Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fly Fishing Cafe => Topic started by: fishseeker on December 26, 2007, 09:08:10 AM
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After trying for bull trout in rivers a few times I am curious about this one.
The standard pre-made leader length in most stores is about 9 feet and I know it makes sense where the water is clear or in lakes where fish have time to be picky about offerings. Does this apply to the same degree in rivers?
My fly casting skills are passable and I can manage 9 foot leaders OK but I find they become a lot more difficult to handle when I am doing a lot of casts - especially on rivers (Really, really hard to avoid those frikkin wind knots!). I can't help thinking that longer leaders might be overkill in faster moving rivers where fish have less time to examine the offering. It should be a lot easier to get the fly down to the desired depth with a shorter leader too.
I am thinking of experimenting with much shorter leader lengths -say around 4 feet. Any opinions on this?
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agreed 12-18 is sufficient.
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The answer to your question depends on the type of fishing you are doing, such as the line type and technique. The packaged leaders that you can buy in tackle stores are tapered and are designed such that they can be used on floating lines. If you are nymphing using floating lines, then the long leader would be necessary to reach the strike zone. However, if you are using sinking lines/tips, then the leaders need to be short such that the fly can sink straight with the fly line. Hope this helps.
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This is good to know - thanks
Last time I went out I was using a floating line with a 9ft tapered leader and a weighted fly with a strike indicator to set the depth. I found this a little hard to manage so I figured a shorter leader with a sinking line might work better for me -at least, for my level of experience.
One option I have is a rapid sink line with a short leader and a sink tip leader with about 18 inches of tippet tied to the end. Another option I have is a sink tip leader that can be attached to my floating line - I think I will play around with both approaches.
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General rule of thumb on leaders:
Wet Fly: 3 to 6 feet
Dry Fly: 9 to 12 feet
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General rule of thumb on leaders:
Wet Fly: 3 to 6 feet
Dry Fly: 9 to 12 feet
Hey thats good to know :
Does this apply for all water bodies , river and lake ? Maybe trolling wet files with a 14ft leader wasent so good after all :-\
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That rule is more for river or moving waters. On some lakes you need to go to 20ft leaders. For most sink tip presentations I am under 3ft. Usually 1ft 30lbs and then start with 2ft of 12-16lbs. The 2 ft section gets shorter as the flies get changed.
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I nymph with as long a leader as is needed, usually upto about 13-14 feet, but thats no fun... Streamer fishing with shorter stronger leaders using a sink tip... dry fly with as fine and long as needed for the fish and the water which is usually between 9 and 12 feet, but sometimes longer if the fish are skittish...
So I guess the summary for me is, the only time I use a short leader is when I fish a streamer.
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I have been thinking about this some more and, looking at these replies again, I can see that some of you manage to work with 20 even 30ft leaders.
How the heck is that possible? I struggle enough with 9ft leaders as it is :)
It would be great if I could do it though because I know that some nymphing and chironomid techniques require the use of longer leaders like that. Any tips on how to cast leaders that long?
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Get a knot picking tool! :D Its really handy some days... I think my limit is about 14 feet with 3 flies under an indicator, and that is just pure hell...
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Yes, I think that is a great idea. It will be useful even with the shorter leaders but there must be some trick to casting with really long leaders - if I have to spend so much time undoing knots I figure I am probably better off sticking with 9ft max.
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I have been thinking about this some more and, looking at these replies again, I can see that some of you manage to work with 20 even 30ft leaders.
How the heck is that possible? I struggle enough with 9ft leaders as it is :)
It would be great if I could do it though because I know that some nymphing and chironomid techniques require the use of longer leaders like that. Any tips on how to cast leaders that long?
Casting with 20'+ leaders is not that difficult if you've tapered them properly. Unlike shorter 10-12' leaders, it sometimes takes a couple of roll casts to get them fully out of the water so you can begin false casting.
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It’s great seeing everyone’s differing approaches. I’m with Newsman - I’d like to think I’m from the KISS school on leaders and wedding speeches (Keep It Short Stupid). My bananna fingers don’t help matters, but I’ve spent more time untangling long leaders than I care to remember. I’m for more casting and less untangling.
I rarely fish lakes so for the rivers I hit, here are a couple of scenarios:
- An arm’s length does me just fine for moderate to fast moving and silty water.
- 3 arm’s length for slower gin-clear water – give or take.
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It all can be pretty overwhelming and confusing for someone who is starting out. ( like me!!) It seems that there are too many techniques and presentations to choose from...It just means more time needed on the water trying different things.
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As always, the answers on this forum have been really helpful.
When I head out on the river again, I think I will play around with longer leaders if the water clarity is gin-clear as nvloc suggested. For all other conditions I will work with one arms length. At one time I always used the standard 9ft tapered leaders because they were ready made in the stores but I have realized that it is so much easier to work with shorter leader length on a sinking line that I will typically keep it that way unless the water clarity is really clear.
As dflyer suggested, there are so many techniques and presentations that is pays to play around and experiment on each outing.