Articles

A different kind of leader…

We can have the best rod, reel & line that money can buy but if our leader isn’t efficient then catching fish can be harder than it could be.
Leaders are largely a misunderstood topic among many anglers and it’s a surprisingly deep subject if you investigate properly. I still see people using a level leader of only one strength which is probably the worst option and the most common choice is the typical knotless, tapered leader. There is nothing wrong with this leader but there are other choices which may suit your particular type of fishing better.
On streams such as the Alyn we are often only casting a few yards and the need to place the cast under an overhanging branch is commonplace. This can be pretty tricky even for really good casters but the normal type of knotless tapered leader can actually make it harder. They usually have a very thick butt section which is technically good but are often quite stiff and this makes it difficult with a short cast to achieve a tight loop. A short cast doesn’t have the same velocity as a longer one so the leader won’t kick over so well with the result that the fly is thrown higher and often into the snag.
I would like to bring to your attention a type of leader which is not widely known and which works exceptionally well in tight places. In truth, it was originally designed as a means of making it easier to cast into head winds so it has a double benefit.
I want to make it clear that it’s not my original idea but one which I’ve used for a long time and it’s made a huge difference to my sport. This style of leader which is called “convex”, or as I prefer, weight forward, was devised in the early 1980’s by an American engineer called Bernard Beegle and is easy to modify to your own requirements.
Consider again a standard type of tapered leader – the fly line tip is relatively thick which is connected to the heavy butt of the leader ( the leader should be approx 60% thickness of plastic line). There is then a long level section which seems to rapidly reduce, getting even thinner towards the tippet which is usually approx’ 2 feet long. As I’ve said earlier, this thick butt tends to form an open loop with reduced energy, often causing the tippet to fall in a poor shape.
A weight forward leader is as follows – a thin section attached to the fly line which then gets thicker in the same way that a weight forward fly line does – this then reduces back to the starting diameter and continues to the tippet. What happens during a cast is that the thinner starting section encourages the leader to lie much closer to the fly line obviously creating a tight loop – as the loop opens out at the finish of the cast the heavy middle section kicks the fly over and it presents much faster and therefore straighter.
To make this easier to understand, here is a taper which works very well for me but you can adjust it easily to suit your required tippet size.

12 inches x 7lb, 12 in x 10lb, 24 in x 15lb, 12in x 10lb, 12 in x 7lb, 18 in x 4lb & 24in x 3lb

This is a total length of 9 ft 6 in but you can easily adjust for a shorter one. It’s important to note that the diameter/breaking strain rises by approx 50% and then reduces by the same – this gives an efficient turnover.
You can easily test its efficiency by making one and throwing it with your hand at home – you will see how well it kicks over.
So to return to the Alyn, you can now see how much easier it can be to get your cast into those attractive tight spots !

If you want more information on this and other leader designs, I commend “ Drag – Free Drift” ( Leader design and Presentation Techniques for Fly Fishing) by Joseph A.Kissane.

Louis , September 1st. 2009