Take me to your leader.
Some of you may remember a little while agowhen I wrote about my mate-Ken- from the states who came over tovisit and fish the fly around the Palms. The last time I wroteabout his visit it was all about learning from others and how wecan all benefit from other people regardless of their skill orexperience.
So, what does this have to do with my currentarticle I may hear you ask. A funny thing happened not too longago. I was at home when the phone rang and it was Ken. Theconversation went something like this:
"Hello, Anthony speaking","Gidday buddy, hows it going?" "Ken, where areyou?" "I’m in NSW, hows the weather upthere?" "Great why" "The fishing’s nottoo good down here so I thought I’d do a trip up there forthe weekend, what are you up to"
Anyway, you get the general idea-I hope. Fromthe conversation, Ken agreed to book a flight for the nextweekend, which happened to be the Australia Day- long weekend. Aquick call to Daniel (past Editor of
The fishing we spent the majority of the timeon was the flats, targeting bonefish and permit, with the oddtrevally thrown in for something different.
While the weather was perfect, the fishing wasdefinitely down in quality and around the campfire one night Icame up with the perfect theory. The aliens had been here thenight before and sucked up all the quality fish with a hugesuction device, and all that was left was mullet and heaps ofbait fish. I reckon it happened and I’ll stick to thattheory until someone comes up with a better one, Ken on the otherhand was not comfortable with the theory.
Due to the quiet fishing action, manyconversations were turned towards fishing strategies and how toapproach certain species of fish, especially on the fats wherethey are very cautious. The water was so clear that the fish sawus way before we had a chance to cast to them. When they did comenear the fly, they spooked either because they saw the flyline/leader, or us. Which brings me to the purpose of thisarticle.
While many people tend to spend that extra bitof time on their fly fishing equipment, the leaders are oftenoverlooked. The leader serves many purposes and can mean thedifference to catching fish or going home with some half-cockedtheory (like the aliens!).
The leader has three main functions. The firstis to roll the fly out neatly and form an extension from the flyline. The second is to ensure that the braking strain of theleader is weaker than the fly line and backing as the first partof your terminal tackle to give way should be the leader. Thethird function of the leader is to keep the fly at a distancefrom the fly line so you reduce the risk of spooking fish, whichis a real problem in very clear water as we found out.
Now the problem arises. Because, to reduce therisk of spooking fish you simply make the leader longer, but youthen tend to sacrifice the action of the leader to roll the flyout when presenting your cast. In most situations the fly andleader will land in a heap on the water, and while this cansometimes be a fault in casting, it is usually due to a leaderthat is not proportionate to the conditions. By conditions Imainly mean the weight of the fly, and the wind. For example; ifyou tie up a nine-foot leader out of 15pound mono and cast a 1/0deceiver fly on a calm day you should have no trouble, but if thewind is pushing 15-20knots then you may encounter a problem. Thisis because the leader is made out of a single piece of mono lineand does not have the characteristics to roll the fly outproperly.
This is where a tapered leader comes into play,as a tapered leader is designed to roll out the fly and isbasically an extension of the fly line, (which is also tapered).
Tapered leaders are available to purchase, butare not that hard to make and are a fraction of the price incomparison to the commercial ones.
In this article we will look at two types oftapered leaders, which are very effective in rolling out the flywhile still enabling you to use a long leader. Talking aboutleader length, the bare minimum I would recommend is a nine-footleader.
The first leader we will look at is very easyto construct and can be tied in no time at all. It is made up ofvarious lengths of different line class mono tied together toform a tapered leader, and in this leader you include your tippetwhich is the length of line that governs the breaking strain. Forexample; if you tie a leader made from 40pound to 30pound to20pound then to 15pound, then your tippet class is 15pound. Soundeasy?
When you choose the line classes, cut them into3foot lengths and then join them by way of a surgeon’s knot(or similar). See diagrams.
1. take twopieces of mono and put them together.
2. form anoverhand knot with the two pieces of mono.
3. double boththe lines through again.
4. lubricatethe knot and pull together evenly- making sure the two individuallines are even. Then trim the tag ends neatly.
The second type of leader is what I call theBionic leader. This is made from a single length of mono (yourtippet class) which is then knotted and twisted to form a taperedleader, which is also like a huge shock absorber. These arereally useful for targeting bigger fish, while still using alight line class because the design of the leader allows it totake a lot more shock/strain. I also use these particular leaderson my conventional tackle and find them ideal for use with braidlines as braid has little or no stretch.
To tie these leaders it does take a littlepractice and persistence, and it is a lot better to have someoneshow you the first few times but I will try and explain it.
Youthen cut the double in half and twist it up on itself from thebimini, making sure to keep tension while twisting.
Tiean overhand knot in the end to keep the twists from comingundone.
Nowdouble this series of twists over itself and twist them up againand finish with a double overhand knot.
Younow have a tapered leader, which is made form a series of twistsand leads down to a single piece where you join the fly or shockleader.
As I mentioned earlier the length of yourleader is also critical and as a general rule the shortest leaderI will use is nine-foot. In very clear conditions where the fishcan be spooked quite easily I use up to a fourteen-foot leader.
The type of mono you use can also play animportant part and it is wise to try a few brands and determinewhich is best for knot strength, breaking strain and resistance.If you are fishing clear water and want to increase your chancesof hook ups then it is imperative to use a fluorocarbon leader.There are many around but the Stren brand is one of the betterones to use.
Shock leaders are also essential when chasingfish with sharp/rough teeth, and where the environment is notvery friendly. (Rough bottom or snags for example). When usingshock tippets, try to stay away from wire as much as possible asit will reduce your hook up because of its visibility. Again,fluorocarbon is very useful for shock tippets.
The two leader types I have mentioned here ajust a few of the many that can be used, but are two of the bestI have found that can be used for a variety of fishingsituations. When constructing your leaders, be sure to lubricateyour knots and pull them down firmly. Tag ends can be trimmedclose to the knot, as a good knot will not come undone. While onthe subject of knots, a good one to use when joining the fly tothe leader is the Harrison’s loop.
To go back to my story of ken’s fishingtrip, we did finally get a cast to a school of feeding permit onhis last day without spooking them. We cast all sorts of flies atthem but they were so keyed into what they were feeding on thatthey did not pay any attention to the fly and eventually movedon. Hey, that’s fishing and if it were too easy andpredictable, it would be called catching not fishing.
ArticleCopyright©, SaltWater FlyFishing in Australia, 2001.