Strength and type of leader

[skinhead]

Oi Oi,

I totally agree with aks19 on the 10-8-6lb + tippet. This is what I use as my standard set up whether fishing streams or still waters. On streams it will be married to either a 3wt or 4wt, on still waters it will be either 4wt or 5wt.

I must admit, I can't think of a use for braid in a leader set up, this is used for all my crank bait fishing & spinning, but for fly I'm not so sure. Any suggestions?

[Miles]

Maybe aks is thinking of the braided loops that are available for attaching to the front end of the fly line - I think there are some that are quite long, to provide a good 'butt' to a tapered leader perhaps ? (Tend to only use a short length for a loop or a 'through the centre and out into a nail knot' connection with 8lb nylon myself).

Anyone used Airflo polyleaders ? I've tried using an intermediate one on the end of a floating line to create a sort of sink tip - it seemed to work okay and has caught a few, but it seems to look quite 'visible' in the water, despite being clear.

The leader thing is quite confusing I think for newcomers. I used a straight length of 5lb mono for quite a long time until I knew better, but it did turn over and it seemed to work okay. I was told to knot down in consecutive weights by an experienced angler, but I'm not that convinced that its all that essential, unless perhaps you're fishing dries with very delicate presentation.

Incidentally, Airflo seem to have launched a new series of fly lines that use non-stretch braid as the core - they say it was only a matter of time before flylines went down the same route as conventional fishing line.

[Old Smoothound]

Originally Posted by Miles

Incidentally, Airflo seem to have launched a new series of fly lines that use non-stretch braid as the core - they say it was only a matter of time before flylines went down the same route as conventional fishing line.

Airflo do this all the time Miles. They need to keep up the hype in their marketing to get unsuspecting anglers to buy the "worst" floating lines on the market

Will we ever learn????

[aks19]

no i dont mean braided loops though i can see why I've confused youi, i jsut thought that if with teh lack of stretch factor in the braid i'd be able to detect takes more easily when using a sinking line (really should have explained this earlier but i dont tend to forethink i simply type ) tis an idea i intend to investigate in teh summer

[Miles]

Quoting Old Smoothound:

Airflo do this all the time Miles. They need to keep up the hype in their marketing to get unsuspecting anglers to buy the "worst" floating lines on the market

Maybe. I've no bone to pick with Airflo, or indeed praises to sing other than this, as mentioned elsewhere in this site: - I bought an Airflo floating line which was plagued with memory, stretching and untwisting made little difference - you couldn't put out much line with it because the coils just fouled up in the rings.

After mentioning this on this forum I was recommended (by Smoothy) to send it back, which I did.

They sent me a replacement line, but of the wrong size. I sent this back and they sent me another line - again the wrong size. Eventually I had a replacement line of the right size (3 weight), I got to know the friendly people at the local post office quite well and I have to say that it has been reasonably memory free so far - one outing.

This very light, floating, line is ideal for lightly presenting dries, using a stepped down 8-6-4 lb knotted fluoro set-up. A 1lb rainbow put up a good fight having taken off the top and this whole lightweight set-up is probably what fly fishing is about. Would I buy another Airflo floating line ? No, probably not.

Using strong braid on a sinker though is maybe not such a good idea. I think that the rig needs some 'spring' in it somewhere to absorb some of the shock that a sudden take can bring. The fly line and the rod have some give, but also the leader does some shock absorbing too, I think. Also, there's the hook up scenario:

I hate losing flies or leaving any rubbish behind. I've been in a river up to neck (it didn't look that deep !) and I've tried all manner of tactics to get hooked up flies out of trees, reeds etc. But sometimes you get hooked up in something inaccessible and tugging on the line eventually snaps off the fly at the tippet part of the leader.

Unfortunate as it is, at least its only a fly and maybe a small length of curly mono/fluoro that gets left behind. If my set up was too tough all the way to the fly, would I have to cut a fly line somewhere to get away ? Maybe leaving behind something that birds could really get tangled up in ?

I can think of another time where I had let most of a sink tip line out in a 'dead drift' and when retrieving back got caught up in something very solid some way off in the bottom of the river (that I'd previously been for an unscheduled bath in). Pulling on the line (beyond the rod tip to save the rod from stress) and eventually the fly hook snapped in half and I'm on my back. I think I'd tied quite a strong leader set-up on that day !

[Old Smoothound]

Originally Posted by aks19

no i dont mean braided loops though i can see why I've confused youi, i jsut thought that if with teh lack of stretch factor in the braid i'd be able to detect takes more easily when using a sinking line (really should have explained this earlier but i dont tend to forethink i simply type ) tis an idea i intend to investigate in teh summer

Hi Aks19,

If you get your self an Airflo DI7 or DI8 you will find that they have little or no stretch in them. That is why a huge amount of competition fly fishermen use them. They sink very fast and have superb bite detection as a result of "No Stretch".

I would recommend Airlfo "sinking Lines" to anyone, the DI8 is the best sinking line around in my opinion.

I hope this helps.