Dear fellow small-stream flyfishermen,

I have been contemplating on tying my own leaders partly because of curiosity
and partly because I use up too many tapered leaders.
I also think that the flexibility of tying your own ones and experimenting is big advantage.

Thus, a question for the ones that tie theit own:
what material do you use, what brand, what formula for small streams (diamters and length)?
Your opinions are appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Cheeres,
Dimiter

Lots of formulas and materials etc

I use Ultima Power Match Copolymer as tippet: -

For small streams (1wt and 3wt rods) I use the following or similar: -

Four Foot 12lb
Three Foot 6lb
Three Foot 2,3 or 4lb
Hook

or I use: -

3ft furled leader
Three Foot 6lb
three foot of 2, 3 or 4lb tippet.

Try Leadercalc if you are into the ultimate leader for any situation on the below link: -

Download LeaderCalc - The most comprehensive tool for calculating classical and contemporary leaders - and designing your own formulas for knotted leaders - Global FlyFisher

With a larger rod (and line), my advice is to not go below 5lbs on a small stream as you will get broken by the fish.

I would suggest the following for a heavier rod for small stream fishing to start and vary it as you please: -

Four foot 15lb
Three foot 10lb
Three foot 5lb

__________________
Just My Tuppenceworth!!

Rather than relying on breaking strain you should focus on diameter - the X factor. Different materials differ remarkably in their stated breaking strain in relation to diameter which renders using breaking strain useless as a guide.

The link to Leadercalc is an excellent resource and with regard to material, Rio Powerflex is a good place to start.

__________________
[I]"I still don't know why I fish or why other men fish, except that we like it and it makes us think and feel."[/I] Roderick L Haig-Brown

[url]www.wildfly.net[/url]

[url]http://www.gameanglinginstructors.co.uk/[/url]

I use Maxima Chameleon. My small stream leader is made up of 3 lengths of Maxima and a 4x Greys Greylon tippet. Starting with 4 or 5ft of 12lb, then 2 or 3ft of 10lb, and 18 inches of 8lb, finished of with 2ft of tippet. Of course you can construct your own to suit.

All joined using the water knot which takes hardly no time at all to construct. Works better and is more practical than a tapered leader IMO, especially if you fish in areas with heavy vegetation.

__________________
No, its not rocket science, its rod science which is even more complicated.

Thanks for the replies so far. Extremely interesting.

In any case, I see my leader something like what for instance Jeltz proposes,
namely three lengths of mono going down (.019,.017,.015 inch) and then tippet (possibly 6X).
Don't really know yet.
Thanks for sharing and looking forward to other opinions too.

Cheers,
Dimiter

The drop between the 0.015 and the 6X tippet is too large and will result in problems.

For my light weight stream set up, I am using 0X,then 3X, then 6X tippet.

Table below summarises the 'old' rules and X rating to fly size and line rating

Dia ('') Dia mm X gauge (Hook size) LineAFTM Tippet BS (lb) Range
0.011__ 0.279 _0X ____( 2, 1/0) ____9wt______12 -9.9
0.010 __0.254 _1X ____(4, 6, 8) ____8wt______10 -8.4
0.009 __0.229 _2X___ (6, 8, 10) ____7wt_______9 -7.1
0.008 __0.203 _3X _(10, 12, 14) ____6wt_______7 -5.5
0.007__ 0.178 _4X _(12, 14, 16) ____5wt ______6 -4.4
0.006__ 0.152 _5X _(14, 16, 18) ____4wt ______4 -3.3
0.005 __0.127 _6X _(16, 18, 20) ____3wt ______3 -2.4
0.004 __0.102 _7X _(20, 22, 24) ____2wt ______2 -1.5
0.003 __0.076 _8X _____(22,24) ____1wt____1.75 -1.5
0.002 __0.051 _9X _____(26,28) ____0wt_____1.3 -1
0.001__ 0.025 10X_____ (30,32) 00,000wt___0.75 -0.5

__________________
Just My Tuppenceworth!!

Definitely tie your own. Here's how I do it...

richard

__________________
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..."

when i learned to fish, about 18 years ago, i fished with one long piece of monofilament....usually 10-12 ft long with one dropper tied with a double surgeons knot....that is the same format i still use today.

I can say that i can count the number of times i've been broken on one finger....and that was because of a wind knot in my line.

I use drennan double strength monofilament, or drennan fluorocarbon.

In my experience, fish arent spooked too much by leaders unless there is a massive amount of fishing pressure. Its good to match the leader to the size of the fish you are targeting. If small fish in streams, then just use a light fluorocarbon, nearly invisible and strong enough to allow a decent fight, but at the same time not just drag the fish to hand.

i have never once tied up a leader with multiple thicknesses of tippet material.
I have used the prespun leaders you refer to with gradient thickness from butt to tip. I still prefer my single thickness method.

hope this helps.

I find this thread rather strange TBH, in all the years I have been fishing, I have seen vast changes in both tackle and it's accessories.
I went through the one piece of tippet to the fly era, then realised I could tie up my own using various bits and pieces, which helped, to a point, then along came braided leaders, and with them poly leaders, all an improvement in some ways, IMO, then we have todays technology producing a knottless tapered leader, again knottless, nothing to get caught on, nothing to break and let you down with that personal best fish, fish of a lifetime.
You know the feeling, we have all been there, you play it for a minute if your lucky, then twang, and it's gone, your heart drops, and you reel in to find a pigtail where once there was a piece of mono or whatever attached.
Yep that's the feeling I had a few times, and never again, knotted leaders are again, IMO as useful as a chocolate tea pot.
It's just more to go wrong at that critical moment, as for turnover, I wouldn't swap you for a premade knotless tapered leader any day.
I, as you know prefer furled leaders, I use them all the time, and I know a lot that do as well, not for everyone I admit, but if you can cast them, then there is nothing finer again, IMO.
I watch the lads on the clyde casting 20 ft of tapered leader, like it's the easiest thing in the world, and to them it is, it's an art to see them.
Personally I struggle with much more than 12 ft, but in my neck of the woods, that's all I need, but knotted leaders, forget it, I wouldn't go back to them for anything.
S.

__________________
"A glint of sun has warmed the air,The flies will soon hatch out, To lure and tempt from their deep lair, The bonnie speckled trout." SKB tackle supporter. I love Furled Leaders.

Just to carry on with the above: "Kiss," or Keep it simple ...

Easy answer is the old 60-20-20 of butt to mid section to tippet. Used to tie custom made leaders that had as many as 10-12 drop downs and the end result was ... how cared? Darned things would drop like a feather on water .. but the end game was did it make .02 cents worth of difference?

Probably "knot."

__________________
"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." -- Anonymous