Fly line to leader connection/knot

[DomR]

Congratulations all, we've officially filled 4 pages with ways to tie one piece of string to another piece of string in increasingly greater complexity with correspondingly little reward. Are the spring BWO's hatching yet? Lord knows it seems like we could use it

at least its 4 pages that have gone amicably without full blown Jihad breaking out. The shack nasties have yet to set in. 🤣

 

[albatross]

Peak cabin fever should be around or just after Groundhog Day I believe...

 

[Bamboozle]

Reason?

Only con I can see with them, is trying to keep them floating.
Have to work a good bit of paste into that braid, and more often too.

Other complaint I heard about them - they spray water upon landing, and pickup.
Since I'm usually fishing a 12 foot leader, I dont know how much of an issue that is for me.
And how about the wide spread use of braided and furled leaders now?
Wouldn't they cause even more splashing, and closer to the fly too?

The only part of my leader that has a potential to sink is the loop itself because it doesn't have fly line inside. So I take a page from Beartooth Perma Float Braided Leaders and dip the loop end of my leader loops in liquefied soy wax or paraffin.

BTW - Those Perma Float leaders are fantastic!!

Spray is so overrated as a concern/excuse. Line, knots, soaked flies and all types of leader will hold water. Just make ONE backcast and the water should fly off...

If your backcast is hitting the water behind you...

You have bigger problems to sort out. 🙂

 

[PennKev]

Reason?

Only con I can see with them, is trying to keep them floating.
Have to work a good bit of paste into that braid, and more often too.

Other complaint I heard about them - they spray water upon landing, and pickup.
Since I'm usually fishing a 12 foot leader, I dont know how much of an issue that is for me.
And how about the wide spread use of braided and furled leaders now?
Wouldn't they cause even more splashing, and closer to the fly too?

They sink... ...a lot.
The shrink tube is insufficient so you still need to tie a nail knot.
They collect gunk.
They spray water.
They are noticeably more air resistant than other connections.
When they fail, you need a spare or else you are back to using other methods.
I believe they negatively impact casting and leader turnover more noticeably than any other connection method.

As far as I'm concerned they are as antiquated and obsolete as the spikey metal eyelet things.

 

[PennKev]

Actual footage of me trying to wrap my head around every manner people have presented instead of just using the damn loop thats already there.

Because they are bulky (amongst other reasons) and not the best way to do it. They strike a balance between ease of use and performance. There are several better ways to do it for those willing to invest a just a little time and effort.

 

[ryansheehan]

I've been fine using the welded loops that come with fly lines.
But over time, they can go bad too.
Usually, the line coating cracks down to the line core, right at the split that forms the loop
Not failing yet, but definitely weaker.

I keep an eye open for this, usually when cleaning it.
Then cut it off when it happens, and nail knot a piece of mono on then.
But have even had that fail a few times.
The nail knot seemed to have dug into the line coating for some reason, and cracked it.
Maybe the line was just getting old and a little too brittle.

In that event, I have a plan C - the old braided loops, which I still have a few of them around.
I know they're not ideal, but they have saved a few older lines for me that were still usable

This is what I do as well. The welded loops that come on fly lines are better than they used to be, mine last much longer now than 5 years ago.

 

[bringthepain]

I like the welded fly line loops and they are usually pretty small. Its the loop on the end of my leader i believe that gets caught in the top 2 guides at times. I am going to experiment with tying a smaller loop in the top of leader and reducing the overall size of that loop to loop connection

 

[tomgamber]

Braided loops were what everyone seemed to use when I started out FFing.
And I never had any problems with them
I also think they they go through the rod tip more smoothly than a nail knot

I used these at one point. I liked them. Haven't seen one in a while do I've used big old ugly loops on both line and leader and found no difference. Of course lines with welded lops are great but i think maybe one long cold winter many moons ago I spent a day attaching a mono loop to a cheap line with a nail knot.

 

[dryflyguy]

They sink... ...a lot.
The shrink tube is insufficient so you still need to tie a nail knot.
They collect gunk.
They spray water.
They are noticeably more air resistant than other connections.
When they fail, you need a spare or else you are back to using other methods.
I believe they negatively impact casting and leader turnover more noticeably than any other connection method.

As far as I'm concerned they are as antiquated and obsolete as the spikey metal eyelet things.

But other than that , they work OK................

 

[dryflyguy]

I used these at one point. I liked them. Haven't seen one in a while do I've used big old ugly loops on both line and leader and found no difference. Of course lines with welded lops are great but i think maybe one long cold winter many moons ago I spent a day attaching a mono loop to a cheap line with a nail knot.

That's one time when the braided loops came in handy IMO
Pretty easy to cut the line and slip one of them on for a quick fix on the road.
I used to carry an extra in my vest