Putting It Together
Other options to attach the leader to your fly line include Dave Whitlock’s Zap-A-Gap connection (flyfisherman.com/skills/dwnoknot) or a needle knot. The simplest, fastest method, however, is a tube nail knot. You can do this easily onstream and we’ve never lost a fish with a properly tied nail knot. With a speed nail knot (flyfisherman.com/knots), you don’t even need a tube. The downside of a nail knot is that you must tie a new knot every time you change your leader.Attaching the tippet. The tippet is the last piece of monofilament you attach to your fly line. It should be the same diameter or a thinner diameter than the terminal end of your knotless leader. The tippet serves two purposes Every time you change your fly you lose a bit of monofilament in the process. If you tie your fly directly to the leader, you will have to frequently replace your leader because as you switch flies, it becomes too short. By attaching a 2-foot tippet section, you are constantly decreasing only the length of the addition, not the leader itself. Second, a level-diameter tippet section—especially a fine, thin 4X, 5X, or 6X tippet is extremely limp and doesn’t turn over and land straight like your leader. It therefore adds slack into your system allowing you to make drag-free presentations to picky trout. (See page 52 for more details on drag-free drifts and other presentations.)Use a blood knot or double surgeon’s knot to connect two pieces of monofilament. There’s no need to learn both since they both serve the same purpose and both are strong. Some people find the double surgeon’s knot a little easier to tie. The blood knot is more streamlined and may be less likely to pick up stream weeds and other debris.Leader SavvyA leader is the tapered monofilament that connects the fly line to the fly. All good leaders are tapered thick near the butt that connects to the fly line, and thin near the tip where it connects to the tippet or the fly itself.Knotless tapered leaders are extruded from a machine as a single piece of monofilament. They are available at your local fly shop and most often come in lengths from 7½ to 12 feet.Hand-tied knotted leaders are constructed from several pieces of monofilament, each piece a different diameter and tied to the next piece with a blood knot. When all the are tied together, you still get a tapered leader with a thick butt section and thin tip—but the “steps” are not as gradual.The advantage of a knotted leader is that you can build your own to meet specific situations. If you are competent enough, you can also modify your leader onstream to meet changing conditions.In addition to modifying the diameter, you can also use different materials to create leaders with hard butts and soft tippets and with a variety of stiffness, diameter/strength, and abrasion characteristics to fit every need.If you are just getting started trout fishing, you probably need a few 9-foot knotless tapered leaders to suit your local conditions. When you are fishing small flies on flat water for trout or panfish the leader tip must be relatively thin for soft presentation of the fly, and to allow drag-free drifts, so get leaders tapered down to 4X or 5X. If you are casting a weighted Woolly Bugger in the riffles you need a shorter (7½' or less) stouter leader that can turn over a large fly and stand up to the pressure of striking an unseen charging fish.The general rules are The smaller the fly, the smaller the leader diameter (tippet end). The larger the fly, the larger the leader diameter. Also, smaller flies, flat water, and spookier fish require longer and thinner leaders. Some spring-creek trout are so finicky that you may have to go as light as 7X or even 8X.
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
Comments