EclecticGuy

or “Furled Again”

I give a few fly fishing related presentations each year on topics including fly tying, rod building, and leader making. I plan to create a series of posts to supplement these presentations starting with this one on leaders. You can download the presentation in PDF form to use – but please let me know how you are using it!

Please note that I am not a fly fishing historian. I give a little background history more to set the stage on the evolution of leaders than to be an accurate historical treatise – the references at the end of this post include scholarly works on fly fishing history. Let’s get started!

Leader

The leader is the short section of line between the fly and the fly line. It’s primary purpose is to deliver the fly to those wary trout as naturally as possible. It also provides a replaceable section to which flies can be tied without harming the fly line.

The Early Years – Horsing Around

The earliest recorded history of fishing (at least in western civilization) spans the last 1300 years or so. Anglers used long wood rods – 14 to 17 feet long – with a line made of horse tail hair tied to the tip. This line was typically 2 rod lengths long and made of furled sections the length of the horse’s tail, called “snoods”. These snoods were water-knotted together to make the line. The line maker might start with a butt section containing 21-24 hairs and gradually remove hairs from successive snoods to reach 3 hairs at the tip. Horse hair line can also be plaited (or braided) to create a knotless, continuous line that tapers. I’ve made lines both ways and it is a lot of work! Plaited lines are made exactly like a young lady would braid her hair – with 3 bunches of hair. I may write a post in the future along with a video on making horse hair lines if there is interest (let me know in a comment!). 

These horse hair lines were relatively stiff and fragile. There are a few historical accounts on making horse hair lines - replete with folklore and opinion. The general consensus is that stallion hair is better than mare hair (presumably because the mare urinates on her tail) and white hair is stronger than black or brown – although there is controversy over all of this!

Western anglers fished with wooden rods and horse hair lines for about a 1000 years with very little change.

No Guts, no Glory

The British rediscovered silkworm gut in the early 1700s – as trade with the China opened. This material is flexible, translucent, and strong. The British referred to it as “catgut” but no one really knows why – catgut has never actually been made of cat guts! The Chinese process to make this material was a highly guarded secret. The British eventually stole the process and smuggled it to Europe.

Silkworm gut was revolutionary in its day. It was dry and brittle but when moistened, became soft and very limp  (like a wet noodle) – although it does swell when wet. Fishermen carried and stored their “gut” in small tins with a piece of felt that could be moistened before heading for the stream or lake. By the early 1800s, the market for gut leaders was well established and dominated for 250 years. Eventually, Spain produced the highest quality gut leaders. For all of the positive attributes, gut did have some negatives; inconsistent quality, variable strength, variable size, and no way to compare one vendor’s gut to another’s. 

The “X” System

In order to address this, a standard was developed abut 250 years ago. We know it today as the “X” system – you know, like 6X or 8X tippet. This standard was based on a watch wire sizing standard and was developed to standardize drawn gut sizes in the range of 0X to 8X. For a given material, it allows correlating strength to diameter.

Basically the system works like this; subtract the X factor from 11 to get the diameter in 1/1000″. So, for example, 6X tippet would have the diameter = (11 – 6)/1000 = 5/1000″ (or .005″) diameter!  Break strength can be estimated in pounds by subtracting the X factor from 9, so 6X has a break strength of about 3 pounds (this is for modern monofilament tippet).

“I want to say one word to you… Plastics”

Dupont discovered nylon in 1937 and this material also revolutionized fly fishing. Nylon can be manufactured to tight tolerances and is strong. It is stiff and difficult to tie good knots but these weaknesses were acceptable. At about this same time, silkworm gut was becoming scarce, primarily due to WWII cutting off the supply.

Basic Leader Training

Leaders provide the connection between the fly line and the fly. They help minimize splash and provide a drag free drift. Leaders have the following anatomy:

The butt connects the leader to the fly line, the midsection is typically tapered, and the tippet is the thinnest section to which the fly is tied. The length, taper, and other attribute of leaders were developed through trial and error.

Take me to your leader

Today, there are 4 common types of leaders; knotted, tapered, braided, and furled. 

Knotted leaders are made by tying short sections of monofilament line together – typically of decreasing diameter from the butt to the tip. The stiffness of different types of mono can also be used to modify the properties of the leader as can the use of fluorocarbon or co-polymer line. Knotted leaders are highly customizable. In fact, there is a great spreadsheet called LeaderCalc that you can download that has 100s of leader formulas – and it is free. Knotted leaders are also inexpensive and can even be made while you are on the stream. But, they do have a few cons; the knots cause drag and can snag aquatic plants, they have a memory (i.e. remember their shape) and those blasted knots (blood knots) are tedious to tie!

Tapered leaders are manufactured. The taper is designed in to the leader. Tapered leaders are labeled with the X factor at their thin end, so a 6X tapered leader ends with a 6X diameter. The advantages of tapered leaders include they are knotless, inexpensive, and you can “buy and fish” them. They also have a memory and low wind penetration.

Braided leaders are made exactly like plaited horse hair fishing lines were made centuries ago, but only from mono, nylon or polyester. They are hollow core and knotless, supple, drag-free, durable, and usually visible. But that hollow core can retain water that may drip during the cast and spook fish (that is usually the least of my casting woes!). Braided leaders are harder to find and are usually expensive.

Furled leaders are basically a thin tapered rope. The process goes back 100s of years to furled horse hair lines. They are supple and do not have any memory – perfect for turning over your fly and drag free drifts – they are also durable and visible. One nice property is that they provide a bit of shock absorption depending on how they are made and materials used. The few negatives include expense ($10-$15 each) and they will completely snarl up if you try to free a snag with a jerk.

I have made my own knotted, braided, and furled leaders (100s of them) and fished these along with tapered leaders. For the past 4 years, I’ve used furled leaders exclusively. I love their suppleness and drag-free drift. I make my own so I have a lot of control over size and properties and the cost is about $1.00 or less each. I’ll write a post on making furled leaders to supplement this post – but I need to take a lot of photos of the process!

Choosing your leader

There are a few general rules on choosing leaders. Here they are:

• small flies – use a small diameter leader
• large flies – use a large diameter leader
• big flies – use a short leader (5′ or so)
• flat water – use ling, thin leaders (12 – 20′)
• wind – use shorter leaders (5 – 8′)

Here is a nice chart on tippet size to fly size:

“X”      Fly Size

8x      #20 – #28

7X      #20 – #28

6X      #18 – #26

5X      #14 – #20

4X       #6 – #14

3X       #6 – #12

2X       #4 – #10

1X       #4 –  #8

0X       #4 –  #6

Leader to line connection

The last topic is, how do you connect that leader to your fly line? There are 2 basic connection types; direct connections and loop-to-loop connections. Direct connections include needle knots and nail knots. Loop-to-loop connections include braided loop connections that you can buy, or a perfection loop tied on a piece of #20-#30 mono that in turn is direct connected to the line. In loop-to-loop connections, a perfection loop is also tied on the butt end of the leader.

References

The Treatyse of Fysshynge Wyth an Angle (1496), Dame Juliana Berners (attributed author)

The Compleat Angler (1766), Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton

The Fly, Andrew Herd (www.medlarpress.com)

Fishing with Guts, Paul Shullery (www.midcurrent.com)

The Fly-Fisher’s Craft – The Art and History, Darrel Martin, The Lyons Press

Furled Leader Tutorial, http://globalflyfisher.com/fishbetter/henk/henk1.htm