As a newcomer to the sport, I've been wondering about tying my own leaders.
I'll be using a 9ft 5/6 wt rod and 5wt weight forward or double taper lines, targeting coarse fish on rivers.
From the info I've seen on the forum, as a novice I would be advised to use a leader of 9ft or so.
So would a 'three piece' leader, made up of 3ft of 5lb mono, 3ft of 4lb mono, and 3ft of 3lb mono give me a correctly tapered and balanced leader?
And which knot would be best to join the three sections?
Or is tying my own leaders a bit over ambitious for a novice, and would I be best to stick to pre-tied items for the time being?

Thanks in advance for any advice or tips.

Castaline

You can do this - I have - but most would use a heavier butt - 5 feet of 12 lb, 2 feett of 6 lb and 2 feet of 4 lb - lots of different recipies - the two common knots are the Surgeons (aka water knot) and the Blood.

http://www.animatedknots.com/indexfishing.php

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Plusnet/Madasafish > Liars to the internet community

Here's a cut-and-paste from one of my earlier posts on this very subject.

All you need are:

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 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 co-polymer and then tie a tippet of whatever length you want of 3lbs co-polymer 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.

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..."

Castaline,

Drop me a PM if you want more info about a decent selection of mono for
making your own hand tied leaders, I'm in the process of having a big clear-out
and I have Maxima Clear from 20lb - 3lb, The same for Rio Powerflex Mono as
well as tippet material around the 2lb - 3lb mark from Dai-Riki, Rio and Bayer
Perlon (my personal favorite)... I also have an Orvis Blood Knot Tyer, see link
for Dennison Blood Knot Tool which is identical to the Orvis one:

http://www.murraysflyshop.com/gadgets_knottools.html

All mono has been stored out out daylight in darkness, there is enough here
to make 100s and 100s of leaders - there is also some Fluorocarbon tippet
material which to be honest I could never get away with... ohh, and some
spools of yellow Stren for tying up high visibility vari-leaders.

Regards
- wildtrout