Exacting leader segments

[sundrunk]

What happens if you are off by an inch or less among some of your leader segments? How exacting do you have to be? I'm going to cast a few of my hand tied 12' 7x leaders to see how they perform. My blood knots are tight. The challange for me is ending up with the segement lenths after seating each knot. Another words, once the knot has settled I'm off the desired lenth by an inch or two each time. What's a good trick for getting more consistency in accurate segment lenths?

 

[Heritage-Angler]

If those leader segments are off by so much as a sixteenth of an inch, the leader is junk and will not work. In the interest of saving the environment, send them to me and I will see to it they are disposed of properly.

Accurate to within an inch? Not to worry....

 

[afishinado]

Heritage is right (as usual), no need to sweat exact formulas. I play with them all the time. In general, heavier diameter line stepped down gradually to thinner, slightly shorter segments will get you where you want to go.

 

[dryflyguy]

I add 4" to the length of each segment when cutting to allow for the knots - 2" on each side.
This usually gets me within and inch or so of the correct length
As the others have said, I don't think being off by an inch would really matter that much

 

[fritz]

With enough practice--you'll learn how to get closer. An inch or so does not make a difference.

 

[Bruno]

make your self a leader tying tool. a board , two clips annd a nail. You can get pretty accurate with this thing.

http://www.froghairfishing.com/fly-fishing.cfm?prodid=785

or spend 30 bucks and buy this one ...........

 

[Acristickid]

Great suggestion Bruno.

Here is a picture of a tool that took about 2 minutes to make from a piece of scrap wood and 3 nails- just makes sure the middle nail is loose so you can pull it out and turn it.

I wish someone would have showed me this tool when I first started-it makes blood knots very easy to tie. Even though I can tie blood knots on stream I still use this at home- just makes it easier.

Good luck.

 

[AlwaysWading]

You can read all the books on tying leaders, follow all the formulas they point out, and still tie one to whatever you feel is right and bam you catch the same amount of fish. I normally start with a self tied one that I know worked for me on that particular stretch of water, if you find it is not working, simply switch out to another, shorten, or lengthen it, this is not as scientific as one would like to lead you to believe.

I'll go one step beyond that and say I simply stopped buying little reels of tippet. I now purchase a few hundred yards of off the shelf line in whatever size I desire, 4, 5, 6, whatever I want to tie tippet size in and then it simply goes onto leader that again is nothing fancy. Maybe its just me but I find you can catch just as many fish and then some without having to browse through rows and rows of this and that kind of tippet. spend less time shopping, less time worrying about exact leader formulas, and more time in the stream having fun.