anyone use furled leaders ?

[sandfly]

I make all my own and add a piece of 3x at the end.

 

[afishinado]

sandfly wrote:
I make all my own and add a piece of 3x at the end.

Ditto to Sandy.

 

[jayL]

Link to afish's furled leader tutorial.

 

[wetfly1]

troutslammer wrote:
how well do they work for nymphing and dries ? just basically looking for some input here guys thats all , sorry if this has been covered but i couldn't find the info i was hopeing to get. appreciate the help here greatly.

I do use them almost exclusively... I buy mine though from www.streamsideleaders.com. really nice product!

 

[thegreathoe]

i started using them last year and love them. i make my own and have no problems at all... i did some digging on the net last year and came across a forum that only deals with furled leaders, http://furledleaders.proboards.com/ ... ya have to register to view on it but its defiantly worth it. they have everything on there from material reviews to strength testing and length calculators for the tapers.

personally i usually make a 5' leader and add plenty of tippet, or i also have a long board set up to make 11' leaders for still water which turn over flies wonderfully.

as for material, i use either 8/0 tying thread, clear nylon sewing thread http://www.threadandmore.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=43 , or for warm water i use the thinnest braided spider wire i can find on my 8wt.

 

[troutslammer]

you use sewing thread for leader tying ? doesn't it absorb water and sink or do you only use it for nymphs , i never heard of using that stuff before , interesting

 

[thegreathoe]

i've used both sewing and tying thread... have tried a bunch of stuff actually... if you make one long enough it can almost be like a sinktip

 

[Festus]

I first used a furled leader several years ago when I bought a few from Sandfly. They worked great but due to heavy use I eventually screwed them up. Now I've tried Feather-Craft leaders with great results. They work great to.

Also, since I watched a guy kick butt on the Spring last year using a Feather-Craft Red Dog leader, I use the Red Dogs for nymphing to. Works great.

 

[jayL]

Festus,

I use a similar setup for slow water/delicate presentation nymphing. Do you also use it for deeper, faster water situations where a flat leader euro style approach would be more standard?

I have done so with modifications, but so far, it's still easier to change to a amnesia->flat heavy tippet setup. I'm always looking to improve on that.

 

[SonofZ3]

I've been fishing braided leaders for streamers lately. They work well. The only problem I have is the furled leader-tippet connection. My tippet kept breaking at the furled leader rather than fly. I think I need to make up some tippet sections, with some 1x going down to 2x, for a little extra strength.

 

[jerseygeorge]

My only complaint with furled leaders, and I use them almost exclusively:

Sometimes where I fish there are trees. And sometimes, even given my vast fly fishing experience my fly still gets stuck in said tree branches. The first thing I do is curse. And then I give it a gentle tug to see if it will dislodge.

If it does not, than a good pull and snapping of the tippet is necessary. When you pull on the fly line it puts a lot of tension on the furled leader. When the tippet snaps, the furled leader will curl, twist and get all gnarled up. It takes a moment to unwind, and straighten. Putting pulling tension on it does something considering the way it is twised and wound. That is my only complaint, and it is more about the darn trees than the leader.

JG

 

[Festus]

I use a similar setup for slow water/delicate presentation nymphing. Do you also use it for deeper, faster water situations where a flat leader euro style approach would be more standard?

I've played with the deep water situations using Spanish, French, Czec etc for a few years now. Each spring, I start out with the mentality that I'm gonna get it done using strictly these methods for the entire season, and I always end up going back to high sticking with a 9' -12' nymph leader with a slim butt.

Alot of my trouble with the Euro methods is that I simply don't enjoy working that hard for my fish. I enjoy going out, catching a few fish, and sucking in the atmosphere. I'm, happy with that.

That's not to say that the Euro method isn't deadly. It is. I've had some banner days using it, and if I wanted to get deep and put up numbers, Euro is the way to go. Fact is, I'm just to lazy to employ it.

 

[Festus]

I'm not kidding about the Red Dogs either. When I seen how well they worked in some situations, I bought a bunch of Cajun Red and started making my own.