nymphing leaders

[volcanomil]

I was thinking of trying to construct my own nymphing leaders. I would like to incorporate a strand of yellow mono line into one of the sections of the leader to use as the strike indicator - instead of using an add on indicator?

I saw this yellow mono section used one time and was impressed on how good it worked, so I would like to give it a try and see if I can drop the add on indicator from my regualr practice.

I guess, if any one cares to share - a formula for a trout nymphing leader, typical for most PA streams and suggestions as to where, how, and size to attach the yellow mono section that will be used as an indicator.

thanks...

does anybody else use this method? I seem to be nymphing more and more and getting a whole lot better at it in the process - any helpful hints would be great...

 

[Padraic]

I've always liked to use the leaders from an excel spreadsheet called Leadercalc

As for using a piece of colored mono... I've tried it, but find that it's less effective than having two dots of color. With two dots, any twitch in the leader is much more apparent. I just put a little strike putty on two of the knots in my leader. Anytime the bottom "dot" twitches upstream in relation to the top one, set the hook. It may not be a trout, but it could be!

 

[afishinado]

I agree with Pad about the “dots”. I’ve tried a solid bright section of mono for my leader, and strike detection is tough without some contrast. Here is something that does work, tie in a bright orange or chartreuse section of backing in your leader. Every 6” or so mark it with a black marker for contrast.

For nymphing and dries I use mono furled leaders that I make, and nail knot bright colored tying thread or mono on each section. It works well. You can also roll on a small amount of strike putty (orange is the most visible for me) on your leader knots for strike detection. The good thing about the strike putty is that it is removable. Good luck.

 

[MKern]

I use the colored mono section at about 6 feet from the fly and and yelloow backing at about 2-3 feet. I use backing because hilles didn't have yellow mono in 2X, or anything close for that matter. Plus the backing stands out much better that the leader material. Although the indicator section works best when placed part in the water/part out. I use two section for different depths.

And no I do not have problems casting, especially considering that to use this method most effectively all cast would be upstream within 25 feet. Now I do have problems when fishing dries. But that could also do with the fact that my leader is only about 7-8 feet long. In this case you have two options: bring a dry fly leader with you as a "back up" (this is what I do), or tie the backing (if you chose to use backing) either together with a piece of leader, or along side of the original leader, but make it easily removeable. I have heard that tieing inch long pieces of florecent backing to your leader is effective as well. they easily come off and are easier to tie on with a couple overhand knots.

I like this leader set up and found that I increased my number of hook ups 4 fold. The problems I see with it are my shoulder gets extremly tired which makes my lazy and then the hook-up percentage decreases. However, if you stay focused and really concentrate on proper presentation, you'll be surprized at the number of fish you'll catch in areas where you never could before. You should also see, if done correctly, the difference between what you use to think was an awesome dead drift and what truely is (or atleast I did, and still do every time I fish).

 

[wetnet]

I use a section of each orange, yellow and then green fly line backing tied together using bloodknots. I add black sharpie marks to segment within each of the colors. The length depends on how deep I'm fishing.