in on using leader rings for the construction of leaders. I've not tried them, yet, but plan to. I can not, however, remember where he posted that info. If anyone knows, post a link. Maybe Mike will appear and fill us in. I really liked the idea for making leaders with droppers on them.

Mark

[Liam]

I have tied some leaders using leader rings. I use the leadercalc formulas available on globalflyfisher.com. I have not tried fishing these leaders yet, but I simply use clinch knots on either side of the ring in between sections where I want the droppers to be. They seem to cast well in the yard, and I love the idea that when the dropper becomes to short I can simply tie more tippet to the ring.

[skunkaroo]

I tie and fish knotted custom leaders (as well as braided and factory tapered).

The material I use is Maxima Ultra-green with SA mono-tippet. Lately, at the suggestion of someone who has been fishing longer than I've been alive, I've been experimenting with adding Chameleon in the butt section. The jury is still out on the Chameleon/Ultra-green combination, but the Ultra-green leaders have been great. The only small criticism is that they do need to be straightened before use.

I use Art Lee's dry fly leader formulas and I've generally found them to be superior to the leadercalc formula's on the global site (your mileage may vary). For wets and soft-hackles I still use the dry fly formulas, but usually shorter versions (7-9'). I've had to adapt some of them to work with my one weight lines, but they turn over flies very nicely. For nymphs, I'm a lot more brutal--a chunk of factory tapered butt section, a short transitional piece, and then tippet.

Aaron

[Ron Eagle Elk]

I've been using furled leaders for a couple of years now on my single hand rods. I make them out of mono thread and Uni 6/0 thread. I have one mono leader that I've been using for three years with no sign of wear. I use tippet rings to attach tippet to the furled leaders. No hinging effect and great turn over.

For the two handed rods I still tie my own leaders using Maxima Chameleon and a formula I found in one of the steelhead books, not sure which one.

REE

[Wizard]

I tied a few up today to experiment with, both were the Borger Uni leader formula. 4' .020 Chameleon, 1' .013 Chameleon (5/7 blood knot), 2' 2X Tippet, and finally 2' of either 3X or 4X. At the knot (Blood) between the 2X and the last section you can leave a 4-6" dropper of the final tippet, 3X seems best for this. You can also tie this and end at the 2X tippet for a 7' streamer leader.

www.feather-craft.com I saw the tippet rings here.

[greenheart]

I tie my own using mostly Orvis Super Strong and following the formulae in Gary Borger's book, "Nymphing". These have long butts, short transitions, and relatively long tippets. They work well for me. I use the old fashioned dropper loop tied right into the leader.

[Eric Peper]

I don't tie my own anymore because knotted leaders really aren't very practical on the weedy waters I normally fish. I DO have a favorite tippet material, however, and that's Enrico Puglisi's PowerFull material. I fish primarily 6X, and the PowerFull in 6X tests out at 4.4#, about a pound more than anything else. Knot strength and suppleness is excellent. Been using it for almost 10 years now with no regrets.

EP

[skunkaroo]

I don't tie my own anymore because knotted leaders really aren't very practical on the weedy waters I normally fish. I DO have a favorite tippet material, however, and that's Enrico Puglisi's PowerFull material. I fish primarily 6X, and the PowerFull in 6X tests out at 4.4#, about a pound more than anything else. Knot strength and suppleness is excellent. Been using it for almost 10 years now with no regrets.

The EP stuff is very strong, but also very hard. I've found it doesn't marry well with other mono's, but if you used it exclusively I imagine it would work very well.

Aaron

[Eric Peper]

I've found it as pleasant to fish as the Umpqua and Dai Riki that I'd used for years. I use it strictly in fine diameters, and it is always clinch knotted to a loop at the end of my knotless leader.

EP