Furled leaders

[Sabot]

You are welcome. Just follow his instructions exactly and you'll be turning out great furled leaders.

Pay no attention to the nay-sayers. Next I expect they'll be complaining that they can't find frilly pink ones to match their underwear.

Good Luck!

 

[StarvinMarvin]

PennKev, you say they are handicapping you for subsurface flies?

Ive seen the opposite, at least from my friend. He's been using a furled leaders for about a year and he catches more fish than he did before just because he is constantly in the water and not tying knots all the time. All he does is nymph.

 

[PennKev]

StarvinMarvin wrote:
PennKev, you say they are handicapping you for subsurface flies?

Ive seen the opposite, at least from my friend. He's been using a furled leaders for about a year and he catches more fish than he did before just because he is constantly in the water and not tying knots all the time. All he does is nymph.

Yes. As far as actual presentation goes, the furled leaders are a handicap. Fishing depth is largely dictated by tippet length as the furled leaders material and construction creates a slow sinking leader with lots of drag when submerged.

Give me pain 'ol mono anyday when it comes to nymphing and streamers. Your friend my not be that quick at tying knots, but that is not a problem for me and I am certain mono leaders are the way to go for subsurface. Yeah, on smaller, shallower streams you can get away with a furled leader and a long tippet for everything, but I wouldn't want to nymph a stream like Penns with one. And don't think I haven't tried, I have. I found myself spending to much effort to *make* the furled leader work in a situation where it wasn't well suited.

Occasionally, you may see "sinking" fluorocarbon furled leaders but these only resolve some of the issues and are best for streamer fishing in the salt or stillwater-warmwater situations.

Kev

 

[StarvinMarvin]

he is very quick and effecient with his knots. maybe because he ties on tippet of 4x then 5x to that with the blood that he doesnt induce so much drag.
i just find it weird that he has found the complete oppostie at least it'll give me something to observe over the next week

 

[englishprof]

Marvin,

This is my second season using furled leaders. I'm catching more fish than ever and usually on nymphs. Not sure I'm a better fisherman, but I do know my fly is on or in the water a hell of lot longer than ever before. With nymphs, it is very important to get them deep and fast. That's why God created spilt shot and weighted nymphs.

I love these leaders and, like some others here, will not go back to anything else.

 

[PennKev]

StarvinMarvin wrote:
he is very quick and effecient with his knots. maybe because he ties on tippet of 4x then 5x to that with the blood that he doesnt induce so much drag.
i just find it weird that he has found the complete oppostie at least it'll give me something to observe over the next week

Also consider how much tippet he is using when nymphing deep. If he is tying on 4+ feet of tippet he is essentially tying on a level leader to the end of his furled leader. This is a workable rig, but again, I think it is more a matter of making something work rather than using the best approach for the situation.

Kev

 

[StarvinMarvin]

Gotcha what he likes is the strength and ease of moving the thingamabobber ya know, but I like the style of mono nymphing as well, and I don't spend much time out of the water either I can tie a blood knot and two flies in under a minute easily I'm just trying to figure if its an advantage or not. But agree with you Kev

 

[geebee]

PennKev wrote:
the furled leaders material and construction creates a slow sinking leader with lots of drag when submerged.

Kev

isn't that drag a good thing when nymphing, i know a guy who doesn't lead his nymphs conventionally but instead holds up/back the rod to match the slower current on the bottom.

he slays them.

and i may be wrong, but i am pretty sure you could brush tungsten powder on the last foot of a furled leader and help over come the slow sink ?


this is a very interesting conversation guys, a real eye opener - Thanks, I'm going to order some blue sky leaders and give it a try !

 

[PennKev]

geebee wrote:

isn't that drag a good thing when nymphing, i know a guy who doesn't lead his nymphs conventionally but instead holds up/back the rod to match the slower current on the bottom.

Generally, no, it is not good when you can't control it. Mono leaders offer less drag due to diameter and weight of the material. Thus, your friend is actually in control of the leader. A furled leader won't behave this way.

and i may be wrong, but i am pretty sure you could brush tungsten powder on the last foot of a furled leader and help over come the slow sink ?

Maybe the sink rate would improve (that is why fluorocarbon is sometimes used). You still have to overcome the undesirable drag inducing properties I previously mentioned. Also, adding a powder of any sort in a permanent fashion and in significant quantities is a wishful solution. And again, it goes back to making something work in spite of itself.

Kev

 

[geebee]

Interesting comments Kev, thanks. I'm pretty sure my friend is using non furled leaders btw.

Funnily enough I think the best use of this would be for really long casts tubing on a pond. That's when I get the most wind knots, rather than punchy casts on small streams.

 

[Gorosaurus]

So where do people pick this stuff up? I'm not going to bother building them until I try one or two first!

 

[PennKev]

Gorosaurus wrote:
So where do people pick this stuff up? I'm not going to bother building them until I try one or two first!

There are a handful of online sources Blue Sky being one of the more recognized names. The thing is, you are going to pay about $13 for something that has 10 cents worth of material and maybe 5 min of work in it.

Tell you what. If 10 people ask me for a leader I'll haul out my jig and make up a bunch and send them out to anyone who wants to give them a try.

PM me your name and address and the first 10 people get a leader.

Kev

 

[Gorosaurus]

Ah, okay. Amazon, for instance, only has 2 or 3 different offerings (which, in my experience, is pretty shallow for a product). I suppose that speaks to the actual popularity of this product

 

[LongLineRelease]

I've been using furled leaders most of the time for the last few years. I've purchased them, but now make then in a similar way to the video that was posted on here. I have two questions for you guys:

1. What are most of you using for the front end of the leader? Are you just putting straight tippet on the connection or do you build a tappered front end? I have been tapering mine mostly.
2. For those of you who don't like to use them nymphing, do you feel they are worse than a conventional tappered leader?

 

[PennKev]

LongLineRelease wrote:

1. What are most of you using for the front end of the leader? Are you just putting straight tippet on the connection or do you build a tappered front end? I have been tapering mine mostly.

Depends on Application and length of tippet. If i'm tossing a bugger on a brookie stream I'll just tie on a stright hcunk of 3x or maybe 4x regardless of how long of a tippet I use. When fishing dries, particulary smaller ones I step down the tippet. For instance i'll use 2feet of 4x and then 2 feet of 6x, making adjustments to those lengths depending on how much slack I want in the tippet during the drift.

2. For those of you who don't like to use them nymphing, do you feel they are worse than a conventional tappered leader?

As I mentioned to earlier, on small streams or shallow water situation the furled leader works OK. But anything deeper than a couple feet and you really are making it work rather than using the best tool of rthe job. The furled leader has a wind sock quality to it and once sunken is also more difficult to lift from the water. I think any situation in which more than the first foot or so of the fulred leader is sunken, is a situation in which a mono leader is a better choice.

To sum it all up; The furled leaders are excellent for dries, emergers, and fishing just under the surface. They also work well for small stream fishing. For deep nymphing and streamer fishing they do not. The behavior of the furled leaders once sunk makes good presentations more difficult and the turnover and casting qualities of the leader are generally not needed in these situations anyway.

Kev

 

[LongLineRelease]

Thanks Kev