I,ve heard all sizes from 1ft while fishing for salmon and up to 16 ft for trout. What the purpose of a long/short leader ? Id normaly fish aprox 10ft from tip fly to my line

There was quite a good thread about this very subject a little while ago.

what leader length do you use? Why?

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..."

IMO, you want to fish with the shortest leader that will work for the fishing situation. This can only be arrived at through experience and experimentation, there is no universal rule that says for X situation use Y leader length. It's never that simple.

Also, there's been a fad in recent years toward using excessively long leaders for no real reason other than that's what some magazine said to use. Using too much leader is as bad as using too little because it produces problems like tangles, poor turnover, makes accurate casting more difficult, and so on.

Grouse

can you tell me what your leader length would normaly. say a breezy day but well fishable at say the clyde or the tweed. and when would a longer leader be better than short ? and vice versa Thank you Alan

It all depends on water conditions i have caught Salmon on a sinking line using a 3 or 4 feet leader,
When i fish a Loch i roughly make the leader the same length as the rod,
I'm not saying this is the best method, but over the years its always worked for me,
Theres a lot to be said in Fishing, keeping things simple,
I agree there was a trend for using really long leaders, but i never fell in to it,
And my catch rate never suffered.
CJ.

That would be a fair assesment of myself aprox 10ft, regardles of wind weather river or loch. but always looking to learn ? cheers Alan

I think the Grouse has it right. experience with your rod action, line weight, fly types, rod length and casting ability is key.

I read an article the oher day that said an 18ft leader for chalk streams so you can stand well back. sounded the original definition for the most frustrating days fishing ever.

personally i go for the shortest length and simplest make up that will turn afly over with some finnesse. my 6' 6" #2 has 9ft max sometimes 7ft.

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Carl

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My normal length of leader in a breeze would be between 9 to 12ft {strong breeze 9ft,gentle breeze 12ft} if there was no breeze 14ft this is only what i use and not set in stone.

im 10'-12' usually to take the energy out of the tip, but i know seriously good casters that could turn over anything and choose only 9'

was once told when bank fishing to fan cast out only the leader length more on each sucessive cast, so the fish never see the line only the fly, simplest and best tip i ever had.

I like shorter leaders. 9-10ft should see me good for a breeze or evening session on the river with dries. 11-12ft for flat calm, or a dry dropper situation. a weighted dropper helps turnover greatly IMO.