made a leader today , now i'm still using shortsh leaders till i get more experienced so made myself a 7 foot leader ( minus tippit )..

i had a bit of trouble getting the exact diameters needed but went with what i thought i would get away with for now.

butt = 4 foot of 20lb ( 0.40 ) copolymer

mid = 3 foot of 10lb (0.30 ) terminated in a surgeons knot

tippit 2 foot of 4.4lb ( 0.20) mono..

i'm using #5 line and thought this seemed ok



i joined the lines with a 2 turn water knot .

billy

how it turns over will tell you, adjust to suit, its a learning curve that teaches you way more than just getting that one right,

i'd be going a bit longer, 12' min.

i know how it turns over will tell me what i'm asking , with that stepdown in diameters should it be ok ? if this one sounds right then i obviously have the basic idea of what they are supposed to be doing..

can't get out to try as yet as it's blowing a gale for the last couple of days

doesn't need to be longer its a #5 line on a 7 foot #5 rod for working margins and close in 12' or longer would be all leader , id be trying to cast a couple of foot of main..

60/20/20 is the normal rule with the last 20 for the tippet.
A couple of comments. Firstly there is heaps on here about leaders. First thing is that the butt might be a little too thin for a 5 weight. I would up it to .50 or even .55.
The taper might be a little slow.
Here is a very simple formula for you using what you already have plus some .50mm.
Let's assume a 9' leader as that is what you are basically targeting.
Divide the length into thirds. That is 3 feet of butt, 3 feet of taper and three feet of tippet. The divide the tapered section into three.
So:
3 feet of .50mm
1 foot of .40mm
1 foot of .30mm
1 foot of .20mm
Then add the tippet of 3 feet which should be .10/.12.
This is a leader i used for 3 years while guiding in Tasmania and it worked well, was simple to construct (it had to be) and easy to remember.

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cheers for that , i tried to get some .50 today which is what i wanted but no joy so had to take what was any good to me .

billy

Both diameter and stiffness is important and not just diameter. The 60/20/20 formula is butt/trasition/taper. The formula results in a leader that tends to lay out straight. This may be great for still water but not so good for rivers where you want a tippet that lays in curves for a longer drag free drift.

For river fishing consider a 60/10/30 formula as in this article:

Harvey

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I tend to play around with leaders alot, but a standard 'well this will do' leader I quite like the one in this post.

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