Fly Fishing Gear Reviews

Leaders and Tippet

In flyfishing, the leader is the nylon monofilament that connects to your fly line and extends to your fly.  It is, in effect, a nearly invisible extension of your fly line that continues to transfer the force of your cast all the way to the fly.  With proper casting technique, a well designed leader will turn the fly over properly and land it on the water correctly and gently at the end of the cast.

The bottom line:  If your leader isn’t right, your fly casting technique becomes moot because you wont be able to cast accurately or present the fly gently.  If your casts are good, but your fly is hitting the water like a small rock, chances are you need to fix or replace your leader.  Take the time or the trout will laugh at you.

Your basic fly fishing leader has three sections:  The butt end, the body, and the tippet.  The heavy butt end attaches to the fly line.  It then tapers to the body, and then finally down to the tippet, the last foot or two connected to the fly.

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The great thing today is that most manufacturers sell knotless or pre-tapered fly fishing leaders.  This makes it much easier.  They come in seven and a half, nine and twelve foot lengths. Smaller leaders are for smaller waters and vice versa.  Most of the pros will tell you to use as long a leader as you are comfortable with while still having control.  A long leader on the water with slack in it is pretty worthless.  A short leader can have the close proximity of the fly line spook trout as well.  The nine-foot leader is probably the most standard for most conditions.  I, myself, am a fan of Rio products.  I buy their 3 packs of knotless leaders for about $10.  If you want to save even more money you can build your own.

If you do build your own, it may take some time to figure out what works the best for you.  First off, there are different kinds of monofilament.  Some are a little harder and stiffer than others.  There is fluorocarbon, which is harder to see in water (good for foolin’ fish) and claims to be stronger than regular monofilament.  Others are softer and more pliable, but can keep their memory and corkscrew on the water.  My personal choice is Rio leaders and tippet, Fluroflex Plus in particular.

The formula for building the perfect leader varies from angler to angler.  Some say the perfect leader is 50% butt section, 25% body, and 25% tippet.  Others will claim 60-20-20 is the way to go.  I have a permanent leader butt on all my lines.  This is two to three feet of heavy test that is smaller than the fly line.  This makes life easier for attaching leaders.  Now,  you just taper down using the mentioned formulas.  No matter how you slice it, keeping tippet with you on the water is vital to create leaders and for mending broken tippet.

If you are interested in shopping for Leaders or Tippet, click here.

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