Hi

Whats the best way to make a leader? I started by measuring out 12 or 13 feet of mono, then tied on with a 3 turn water knot, at about halfway an 8" length. Since then ive seen you can achieve the same result by tying 2, 6 foot lengths together, leaving a 6 to 8 inch tail as the dropper.

i make my own furled singapore leaders, dead easy to make, turn over beautifully and cheap, you can knock one up in a few minutes, there are no knots (so no weak spots)

http://www.ukswff.co.uk/Tips_Singapore.shtml

by varying the diameter of the line you make them out of and the length of the but to the mid section you can make a leader to suit every situation..

everyone i have shown how to make these has changed to them

I make mine by joining pieces, seems a simpler way to incorparate a dropper. I tend to go about 7 -8' to the dropper, and then 5-6' to the point. I use a three turn water knot and use the downward (point fly direction) tag as a dropper. One thing to rememeber is that doing it this way will remove about a foot or so from the original combined lengths of your two sections, so allow for that.

Could not agree more furled leaders are simply the best as ickypimp says no weak spots turnover better than Tesco's and you can make or get them to match your set up.

__________________
Tighter Lines ><((((((º>~~~~~
Itchy

Just coming dear...

I will give it a bash later. Is an overhand knot a single turn waterknot?

Whitegoatie,your original method of tying in a dropper length is my prefered method as it gives you an unbroken length of leader. I tie this with a 3 turn water knot. cutting the waste tag nearest the flyline I would normally tie this 5' from the point fly on a 10 or longer leader
If i had a wind knot at the dropper I would cut the leader on both sides of the dropper and retie using a 3 turn water knot.

http://www.animatedknots.com/surgeonsjoin/index.php?

Jim

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

good tip on the wind knots.. Good web site as well. Thanks

This is dead easy and all you need do if you want a shorter leader is use lengths nearer to one yard than to the two yard option thus ending up with a leader of around three yards that will turnover perfectly and make your casting so accurate you will be amazed


Quote:
Originally Posted by richardw
Here's a reply to a thread last year on the same subject. It is how I make mine. Instead of Super Shinobi line you need to choose a different Co-Polymer line for the tippets now as Daiwa have dropped Super Shinobi. At present I am using up Super Shinobi bought off eBay and Hardy's Co-Polymer that is easily found in most fly fishing shops.

Spool of cheap 22lbs BS monofilament like Bayer Perlon
Spool of 15lbs Maxima monofilament
Spool of 8lbs co-polymer
Spool of 5lbs co-polymer
Spool of 3lbs co-polymer

A needle
A lighter
A pair of scissors

Knowledge of tying: Needle Knot; Four Turn Water Knot; Grinner Knot

Tie one to two yards of the 22lbs monofilament to the fly line using the needle knot. This is the sacrificial butt of the leader.

Tie to the butt another one or two yards of the 15lbs Maxima using a four turn water knot.

Tie to this another one or two yards of 8lbs or 5lbs Daiwa Super Shinobi co-polymer using another four turn water knot. This is the tippet.

If you need to make a finer tippet, use one yard of the 8lbs Super Shinobi and then tie a tippet of whatever length you want of 3lbs Super Shinobi to the 8lbs using another four turn water knot.

Decide on tippet thickness based on the fly size: 8lbs for Drakes, Spent Gnats, Daddy-Long-Legs and big Sedges; 5lbs for flies from 12 down to 16; and 3lbs for 18 down to 26. You want the thickest line that doesn't interfere with the fly behaving as if attached to nothing. Too thick and it will push the fly about, too thin and it will break off at the knot through fatigue.

This method means you always have perfect leaders. It is a few moments work to make a new one. You can fine tune them to suit the conditions on the day. If you can get used to managing longish leaders, over time, you will catch more fish.



Hope that helps you along.

richard

__________________
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..."

Just made a singapore furled leader, was not hard, looks good.

Thanks for the tips.

Jim,

We were talking about this tonight. Say one dropper ends up getting a bit short. Would you reccommend extending the original dropper close to the leader by tying on a new length with a water knot?

OR

Would you cut the leader each side of the dropper and tie in a new one then rejoin the leader.

We were up at the Carron dam tonight, caught three Broonies and missed as many. My boat partner had the biggest catch - he now has a sedge fly earing as well

Don.

__________________
Tight Lines. :)