Hi All

I am off to Lechlade this saturday to finally try my hand at getting a big fish.

Firstly thanks to the recent thread about lechlade - v helpful!

Secondly - and apologies is this is a stupid question - can someone please explain how breaking strain on tapered leaders works?

for example - the breaking strain is set out as "6 x 2ib" and "5 x 3ib"

what does that mean? does it mean one is 2 ib and the other 3 ib or is it literally 6 x 2 - so 12ib etc?

am a bit confused and just want to make sure if I do hook a whopper the leader is the right strain.

The X system is worked out by Diameter .and has nothing to do with breaking strain.but 5x is shown on your leader spool as 3lb and 6x as 2lb breaking strain.I would seriously advise you to use a much higher breaking strain for lechlade.

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

Thanks Jim.

I will ask in the tackle shop there what they recommend but was figuring something aroun 10ib.

what do you think?

Personally I wouold not bother with a tapered leader at somewhere like lechlade I would use 6-10lb line straigth through to the fly. IMO I do not want any unneccessary knots on my leader with a double figure fish running for the horizon!

With big lures and the like I do not see much benefit with tapered leaders anyway (may just be my crappy casting though)

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Hope this helps

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

Once upon a time the X system was devised to give anglers an idea of how thick their silkworm gut was. The gut was drawn through dies. 1X indicated drawn once and so quite thick, 4X indicated drawn 4 times and so was much thinner. This method is still helpful because in truth it is better to choose leader thickness according to the size of hook you are tying to it. Vendors of monofilament for leader and tippet construction stick with the X system but to make it a bit more useful they now add in the breaking strain as well so your 6X is 2lbs breaking strain (BS) and your 5X is 3lbs BS. These breaking strains, in today's terms, are quite poor for the diameter, so you might do better to choose a different brand.

For example: Rio Powerflex 7X is 2.4lbs BS; their 6X is 3.4lbs BS; their 5X is 5lbs BS; their 3X is 8.2lbs BS and their 0X is 15lbs BS.

If you have a read here you can see how to make a leader up and if you are visiting places where the fish are large and the flies are also on big heavy hooks, you might be happier with your tippet at the 3X or 8lbs BS area, certainly nothing lighter than 5X or 5lbs BS.

Here's hoping you do well.

richard

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Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

hello no i am sure you casting is fine.

thanks all for your quick responses - that's really useful.

Will post a reply here next Sunday and let you know how it went!

hello since this trout fishery opened i have fished quite a few times and think it is such a good fishery and the staff are so helpfull. as most know there are 2 main lakes,and the big fish lake near the shop and bushyleaze. i like bushy not only for the good fishing but has many hotspots and good stalking places in the wood side. also a nice summer evening for the dry fly and for a picnic by the lodge. so if your at bushy you could get into a big brown or rainbow therefore for me a good tapered leader for the dryfly 8lb point and straight through leader minimum 8lb for wet fly. i have seen many loose realy big fish using lower strain. for the big fish lake 8 to 10lb for wet fly as holds some monster fish. dont go without some buzzers green/black red/black and hope you enjoy a great fishing day

---------- Post added at 04:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:15 PM ----------

ps lets us all know how you do be lucky

Lechlade does hold some very hard fighting fish for sure, as well as some heavy fish, but personally i wouldn't go more than 8lb. if you're snapped on 8lb line you're doing something very wrong, imo. tie some to a tree and bend into it. see just how much pressure you can exert before the line lets go.! Personally, i use Fulling Mill Flouro in 7lb and have never been broken by a lechlade fish, unless it snagged itself.!