The Leader question

I know some of you are die hards who only use tapered knotless leaders or the special leaders tied up… personally I like to use a straight up 12lb flouro, or mono, leader to the fly and give 'em hell… what I was thinking, and this is where ya’ll come in, what about using braided line as a leader? It’s super strong and at first I was getting a lot of break offs because of grass and such on pre-tied and tapered leaders… do you think the braided line will let the fly turn over? If it would that would be a perfect leader for the grass and I like the idea of buying 150yards of leader for $13 rather than a 9 footer at $6… Just a thought… gonna give it a try at the home pond tonight and see how it works I was just wondering if anyone else had thought of it or tried…

“Paddle faster boys… I hear banjo music!”
Charleston Director- SCKayakfishing.com
Tarpon 160os

i doubt it will turn over correctly or at all, but ive been wrong b4

Dude when we fishin??? I did leave a voicemail for ya…

“Paddle faster boys… I hear banjo music!”
Charleston Director- SCKayakfishing.com
Tarpon 160os

Get someone to take the braided line and make you a furled leader, about 5 ft long. Then tie a 3ft tippet from braid. That may work and it would be strong for sure. There is a guy that makes furled leaders on ebay that I use for an 8wt thats about a 25lbs test. Good luck!

Ken
straight braid is too limp. It collapses instead of turning over.
what are your fishin plans tomorrow. talking about some harbor time w/ Jordan. love to have you come along

There is nothing - absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Kenneth Grahame

yo ken, got it dude, i was bartending last night and meant to holla back…it just got to late. i’ll call ya today

Cool Scotty… I got a video troop who needs to shoot a story and wants to do it on fishin… What are ya doin Tuesday???

TB… Going to try and take my daughter fishin so I am not sure I wanna run her inthe harbor yet… She has only been in the yak once for real and I had to tow her back a ways… Looking at probably paradise or coaphee although the tides suck wind this weekend so I may do a little dock fishin on the wando…

“Paddle faster boys… I hear banjo music!”
Charleston Director- SCKayakfishing.com
Tarpon 160os

no sweat
paradise is pretty sweet on both sides of high tide. Sucks it’s in the middle of the day.

There is nothing - absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Kenneth Grahame

nikon: simple leader formula.

  1. buy high quality 9ft 20lb mono leader
  2. cut off thinnest 3ft.
  3. tie small loop knot in end of your now 6ft tapered but section
  4. put small loop into 4ft piece of fluoro leader and attach loops to make a full leader
  5. when tippet section becomes worn (every day), replace with new loop to loop tippet

you can use a butt section for quite some time, and always have a fresh tippet. in winter add, with blood knot, a few feet of 12lb flouro for ultra stealth… works for me, w/o numerous knots to get hung in grass, or expense of new leader daily…
6. not my idea, got from a knowledeable Left handed angler…

Newman
www.gtownkingfisher.com

Lefty’s advice tehnds to be pretty darn good in my experience.

There is nothing - absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Kenneth Grahame

Capt Newman thats about what I use excaept I put on about a 4" 20lb leader/loop then I use the longer 8-9ft 12lb mono or flouro and tie dorectly to that… Nabbed my first 2 OTF that way and it seems to be working so far… Thanks for the tips though I may set up a second rod that way and see what I like better…

“Paddle faster boys… I hear banjo music!”
Charleston Director- SCKayakfishing.com
Tarpon 160os

I TRIED SOME 200 LB TEST BRAID AS THE first section(4 ft or so) of my leader followed by 20 lb flouro. it did a good job at first while it had the coating. however once it got soft it was hinging i think is the word. kind of folding up and not working at all. then it got all frayed up and i just cut it off. i got my red with with only a 3 ft piece of 20 flouro right after i cut it out.
i had originally tried it as a way to put a streamlined loop on the end of the fly line to loop in the leader which i will probably do again. that worked well so i extended it to 4 ft but that did not work. i think it would help the action of wobblers and such to have a braid tippet ; only if visibility isnt a factor. i think the tarpon guys do that with plugs because the heavy mono kills the action of the plug.
i think it makes a good bit of difference to leader design if you fish from a platform vs walking vs yakking, but i have not dialed all that in yet.

Super simple solution to your problem:
http://www.feather-craft.com/wecs.php?store=feacraft&action=category_view&target=200

However, I have always enjoyed building my tappered leaders-they turn the fly over well and if it breaks, it is my own ■■■■ fault. Once you do a couple they are really quite simple and you can tie a bunch up and place them in zip lock bags with a small card outlining the specs. I just tie a bunch while sitting in front of the TV and always have plenty to spare. Also, using the tappered leaders opposed to straight line will help prepare you for some more skittish fish, ie bones, tarpon, permit, etc. Even using tappered leaders exclusivly in Charleston for a while, their was still a STEEP learning curve learning to throw 16 to 20 foot tappered leaders in Florida a few weeks ago.

“Fishing is alot like sex…when its good,it’s really good, and when its bad, its still pretty good.”

I usually do a butt section of 20lb then blood knot it to 12lb.

<’’)))))><

16 - 20 foot leader??? [:0][:0] Holy crap… it took me alomst 6 months to get a 10-12 foot to lay out right… 16-20 is just nutz… the furled leader sounds cool… might have to give that a try and see how I like it…

“Paddle faster boys… I hear banjo music!”
Charleston Director- SCKayakfishing.com
Tarpon 160os

yeah ill just stay here.