i am thinking about the presentation of my fly.
so far i have constructed my leaders from reducing 3 or sometimes 4 breaking strains of mono or fluro. stepped down 10, 8, 6, 4 lb in fairly equal lenghts.
is there any advantages to tapered leaders ? would you have less control of where to put your droppers on tapered leaders? i was using the tag end for my droppers but have now found i get less tangles using a dropper loop and i can put it where i like. what are you all using ?
charlie

I much prefer my own self constructed leaders. It enables me to make different tapers for different fishing situations, and even to better suite the actions of different rods. Factory leaders are too generic for me, but I do carry a few spare, just in case. I have a diffent leader construction for my Sage ZXL, for instance, to the construction I use for my Sage Z-Axis. Both ere 3 wt's and both are used on the same streams. I also use a different construction for nymphing than for dry fly fishing. I also have a different leader for fishing into the wind, and fishing with the wind. I like long leaders that can cast without a fly line, and for this, there are very few factory leaders available that have suited me.

I built leaders when I can be bothered, I can customise them and also the knots stop it slidding down you rod rings if you make a long one

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How about Louis Noble's recipe for a tapered laeder which assists turnover greatly:
12" 7lb; 12"10lb; 24"15lb; 12" 10lb; 12"7lb; 18"4Lb; 24 -30" 3Lb.
This in effect is a double tapered leader. For stillwater, the recipe is 12" 10lb; 12" 24lb; 12" 15lb; 12" 10lb and tippet to suit.
Don't know if this is any help, but I can vouch for the improved turnover!

sounds interesting i dont understand why the taper up? i would expect more of an hinging effect.
i had not considered a double tapered leader, would those lenghts be the same if i wanted a 15 foot tippet ? i usually fish 6lb tippet on midland reservoirs.

I've used both the bought tapered leader or make my own cast (leader) a good rule of thumb would be to use at least three pieces of mono to construct your CAST, even when making a short Cast for stream fishing! A 7ft cast (leader) would consist of 10LB x 3ft & 6LB x2ft & tippet of 3LB x2ft, perfect for stream dry fly fishing. For longer casts (Leaders) just extend the lengths of mono or use a four piece cast construction 10 - 8 - 5 - 3. On the River Usk, some of my casts (leaders) will be up to 18ft, in length; but the average would be 12 - to - 15ft, I also find the bought leaders coil a wee bit even after straitening them, my own constructed casts kink or coil far less.

Reactionary wording...


The American terms are actually superior to our British terms regarding the connection between our flies and our fly lines in that they avoid ambiguity and misunderstanding. This is why even I have adopted them.

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..."

Is that american a-b-c-d system a ratio or numbers of feet or inches

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why not make your own furled leaders its so easy then attach your flys to the leader of your choice i make mine from 15lb line and 8lb and 4lb just tie a lenght of leader of your chosen breaking strain to the end and away you go

As long as you are stepping down in line size/diam then you can also have the same length segments. The lengths dependent on what length leader you want.
ie a 9 foot leader can be 2 foot each of 10-8-6 + 3ft of tippet ( 4lb ).
i always prefer my final tippet to be the longest knotless section of the whole cast/leader.