Furled Nymphing Leader Experience & Questions

[Jay_H]

So I’ve been looking at some furled leaders for expermenting when I’m nymphing. One of the ones I’ve found is about 5-6’ of nylon which would attach to your fly line and then about 3’ of a high-visibility bi-color furled leader terminating at a tippet ring. It is advertised as a long line leader traditionally used for tight line tactics.

My questions are: has anyone had any experience with this?

And: wouldn’t the furled component have a difficult time staying tight to the line?

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.

 

[PennKev]

So I’ve been looking at some furled leaders for expermenting when I’m nymphing. One of the ones I’ve found is about 5-6’ of nylon which would attach to your fly line and then about 3’ of a high-visibility bi-color furled leader terminating at a tippet ring. It is advertised as a long line leader traditionally used for tight line tactics.

9' total length is on the short side for use as a tight-line leader. Even with 4-5ft of tippet added on during use it is still on the short side. I'd want to be starting with 15'+ of leader from fly line to tippet ring.

My questions are: has anyone had any experience with this?

Yes, but I did not see any real advantage over conventional mono leaders so I did not pursue it any further. The only real possibility is creating a super supple leader with tying thread... ...but there are disadvantages, and again I did not see enough advantage to continue experimenting with it. It's just easier to tie together a few sections of mono and sighter material.

And: wouldn’t the furled component have a difficult time staying tight to the line?

Depends. If the leader taper is designed to mimic a mono tight line leader this would not be a problem. If the leader is just a typical furled leader with a hi-vis section tacked on, then no, it probably won't perform as you would hope. It really depends on how much mass the leader has.

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.

Conventional tight line leaders have a big advantage in that they are not just easy to construct, but that you can modify any part of them in minutes while on the water. A furled leader is whatever taper and length that it started as and that is it. When you are just needing to add tippet, such as with a dry fly leader, that is usually fine. However, if you find that you need to add a different colored sighter, or longer sighter, or shorten/lengthen the leader butt section you are out of luck.

There are reasons to create hi-vis furled leaders, but tight lining ain't high on that list. Fish small dries, yep. Fishing flies just under the surface, yes again. As an alternative to mono tight line leaders.... ehhh.
It's one of those things that will work well enough that some people will take to it just to be different, not because it is better.

 

[Jay_H]

Thank you for the response. I’ve been using mono with most of my tight line rigs, and was curious to see if anyone had any experience with these. Just one of those things you think about before making a purchase.

 

[Calico]

Look up pa woods and waters on YouTube he talks about them in one of his videos. I think he uses them. Could help with your questions.

 

[BoulderWorks]

JH, I use Furled leaders for nymphing and dry fly fishing.

I employ the use of furled leaders when sight fishing to particular lies or fish.

Benefits of a furled leader include extra stretch to accommodate large fish and also ease the change over to stalking heads.

Furled leaders are my personal favorite setup for finicky trout when stealth, soft presentation and reducing drag are critical factors. However, the furled leader butt material I prefer is softer from particular manufactures.

Drawbacks depend on the furled leader butt material. Stiffer furled leader butt allows use of larger patterns (wet flies, nymphs, streamers, dries in size 2 to xx). Softer furled butt leaders are only optimal when using smaller dries in range 16 on down to xx. Small nymphs in same range. Furled leaders with softer butt design are not conducive when making really long presentations for dry fly fishing unless I am performing extend reach/curve casts above the target.

 

[PaScoGi]

I really love Clearstream Furled leaders, I think they are based in Western PA. You can customize so many options, just google search their site. I really like the "light" versions in 4 foot with a tippet ring. But you can go longer, heavier, even put a flourescent indicator tip. Cutthroat Furled Leaders in Idaho are great, but again they dont have the custom versions that Clearstream has. A lot of guys hate on furled leaders but I always carry them in my bag and in certain situations they are the best leader option IMO.

 

[whheff]

I have a question about furled leaders? Do you grease them when you are fishing? I have 2 very old ones that I never used often because they soaked up water and sank when I dry fly fished. I liked the way they cast but the water logging was my problem with them. Are the new leaders made with mono? The ones I have a thread construction.

 

[joebamboo]

Thread does absorb water and thus the need to "grease" them. Mono furled leaders do not.

 

[BoulderWorks]

I have a question about furled leaders? Do you grease them when you are fishing? I have 2 very old ones that I never used often because they soaked up water and sank when I dry fly fished. I liked the way they cast but the water logging was my problem with them. Are the new leaders made with mono? The ones I have a thread construction.

I always grease my furled leaders before specific use of dry flies. Gink, Mucilin (my favorite), or manufacture recommended solution, i.e. Appalachian wax, etc. I may also grease my tippet, but not last 2 or 3 feet. Your mileage will vary.

https://appalachianfurledleaderco.com

https://appalachianfurledleaderco.com/collections/wax

https://www.feather-craft.com/fc_furled_leaders

 

[PaScoGi]

Its OK to grease them, but I dont and still catch fish. Granted, I am not a "numbers" fish guy and maybe when I catch 4 trout I could have caught 4 more if I greased my leader. Bottom line is, I like furled leaders if I am going to switching from nymphing to dry fly fishing back and forth all day. PA Woods N Water taught me this. I love his videos. You can get a drag free drift with a dry fly with a wet furled leader. Just have to use the right amount of tippet. He has several videos on this. You can always comment in his videos and ask, he usually responds. He has helped me tremendously and I have never met him.

If its late spring or summer and I am only going to be tossing dries, I'll probably just put on a standard tapered leader from RIO or other brand name. But if I am nymphing at any point I am using a furled leader. Not that I couldn;t nymph with a standard tapered leader, its definately possible, but I prefer the furled leader anytime I am nymphing.

Once you try the Clearstream furled leaders (I swear I am not affiliated with them in any way) you will see how delicate presentations can be. Their furled leaders are lighter and have less surface tension in my opinion. You can always make your own too, lots of videos of how to.

But I will always defend furled leaders, they get a lot of criticism and in the end it is personal choice. But they catch fish for sure and are really versatile.

 

[whheff]

I ordered a Clearstream furled leader and it should be here this week. Thanks for all your input on how to use a furled.

 

[Swattie87]

They’re all I use. Period. There’s pros and cons to everything leader wise, but the thing that turned me off the most at first with FFing was cutting back and rebuilding traditional tapered leaders. Or building them yourself. Furled leaders solve this.

Just attach your tippet of choice to the end. Ok, if I’m fishing 5x (or 6x, lightest I carry), yeah I step down the tippet section one time. Say 3x to 5x, or 4x to 6x. The furled section will literally last years.

Yeah, there’s drawbacks and situations where other leader systems are more effective, but furled leaders are great jacks of all trades, and for me, the above pros outweigh the marginal loss in effectiveness in some situations.

 

[Dr.J 1952]

I’ve been using furled leader butts for over thirty years. I usually use a six foot long one in correspondence to what line I’m using. I use them on all my rods from 3 wt. to 6wt. I use one when steelhead fishing. I tried a nine footer once but it was a little unwieldy to use. I originally got mine from Orvis but lately been getting them from Feathercraft in St. Louis. They have metal rings to attach the tippet. I do get knots in them from time to time but they usually hold up pretty well. I don’t grease mine. I fish multiple flies when nymphing and don’t have any casting issues.

 

[AFISHN]

They’re all I use. Period. There’s pros and cons to everything leader wise, but the thing that turned me off the most at first with FFing was cutting back and rebuilding traditional tapered leaders. Or building them yourself. Furled leaders solve this.

Just attach your tippet of choice to the end. Ok, if I’m fishing 5x (or 6x, lightest I carry), yeah I step down the tippet section one time. Say 3x to 5x, or 4x to 6x. The furled section will literally last years.

Yeah, there’s drawbacks and situations where other leader systems are more effective, but furled leaders are great jacks of all trades, and for me, the above pros outweigh the marginal loss in effectiveness in some situations.

When you step down say from 5x to

 

[AFISHN]

When you step down say from 3x to 5x what length of each do you use? First time using furled leaders.Thx Tom

 

[Swattie87]

Depends on where and what I’m fishing for, and how long the furled section is (the ones I use are about 5-6ft), but for standard dry fly fishing I’d say maybe start out with about 2 ft of each when tapering down to 5x. If nymphing, go a little longer.

When Brookie fishing I don’t really ever taper down the tippet. Just a single 2 foot-ish piece, sometimes less even, of whatever my desired tippet is. Usually 4x for Brookies. Same thing for streamers - A single piece of heavier tippet, 2x or 3x, maybe about 18” or 2 feet is all I do.

 

[troutbert]

You can have a base leader of single strand mono with a tippet ring at the end. Then just add tippet to that tippet ring, same as discussed above with furled leaders.

What is the advantage of furled leaders over this? Are they supposed to turn over better than a base leader of single strand mono?

 

[Swattie87]

You can have a base leader of single strand mono with a tippet ring at the end. Then just add tippet to that tippet ring, same as discussed above with furled leaders.

What is the advantage of furled leaders over this? Are they supposed to turn over better than a base leader of single strand mono?

They’re (furled leaders) more supple and I find them easier to turn over and lay the leader and tippet out nicely, but YMMV.

There’s advantages and disadvantages. They’re probably not as good as a single mono tapered leader for getting down and nymphing. But I’ve learned to like them. Not a huge fan of tippet rings and in a furled set up you don’t need them, though yes, the concept is the same. I couldn’t stand cutting back and re-tying sections of a mono tapered leader, which is what led me to search for a different solution.

 

[wgmiller]

Not a huge fan of tippet rings and in a furled set up you don’t need them, though yes, the concept is the same.

All of my furled leaders make use of a tippet ring. For your setups, are you just tying tippet to the furled leader? I only use them for dry fly and other non-nymphing fishing. They really do lay out a dry fly nicely!

 

[Swattie87]

All of my furled leaders make use of a tippet ring. For your setups, are you just tying tippet to the furled leader? I only use them for dry fly and other non-nymphing fishing. They really do lay out a dry fly nicely!

I tie a tiny loop in the end where the tippet goes. Then tie a loop in the butt end of the tippet and loop to loop.