hello guys, I'm very new to the sport, had 1st casting lesson this week. 1 thing I'm not sure of is to do with leaders, I'm guessing at my stage it would be best for me to use a complete knotless tapered leader on the end of my fly line, but I'm a little confused because some people seem to be attaching tippet to the end of the tapered leader, is that correct? or should I just ignore that whilst I get started? any guidance would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.
Steve

Hi Steve,
There are a couple of important things that you need to keep in mind.
1. You need to make sure that you have a reasonably thick butt on the leader that matches the thickness of your line. If your set up is less than a 5 weight, then go for a Frog Hair leader as the but thickness is about right for most lines. If heavier then look at the Rio leaders. Both of these have correct butt diameter which is crucial to allowing line speed (some time called kynetic energy) to transfer to the fly.
2. You need to think about what length you want. If it is about 9' then it is pretty easy to get a leader that length which will have the right tickness at the tip. If you are fishing lakes with flies bigger than say a 12, then you will need a reasonably thick tippet. I would say a 4 or 5x would do the job. If you are fishing rives with smaller flies (or up to size 12), then go for a 6x. If it is longer then you need to consider what impact the above may have of your construction. For example. If you fishing lakes and want a longer leader, then you will need to select a tippet size that will allow you to add extra length. For example, if you want a 4 or 5x tip but a longer leader, then select a leader that is a 3x and then add either 4x or 5x to it. That way you will get a reasonably good turn over. If you want to stay at the shorter end, then select a leader with the right tippet size, come back 2 feet from the tip and cut it. Then re tie it back on. That will tell you how much tippet you have and when to replace it.

__________________
"A traditional wet fly addict"

Uk representative and Instructor for Fly Fishing Masters - www.flyfishingmasters.co.uk

Distributor for Terenzio Silk and Artificial Silk Fly Lines - Pay distributor retail price.

Go with a short length of tippet you will be changing flies fairly often and it saves you from cutting back into your leader as you do so.

Go with a leader about the length or just shorter than your rod length, and add a couple of feet of tippet to the end using a water knot.

__________________
Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine,
No blood of living insect stain my line;
Let me, less cruel, cast feather'd hook,
With pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook,
Silent along the mazy margin stray,
And with fur-wrought fly delude the prey

This season and last I've been using one of the tiny metal leader rings on the end of my leader, to which I attach the short length of tippet. When the tippet gets too short to use you simply remove it and tie another on to the leader ring. Since you don't re-tie the knot on the end of the leader it doesn't get any shorter!
A bonus is that if I decide to use a dropper it is easy to attach a short length of tippet to the leader ring and again - no knots to the main leader!
Keith

Thanks Guys, all making sense so far, should have thought about trimming off tippet when changing flys.

The rings sound interesting, soemthing to think about there.

thanks guys
Steve

Started using these as well they are great but fiddly, dunno if its been mentioned before but if you are as fat handed as I am, gripping the ring in your forceps makes it a damn sight easier to tie the knots. Am sre you all already know this but just in case...

if you keep the lil' rings on a safety pin it's a lot easier just remember to tie the top one first

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an interesting mix of apathy and panic

Clive M

I use a s/steel ring on the end of my tapered leader and then a length of tippet to suit where I am fishing but a word of warning do not use lureflash rings they cut the tippet. riverge rings are made from a round section and are ok