fly fishing advice

[mattyk]

hi guys,
well im new to fly fishing, me and my son have sea fished for a number of years,but now we have moved and the sea is a little to far away...i was looking for some advice on fly to leader to mainline connections i have seen the braid loops but im not to sure how to attach/tie them and they seemed like they would have quite a bit of wind resistance but what do i know lol any advice or different setups would be greatly appreciated.

cheers matty

[Catfish Virgin (Still!)]

I've just returned to fly fishing after a 20+ year lay off and enjoying every minute of it! Things have certainly changed with lines and leaders but so far I've been using nail knots to join leaders to fly line with a dab of superglue on the knot. They've worked well but I've literally just changed to the braided loop system for the simple reason of ease of changing a complete leader in mid session.

I'm using "Roman Moser Micro-Loops" which seem to me to be delicate enough for my needs (Minicon Trout rated @ 16lbs attached to a 6wt Forward Taper Floater) and very secure. A pack of 5 for £5.99 is a bit pricey but they look good to me! The packaging comes with easy to understand instructions and the resulting join looks pretty good to me.

It seems they work on a friction basis with a sleeve that slides down over the inserted fly line - a dab of superglue finishes it off nicely.

• Insert fly line into open end of Micro Loop until it reaches the sleeve.
• Hold loop and slide sleeve down to end of Micro Loop until it overlaps the fly line (careful here not to pull it too far and off the braided loop).
• Add a dab of superglue to the junction.
• Job done.

The leader is then joined to the loop - I prefer the "loop to loop" method.

These particular braided loops come in all sizes, sinking, floating etc etc.

As for attaching the flies to the business end, knots are very personal things. I favour the half blood knot, 5 turns and tucked. Very old fashioned but it works for me with both mono and my favoured brand of flouro (Kryston Incognito).

A full blood knot is also my choice when joining two similar diameter lines together - leaving one tag end can create a dropper if you so wish.

Tight lines.

[Greenheart]

Theres a lot of leader loop brands on the market these days, most of em pretty good & ther'e a lot easier than using the old nail knot. For tying droppers to the leader I favour the old five turn water knot.

[Rossthedon]

just a little tip when fixing braided loops; just use a tiny dab of super glue, too much and it will make the line or loop brittle and your leader/flys wont turn over properly or worst case, your fly line can crack!

another thing i learned when tying fly to leader; if using fluoro i use the uni as the half blood can slide on any flouro under 6lb bs. mainly personal choice as catfish virgin says

[bobc]

For a normal fly line with braided core, I prefer to strip the line coating back 2 " by soaking in nail varnish remover for 1 minute to soften and then strip it with your nails . Then form a loop with the core , a drop of superglue is optional here ( mind your fingers ) whip over the end to make the loop , trim off any loose ends and coat the whipping with varnish . I find this lasts a season and is neat and unobtrusive . Tie leader direct to this loop . I don't use tapered leaders just a butt piece slightly heavier than the main leader .