Color of leaders.

[TossinFlies15]

I'm sorry for the veterans of this sight that have been asked this a million times but how much does the color of your leader effect the fish's err trout's reaction to your fly. I tie my own leaders and what not and for bass use red to green to yellow to a clear 8 pound. I have alot of friends who catch alot of trout on high vis. leaders. If I do that how many feet of tippet do I need to add? Thanks guys

 

[jayL]

TossinFlies15 wrote:
I'm sorry for the veterans of this sight that have been asked this a million times but how much does the color of your leader effect the fish's err trout's reaction to your fly. I tie my own leaders and what not and for bass use red to green to yellow to a clear 8 pound. I have alot of friends who catch alot of trout on high vis. leaders. If I do that how many feet of tippet do I need to add? Thanks guys

It really depends on conditions.

I use maxima chameleon for a lot of leaders, as well as furled leaders. I add 3 feet or so of clear tippet with no problems.

With any leader, I try to present the fly first, so it doesn't matter.

 

[TossinFlies15]

So I'm assuming in skinny water you want to add a little more or just keep it clear?

 

[jayL]

Usually just add a bit more tippet. If it's really spooky, I'll go with a 14 foot maxima leader, with about 5ft of actual tippet.

 

[pszy22]

Generally speaking, I'm not sure the color of the leader has much effect on fish. Fish are used to seeing long skinny things (sticks, weeds, canoes, etc) float overhead all the time.

Rather than color, I think the key thing to be concerned with is how the leader/tippet may be effecting the way your fly is being presented. I think long skinny tippets work well not so much that the fish don't see them, rather they don't introduce any unnatural movement to your fly.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

pszy22, I believe you got that right on about the drift. As an example I fished the "Trico" hatch on Spring Creek this year and started with 6X tippet but then switched to 7X and it seemed much easier to get a drag free drift. I caught more fish on the 7X.

 

[PaulG]

I don't think the color of your leader makes a difference, Im a big believer in long tippets, gets me a better drift!

PaulG