Furled Leaders?

[brittsnbirds]

FFM-

I'm with you the furled leaders have their applications. I've been using several Feather-Craft Furled leaders for the last couple years had only one failure this year. My favorite is their sinking leader with a swivel at the end. Works great on my full sink fly line when stripping cracklebacks and boogers. Before I added a small brass swivel on a short leader then about 3' of fluorocarbon.

When I am nymphing I have been using a a short Rio leader then a F-C Tiny Ring then my tippet. If you don't want to spend the money, save your short leaders and tie a tiny ring on and you will be surprised at the performance. I have used the tiny ring with drys as well!

Pat

[Greg]

I guess I'm alone here but I've tried them (once) and just didn't care for them. Mainly I just didn't see a big advantage over the knotless mono leaders. I get many months of use out of the cheap ones too.

Greg

[Gavin]

I've tried em but I dont see any advantage with em...think I still have two of them laying around if anyone wants em.

Dano...if you want some red tin mucillin...I've got an entire box of it in my basement. PM me with your addy and I'll drop some in the mail for you. Cheers.

[hfdhoosier]

I always use a furled leader on my fly rods. I bought a DVD from Kathy Scott that had step by step instructions how to make your own furled leader. I buy the mini tippet rings for the tippet end and a shorb loop for the fly line end. I bought a service spool (3300yds) of Maxima 2 lb ultragreen and make my leaders out of that. I haven't had one fail on me yet. I grease mine up with red mucilin or Payette floatant and it becomes a clear extension of the floating line. Montauk lodge has the red mucilin but you pay more there than most other places. I bought the payette floatant from Bass Pro, it looks like vaseline, might try vaseline next time out to see if it will work. I made one up the other day and soaked it with scotchgaurd waterproofer, will try it next time out also. I have also used ultra thread 6/0 and they worked super for dry flies. If you don't like the backlash problem with the mono leaders, give the thread leaders a try....I think you will like them.

[Buzz]

I always use a furled leader on my fly rods. I bought a DVD from Kathy Scott that had step by step instructions how to make your own furled leader. I buy the mini tippet rings for the tippet end and a shorb loop for the fly line end. I bought a service spool (3300yds) of Maxima 2 lb ultragreen and make my leaders out of that. I haven't had one fail on me yet. I grease mine up with red mucilin or Payette floatant and it becomes a clear extension of the floating line. Montauk lodge has the red mucilin but you pay more there than most other places. I bought the payette floatant from Bass Pro, it looks like vaseline, might try vaseline next time out to see if it will work. I made one up the other day and soaked it with scotchgaurd waterproofer, will try it next time out also. I have also used ultra thread 6/0 and they worked super for dry flies. If you don't like the backlash problem with the mono leaders, give the thread leaders a try....I think you will like them.

I have been looking at the thread leaders also. I would be interested in your experiments with Vasoline and Scotchguard after you have tried them out.

[Danoinark]

I've tried em but I dont see any advantage with em...think I still have two of them laying around if anyone wants em.

Dano...if you want some red tin mucillin...I've got an entire box of it in my basement. PM me with your addy and I'll drop some in the mail for you. Cheers.

Gavin,

PM sent. Thanks.

Dano

[Gavin]

I've had a couple request for some red tin...and I'll mail em out later this week...Here's were you can the stuff in the future. Olaf is a nice guy to deal with. Cheers.

http://www.silkflylines.com/index.php?accessories

[ksbass]

I have tried the store bought (basic) leaders and have yet to see any advantage. Honestly, I think they suck. I have been looking at furled leaders, but they are somewhat expensive. I am the ultimate cheap donkey, so I would like to know from all of the guys on this forum if they use them and if they are worth the expense.It seems to me that they might be worth it in the long run.

My first time polling, so bear with with me, I know it's a short list.

Any suggestions are welcome. I mostly fish for trout at R.R and the local white ribbon areas.

Buzz

After having gone through the "first time" flyrodding experience with my son this past summer I now have an affinity for furled leaders. From my list of what my son and I learned this past year. It's #1.

1) Furled leader with metal tippet ring - We started out with the mono tapered leaders and I was continually swapping rods with my son to untangle the major messes. I went through 5 or 6 tapered leaders the first day alone. I had never seen so many knots and tangles! Paolacat then recommended the furled leaders and oh man that really helped. Way fewer knots and with the tippet ring it makes it much easier and faster to just cut off the knotted tippet and tie on another piece. No more blood knots. No more frustration. The single best investment we made for sanity sake.

I started with the mono furled type without the silver tippet rings then tried the F-C mono with tippet ring. Nice but pricey and also takes a "set" if you use the thingamabobber-type indicator on it. I searched the web and found a guy in Indiana selling all sorts of furled leaders. Nice (low) prices too. I ordered several types and gave them a try. I settled on his Mystic River ones (they are $6 with shipping) that are thread except for the last foot or so, that is 1 lb mono. These work well for us. Mike's site is http://www.streamsideleaders.com/ He makes them in whatever color of thread, length or weight you want. They are all custom but only take a few days to get them.

Troy

[Buzz]

After having gone through the "first time" flyrodding experience with my son this past summer I now have an affinity for furled leaders. From my list of what my son and I learned this past year. It's #1.

1) Furled leader with metal tippet ring - We started out with the mono tapered leaders and I was continually swapping rods with my son to untangle the major messes. I went through 5 or 6 tapered leaders the first day alone. I had never seen so many knots and tangles! Paolacat then recommended the furled leaders and oh man that really helped. Way fewer knots and with the tippet ring it makes it much easier and faster to just cut off the knotted tippet and tie on another piece. No more blood knots. No more frustration. The single best investment we made for sanity sake.

I started with the mono furled type without the silver tippet rings then tried the F-C mono with tippet ring. Nice but pricey and also takes a "set" if you use the thingamabobber-type indicator on it. I searched the web and found a guy in Indiana selling all sorts of furled leaders. Nice (low) prices too. I ordered several types and gave them a try. I settled on his Mystic River ones (they are $6 with shipping) that are thread except for the last foot or so, that is 1 lb mono. These work well for us. Mike's site is http://www.streamsideleaders.com/ He makes them in whatever color of thread, length or weight you want. They are all custom but only take a few days to get them.

Troy

I tried my first Furled leader Sunday at R.R. I really enjoyed it. I bought the one with the steel ring and it made the day very easy. I also tied up an extension Out of ten pond test mono with an ultra small swivel for streamers. It worked great and I did pretty good on buggers. It did work well for dries too. I have a couple of the thread leaders coming this week. I'm looking forward to useing them.

Buzz

[Hopper]

I wont use anything else, learned how to make them myself last year online, still have the original ones on my 3, 5, & 8 wts have one spare for each in my leader wallet, made both mono and floro and swap out when necessary. 2 lb test for the 3 &5 wts, 4lb for the 8wt. Did make one out of 8/0 uni thread, did'nt like it as well. Have never had a leader break, only broke tippets trying to horse a fish in. Caught eveything from browns to stripers, they have great shock absortion qualities, turn over great, and zero memory, and when you do get an occasional wind knot they are easy to get out. Have not really found one con against them yet.