I fish a small stream, the River Nidd in N Yorks and thought I'd add my input to this excellent thread. I've not yet seen any comment on tackle set up, a month or so ago I was fortunate to have a day on the river with Stuart Croft and learnt a lot. Fishing with an 8' #3 wt rod I now always have a 3'6" furled leader at the end of the line and it vastly helps energy transfer and turnover. 3' of Bayer Perlon 3.2 lb (0.18") and then 3' of 2.1 lb (0.14") is all I ever use and leader control is so much easier.

As for flies, I rarely go below an 18, usually a 16. I have stuck to three dry flies this year. The first photo shows my modification of a Griffiths Gnat by adding a red tag



This has been my most successful fly this year and has never failed to catch. It was tied by Paul Procter and the details are in FF&FT



This little pink job is simply a slip of foam, coloured with a waterproof pen and a CDC hackle. A friend of mine was shown it in Italy and we have both had success with it in Yorkshire rivers.




I've put this photo in to show an excellent pair of scissors that you might be able to get for free! These are used by ophthalmic surgeons - and thrown away after one use! If you have any medical contacts.....




Hope this is all of interest.

Regards

Nidd

Great post Nidd. I used to be a member of Nidderdale AC but I cancelled last year. Just too far away in Newbury to make it worthwhile.

This furled leader stuff is starting to intrigue me.....I must give it a go, time to drop Mr Trout a note I think

Regards
Peter

__________________
Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans
John Lennon

http://walksandfishes.blogspot.com/

Peter ,
i think you have just made a wise choice,I use them for all my river trouting and have done for a decade , mine are all Rod dibbles ,but i hear very good reports on the Mr Trout ones !

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

They seem to get good reviews from everybody Andy. I have PM-ed Mr T!

Regards
Peter

PS Having a go on your bit of chalkstream tomorrow

__________________
Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans
John Lennon

http://walksandfishes.blogspot.com/

It's worth commenting that there are furled leaders and...furled leaders. I've tried 3-4 different makes and it seems to come down to the material used. My 3'6" Dibble leader was recommended by Stuart Croft and its far superior than the others I tried. Suggest you need to try a few varieties to find what you like.

Regards
Nidd

Yes Nidd Stuart uses the Rod Dibble.
Mr trout also on this forum does a very similar furled leader constructed of the same material, Which many people also praise. I too tried many makes from here, europe and the states before settling on The Dibble. It's a different animal from the rest ( but i still havent had chance with a Mr trout yet. My bet is that we would both like that too!)

Did you try using stuarts set up with the silk line? He uses a pheonix 2 wt that he's had in use for years, it is fantastic to cast with.
One of our members tried it, and on stuarts advice bought the two wieght Level line at about half the price,
After trying that out ( without knowing it was level till afterwards) I must say for small stream work i cant see the point of tapered fly lines. The level line with a furled leader on the end turned over beautifully.

Dont do it Peter I have been tempted to the dark side by Mr Ts charms its a slippery slope....

Furled leaders?? Well, you will like the leaders made by MR, T; and just like Mr, K, with his cake! Mr, T - makes exceedingly good furled leaders!!

Nidd, if you search the small streams section; you'll find many threads and posts on tackle set up for small streams. Rod's Reels lines tippet flies etc etc! Enough reading to last you right through the winter.

i have both mr dibbles leaders and mr t's and i honestly prefer mrt's they IMHO have a better taper than mrD's and find turn over superior with mrt's

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WHEN YOU LEAVE THE RIVER, TAKE NOTHING, AND LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINT'S!!!

THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN ,BUT THA CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH !!

I'm gonna have to contact Mr Trout about these 'magic' leaders...