Hi everyone ,
Ive been thinking of giving tapered leaders a try this season but before i go and buy some could anyone with previous knowledge help me out with some questions ?
* Do they float / sink or do you have to put floatants or sinkants on them ?
* Whats the best ones to use ?
* Ive seen previous threads on a knot which uses a pin to create a hole in your fly line (braided ) then splicing on the tippet, but do you use the same knot for intermediate and sinking methods or do you revert back to using braided loops ?

I was looking at using around a 10ft tapered leader and then a 10ft tippet for most of my fishing methods ie. dry fly , nymphing , washing line method .

Iam currently using an enigma emg 10ft #7 with a cortland 555wf7f line , 555wf7i line .
Any advice you guys could give me would be great because my head is spinning on this one . Ive been racking my nut for days .

thanks .

Just buy some spools of monofilament and tie your own to suit the requirements on the day. You get an infinite variety of tapers and are never stuck if you get badly tangled or snagged so you have to break off.

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..."

Hi

Here is a useful reply Richard gave on tapered leaders making your own.


My set up for dry fly fishing starts with this:

About 2 to 3 feet of 22lbs monofilament (I use Bayer Perlon as it is what I have to hand right now) needle knotted to the end of the fly line, this is the sacrificial butt and being thick and stiff it starts the leader turning over really well. To this sacrificial butt I four-turn water knot 6 to 9 feet of 15lbs BS Maxima. To this mid-section I four-turn water knot 3 to 9 feet of 5lbs Super Shinobi. This is the tippet for my usual fishing and to this I grinner knot the fly.

There are variations: if using big flies like large sedges, mayflies or daddy-long-legs the tippet will be 8lbs BS Super Shinobi; if using tiny flies to the 15lbs BS Maxima I will tie 1 to 2 feet of the 8lbs Super Shinobi and to that will tie a tippet of 3 to 6 feet of 3lbs BS Super Shinobi and then attach the small fly to that with a grinner knot.

The thicknesses I decided years ago by eye and experiment. It is just coincidence that the thicknesses suitable turn out to be the above breaking strains for the above materials. The leader is usually, but not always made to the shorter lengths described in very high winds and get longer as the winds allow or as various adjustments have to be made to overcome drag.

richard



Pete

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Thanks to all who donated to 999 comp 2011
New rainbow PB 22 lbs Bangour 23/10/2011

Hi All,


What do the terms 6x,4x etc mean in relation to the leader?

I usually make my own but occasionally have bought some .

Pete

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Thanks to all who donated to 999 comp 2011
New rainbow PB 22 lbs Bangour 23/10/2011

The X-rating (ooh-err!) refers to the old way they used to measure the silk used for leader.

6X being fine...0X being thick...they go higher too.

Most leader material nowadays has this measurement on it together with the breaking strain in lbs.

But on the whole, the higher the number the finer the line.

Hope this helps.

Rob

a bit like wire and needle gauges higher the number the finer the gauge.

Thanks.

Pete

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Thanks to all who donated to 999 comp 2011
New rainbow PB 22 lbs Bangour 23/10/2011

the silk used for leader.
No it was Gut we used to use ,even tho 60 is beckoning I only used it for awee while ,nylon is so much better

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Andy Wren
Winter grayling taking a year off !
Claret not just a great dubbing colour!

Thanks for the advice guys . Its cleared alot of things up and also given me some extra ideas .

I stand corrected.

Thanks ACW.

The "x" system has merits in that it does away with problems in trying to match breaking strains and different types of material. You know by looking at the x -rating whether one material is thinner or thicker than another.

Also a good rule of thumb is to match any particular size of fly to a tippet diameter by using the x - rating system. Roughly to divide the fly size by 3 to get the correct tippet diameter, so for example size 12 flies are best fished on a 4x tippet.

If you are worried about the breaking strain just check the spool for the tippet before proceeding.

The Amercians use the system extensively and it makes a lot of sense.

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“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary